Sports

The Lorian

April 16, 2015

womens lacrosse

New faces,
same goals

Seniors Ryan
Sheeran and
Adam Varnas
hit the water
during the
3000-meter
steeplechase
at last
weekends
UW-Platteville
Invitational.
The duo
finished mere
seconds apart,
as Sheeran
took second
and Varnas
took third in
the event.

Loras (4-9, 1-4 MWLC) drops three

straight with three remaining
by Bill Barry | sportswriter

photo by
Matthew
Marter

Duhawks leading the chase

The mens and womens
track-and-field teams continue to
improve times in March and April
by Matthew Marter | sportswriter

Last Saturday, seniors Matthew Kane,

Ryan Sheeran, and Adam Varnas as well
as sophomore Ben Hedges participated in a rather unique steeplechase at the
UW-Platteville Invite. Sophomore Emily
Day competed in this event on the wom-

Since We Last Spoke ...

Knox Open

The mens and womens track & field teams got

their spring season underway at the Knox Open.
For the women, Senior Emily Sotelo took first in
the 400-meter hurdles and sophomore Amy Gladis
took first in the pole vault. First place finishers on
the mens side included junior Stedman Foster
in the 400, junior Zach Frey in the 800, Keontae
Neely in the triple jump, Nathan Maiers in the hammer throw and the 4x400 relay team of sophomore
Brandon Gradoville, seniors Kyle Ward and Zac
Gassman, and Foster. Of the 13 teams competing,
the men finished first overall while the women took
second.

Central Invite

A week later at the Central Invite, the Duhawks

continued their success, as the men took first while
the women finished third. Winners for the women
were, junior Bri Cook in the 5,000, sophomore
Emily Day in the 3,000 steeplechase, and Gladis
once again in the pole vault. Relay winners for the
women included the 4x100 team of junior Brittnee
Powers, sophomores Alexis Hanson and Elizabeth
Brandenburg, and first-year Alyssa Simon; the
4x400 team consisted of Powers, senior Mercedez
Kennedy, first-year Emily Ney and Hanson. Individual winners on the mens side included Frey in the
800 and first-year Mason Tope in the 5,000.Winning relays for the men included the 4x100 team
of Ward, Gradoville, Gassman and Foster, and the
4x400 team of Foster, Gassman, Gradoville and
senior Josh Goerdt.

ens side. Though it usually takes place at

the beginning of the meet, at this meet, the
3,000-meter steeplechase went off around
sunset. But that didnt stop the Duhawks,
as they all improved upon their times from
the week before.
Sheeran, who has All-Conference honors from last years outdoor Iowa Conference meet, finished the day with a time of
10:09.06. He, along with Varnas, went two
and three in the event this weekend.
I felt awesome during the race, Sheeran said. Each barrier was going down one
at a time, next thing I knew it I was coming
up to the last water jump and telling myself to just sprint.
My goal for the outdoor season is to
crack the Loras Top 10 list in the steeplechase, he added. I hope to be in the top at
the [Iowa] Conference meet in May.
In Saturdays race, he pulled ahead of
teammate Adam Varnas, but in the middle, he began to fall off.
Varny definitely helped me on the
laps that he (set pace), Sheeran said. I
watched his jumps over the barriers, and
he looked smooth. I kept telling myself to
do that., to jump these like Varny.
Varnas, Kane, and Hedges finished with
a 10:13.26, 10:27.49, and 10:30.40, respectively. In the womens event, Day finished
with a time of 12:10.31, earning a top-three
finish at the meet.
In the other events, the Duhawks competed against some of the toughest competition in the NCAA Division III. The meet
this past weekend was hailed as the Meet
of the Week due to the top caliber teams
that participated there, such as Wisconsin-La Crosse, Whitewater, Oshkosh, and
Eau Claire. There was some conference
competition, with Wartburg competing

there as well. Regardless, some Duhawks

soared to top times in their events.
On the mens side, the nationally
ranked 4x400-meter relay team took first
place running a time of 3:16.87, which is
not their fastest time of the season. Sophomore Brandon Gradoville lead off the relay followed by senior Josh Goerdt, junior
Stedman Foster, and senior Zac Gassman.
They will look to race the 4x400-relay at
the Drake Relays in a few weeks.
Goerdt also took second place overall
in the 400-meter dash, running a time of
48.88, which ranks him at 20th in Division III. After taking a year of eligibility
off due to injuries, it appears that Goerdt
has come back and hit the ground running
as the outdoor season approaches its final
month.
Frey is continuing to drop times in the
800-meter run. This week, he took second place in the 800, running a time of
1:52.64. This pushes him into 10th in the
division, and it also marks the fastest he
has run an 800 since the Outdoors National meet last year.
The performers of the meet this week
are sophomore Nathan Kimbrell, first-year
Andy Reed, and first-year Emily Ney. Kimbrell shattered his personal record in the
800 this weekend, running a 1:57.93. Reed
set personal records in the javelin throw
with a distance of 42.79 meters. Ney ran
a 1:01.38 in the 400 meter dash, which is
her personal record and the second fastest
400 time currently on the womens team.
She also ran on the fifth place 4x400-meter relay, which posted a season-best time
of 3:59.04.
The Duhawks will compete at the University of Dubuque Invite this weekend.

