Women's Indoor Track & Field

The Luther College women’s track & field team finished in sixth place with 57 points at the 2010 IIAC Indoor Championships, hosted by Buena Vista University February 26-27. Wartburg won the meet with 242 points, followed by Simpson with 105 and Loras with 89. The Norse had seven all-conference performers, set two school records and continued to progress heading into the outdoor season.

Dani Meirick, Katie Dolan, Ellie Neubauer, and Liz Knutson earned all-conference honors individually. Meirick was runner-up in the 800m with a time of 2:19.11, less than .2 behind the winner. Dolan ran 10:28.49 in the 3000m to place third. Neubauer placed third in the 5000m in a time of 18:16.66. Knutson placed third in the pole vault with a new school record of 10’ 0”.

The Norse also earned all-conference honors in the distance medley relay and 4x800. Meirick, Sam McAllister, Sarah Lundine, and Dolan ran 12:15.93 in the DMR to place second. Their time was less than two seconds off the provisional qualifying mark for the national meet. McAllister, Annie Klepper, Dolan and Meirick teamed up to place second in the 4x800 in a new school record time of 9:35.79.

Head coach Jeff Wettach thought a lot of positive things happened at the meet, but knows the team has plenty of potential for growth. “The month of March is really key for us training wise. I guarantee you we’ll be the most improved team come the outdoor conference championships.”

Men's Indoor Track & Field

The Luther College men’s track & field team placed fourth out of nine teams with 66 points at the IIAC Indoor Championships, hosted by Buena Vista University February 26-27. Central won the team competition with 213.8 points, followed by Wartburg with 152 and Simpson with 71.3. The Norse crowned one conference champion, had nine all-conference performers, set one school record and continued their trend of improving each week.

Adam Pyzdrowski, joining the team after taking two years off from track & field, won the pole vault with a height of 12’ 11 ½” in his first competition of the season. Trent Stonerook earned all-conference honors in the weight throw. Seeded eighth coming into the event, Stonerook threw 50’ 6” to improve upon his old school record by 2.5 feet and take second place. Earning individual all-conference honors on the track were Drew Burmahl and Kyle Buck. Burmahl finished second in the 3000m in 8:43.92, just .15 behind first place. Buck was third in the mile with a time of 4:28.63.

The Norse earned all-conference honors in two relays. The distance medley relay of Andrew Papke-Larson, Ryan Egan, Tom Blattner and Burmahl finished second with a time of 10:29.87. Blattner and Papke-Larson teamed with Sam Donlan and Max Molzahn to finish third in the 4x800 in 8:07.99.

Head coach Jeff Wettach thought it was a great meet for the Norse. “We had quite a few people who really came through with big performances. It was neat to watch the enthusiasm that our team brought and maintained for two days, which is a challenge. We did a great job there.” While happy with the weekend’s competition, Wettach sees even better things on the horizon. “We are going to have a great outdoor season.”

Women's Basketball Wraps up Season

Our women's basketball team continued to work hard throughout the season. Yes, there were disappointments with the outcome of games as we did not achieve some of the goals we had set out to in the beginning. Yet, in reflection, there was progress and the players fought hard in every game. There was a lot of effort and energy used as the team worked toward playing and becoming a solid competitive unit on the court. We try not to measure our success only on wins and losses but how we played the game. If we played as hard as we could, did the things we had worked on, carried out the game plan as best of our ability then there should be a feeling of satisfaction. Were we be totally satisfied? No...but there is another day and we will keep working to get better. One of the messages I sent to the women was: WIN - W - Work hard; I - with Integrity; N - No excuses. I feel good that we did these things as a team.