March 4, 2011

Track and field head to nationals

Basketball season comes up short

Twelve members of the indoor track and field team qualified for the NAIA Track Championship. The championship started Thursday, March 3 and runs through Saturday, March 5 in Geneva, Oh.

AMANDA GABBERT/SPORTS EDITOR

Brooke Curry
STAFF WRITER

Twelve athletes, including two men and ten women, qualified for the NAIA Track Championship March 3-5 in Geneva, OH. Head coach of six years, Jerry Monner, said, Im excited about the events at the national level because we have a few athletes ranked at the top-ten level. Last year we had a few women finish 14th in the nation during indoor season and this year we are hoping to bring home a few AllAmerican awards. While in Geneva, the team will be competing in the distance medley relay, shot put, weight throw, 4x800m relay, mile, open 800 and 5,000. Betsy Craig, business administration junior, said, I ran the distance medley last year, but I feel more confident about my ability this year and our relay team has a chance of doing really well. Hopefully well be one of the top eight teams in the semi-finals going to the finals on Saturday. The teams practice

and compete together, but the scores are completed separately. Allison McFayden, graphic design sophomore, said, The NAIA has qualifying standards for each race that you have to reach in order to qualify for nationals and if you run under a certain time, you get in. Although we score separately, were still a family in the end. While the season is almost over, the teams have managed to break records, win conference and grow as a group. Weve had a really good indoor season, especially when our teams won conference and it seemed like we were breaking school records left and right, McFayden said. The athletes have worked hard, trained hard and are confident they will do well at nationals. Craig said, The coaches have been putting a lot of thought into practice and speed work weve been doing and we have confidence in our workouts and training. I really think it will benefit us in the end.

The basketball season ended sooner than expected for the men and womens teams, as the two were knocked out of the conference tournament in the first rounds with the men losing to St. Ambrose University, and the women losing to Iowa Wesleyan University. The men entered the tournament with high-hopes after winning four in a row along with a huge blowout victory on senior night against Waldorf University. The team also won the previous game in overtime, when a tip off a rebound by Nick Wagner, forward senior, penetrated the net, beating the buzzer and shocking the Ashford players by forcing overtime. The men entered the tournament as the fifth seed ,playing the fourth seed St. Ambrose. Phil Hunt, sophomore shooting guard, said, We dug ourselves into a hole early and couldnt make the shots to dig ourselves out. It takes twice the energy to comeback after digging yourself in hole early. After a hard fought 71-56 loss for the men, the team will

say goodbye to three of their ending, the team continues seniors, Nick Wagner, Royce to build stronger for next Phillips and Jamel LeBranch. year Wilson said. The team The women entered the will say goodbye to Kristin tournament on a five-game Rasmussen, Danielle Ballard, winning-streak. Jordyn Beth Ehlers and Krista Walker Thompson, sophomore guard, as the four seniors led the said, The best thing a team team to 14 wins this season. can have We have going for a lot of talent them is and we can entering the compete with playoffs on a any team. hot streak. We will need We have a lot Nicole to minimize of talent and we Wilson, turnovers for can compete j u n i o r next season, guard, said, Wilson said. with any team. We just had Now that We will need an off game. both teams to minimize Too many are in the turnovers. It o ff - s e a s o n , turnovers for was difficult Wilson and next season. for us to play Hunt talked well at Iowa about what Nicole Wilson We s l e y a n the team will Junior guard this year. It be doing seems like in the offwe never season. The play well there. two will be staying in shape Wilson said the team had a by playing pick-up games, lot of new players on the roster weight lifting and continue to this year that the team had to improve their game along with get used to playing with. the rest of the team. Once the season got Next year is looking up going we started playing really but its still way too early to well as a team, Wilson said. tell what might happen, Hunt The lady Vikings ended said. This year we battled the season with 14 wins, through a lot of adversity and nine of them conference worked hard to get where we games. Despite the season are.

Torn ligament ends season early

Wrestling
NAIA National Championships

U.S. Cellular Center, Cedar Rapids

A stand out basketball player, who is a two-time NAIA player of the week and Academic All-American, tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) on Feb. 3 against St. Ambrose University. Jenn Jorgensen, sophomore guard, was at the height of her game in January. She exceeded the 1,000-point mark and set her career high of 41 points scored in a game, but because of her injury, the basketball star is done for the season. Jorgensen said she was able to finish the game, but after she went to the athletic trainer. She was told to get an MRI. The result: a torn ACL. Jorgensen said, I didnt think it was that bad, referring to her leg. According to sportsinjurys. net an ACL is one of four major

knee ligaments. The ACL is critical to knee stability, and mobility. An ACL tear is most often a sports-related injury. About 80 percent of sportsrelated ACL tears are noncontact injuries. Jorgensen said, I believe that at least half of the team has injured their ACL. Krista Walker senior guard, said We have a lot of ACL injuries. Everyones injury experience is different but Jenn seems to be recovering really fast. Jorgensen had reconstructive surgery on Feb. 18. She said the physician took ligaments from her hip and inserted them into her knee to replace the torn muscle. Her recovery time may vary but she hopes to be jogging again within eight weeks. Jorgensen said, The doctors said my ACL will be twice as strong but I need to keep on track. Even with Jorgensen out

of the picture, the team was still able to pull off a fivegame winning streak. It inspired everyone to come together even more because we knew we had tough teams to play, Walker said. We pulled together some really close wins and stuck together as a family. On Feb. 24, the team lost in the first round in the conference tournament to Iowa Wesleyan College at Burlington, according to the Grand View athletic website. Jorgensen doesnt believe, even with her, the team could have done any better. We have lost the last five games to Iowa Wesleyan College, Jorgensen said. I dont think we could have tried any harder. Jorgensen said she plans to be back on the court next year and hopes to be just as good. She also said she is looking forward to working with the new talent next year.

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