The womens lacrosse team returned to

play this weekend with back-to-back games
against Midwest Conference opponents Beloit
College and Illinois Tech. On Saturday, the
Beloit Bucs defeated the Duhawks after running away from a one-one tie early in the first
half. Beloit finished the first half with nine
unanswered goals, putting the game nearly
out of reach. After the Duhawks struck early
in the second half with a goal by Junior Kaitlyn Kutsch, Beloit finished off the victory 13-4.
Kutsch had two goals on the day. Also scoring for Loras were sophomore Anna Schwalbe and first-year Haley Sundquist. New faces
like Schwalbe and Sundquist have emerged
for the Duhawks throughout this season. The
emergence of young players has allowed the
Duhawks to lead a more balanced attack.
Having new faces on the team has been
great for us, said Kutsch. Our roles have
changed in a good way. We have some great
new talent that allows us to put them in a position to succeed and make a difference on the
field. It has also allowed us to spread out our
attack and expand our options.
The new contributing members have
demonstrated that the future is bright for the
fresh program.
Every year teams shift because of a number of circumstances, one of them being new
members, said Head Coach Emily Goetz.
Our team is no different than any other in
terms of this, but at the end of the day, we
are Duhawks and we do what is necessary for
the team. If that means roles change, then we
adjust and become the best we can be in our
new role.
The Duhawks followed their performance
with a late comeback on Sunday, but came
up short in a 9-8 loss to Illinois Tech. Kutsch
once again led Loras in scoring, pouring in
five goals. First-year goalie Ashley McGee
had 11 saves in the loss, posting a .550 save
percentage.
In order to finish the season strong, the Duhawks hope to emphasize a few things to turn
these slow starts into victories.
Coach Goetz has worked hard and done
a fantastic job to improve our defensive and
attacking schemes, and we need to emphasize
these schemes, said Kutsch We also need to
work to emphasize each others strengths. If
we can do this, we hope to pull out a few more
wins this season.
The Duhawks are headed into the final
stretch of the season with three games remaining on the schedule. We will be looking to emphasize stick skills in these last two
weeks including dodging techniques, said
Coach Goetz. Along with that, we will be
threading a lot of soft skills in practice such
as heart, attitude and effort.
Loras will hope to bring these intangibles
Sat. April 18 when they face off against Aurora
in a conference matchup at 2 p.m. in the Rock
Bowl.

mens volleyball

Mens volleyball team establishing identity

Family, hard work at heart
of new programs culture
by Drew Brashaw | asst. sports editor

Head Coach Jeremy Thornburg charged

his freshly-minted mens volleyball team with
a unique task at the outset of its inaugural
season: to build the new programs identity.
These guys have had to create a culture,
he said. Its not something you create overnight. Thats a challenge that you dont really
think about when you begin a new program. I
always remind them, What do you want Loras College mens volleyball to be about? What
do you want people to remember?
When asked to characterize the culture
of his program after one season, Thornburg
didnt need to think long about his words.
Family is definitely the first thing that comes

to mind, Thornburg said. They care about

each other and they put each other first,
which is awesome. Also, hard work is very important, and I think theyre learning that its
not going to come easy, that every day weve
got to work hard to get where we want. Those
are the two firm basics of our program.
Along with the daunting task of building a
new program and a new culture from scratch,
youth and inexperience have provided additional challenges for the Duhawks in 2015.
Not only was the program in its first year, but
an overwhelming majority of its players were,
too. Dont expect Thornburg to use his teams
youth as an excuse, though.
I firmly believe and Ive told the team
this that the game doesnt know your age,
Thornburg said. It doesnt matter if youre a
freshman or a senior; volleyballs volleyball,
and it doesnt change. This year was tough

for us, but it was probably the best learning

experience these kids couldve had. Theyve
all been through the fire now.
Through the fire, indeed. The Duhawks finished their first season with an overall record of
3-20, including a 2-10 mark in the ultracompetitive Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League.
We were competitive with all the teams that
were in the conference tournament this year,
Thornburg said. So weve shown that were
able to do it. Now its just a matter of finishing
the job every match. The foundation of hard
work is there, Thornburg continued, I hope
that hard work pays off with what they want.
They want results, they want wins, and Im expecting a lot more of those a year from now.
But wins and losses arent the only measure
of success in athletics, especially when working to get a brand-new program off the ground.
Thornburg points to some off-the-court indi-

cations that his program is off to the right kind

of start: People come up to me and say You
have a great group of guys. When theyre at
a game, theyre noticed. Theyre cheering for
their team and supporting one another. Those
are things that are super important to me, and
theyre things you cant really teach. Thats just
them and what they do. Thats the kind of stuff
I notice more than anything.
Coach Thornburg isnt the only one whos
noticed the strides his young players have
made in their first season. First-year Jimmy
Combs was named to the MCVLs All-Conference second team on Tuesday. Combs didnt
miss a set all year for the Duhawks, tallying 128
kills, 13 solo blocks, and 21 service aces. This
is a huge honor for Jimmy and our program,
Thornburg said. Im excited for the future for
Jimmy and our program, and I am already
looking forward to the 2016 MCVL season.