Michael Higgins
Published: March 4, 2009

WAVERLY – The IIAC conference meet was held last weekend at Wartburg College. Both the men and women had high expectations. Coach Schultz commented, “Well for the men I was a little disappointed. We came in hoping to win and it was a great team battle between us, Wartburg and Central all the way to the end. We just came up a few places short.”

There were many outstanding performances both on the men’s and women’s sides, but one individual came up big by scoring the Duhawks a total of 34 points. “Chris Buresh, on the men’s side was through the roof. He qualified for nationals for two events, was conference champion in two events, was All-Conference in a third event, and is going to nationals in the high jump and pole vault,” stated Coach Shultz.

Another conference champion was Brian Westemeier who won the weight throw with a qualifying mark that made him good enough for nationals. His goals for the outdoor season included coming back to Central and beating them in their own place and trying to possibly win the whole conference.

The women’s team met their goals for the indoor season. Schultz said, “The women’s side was great. We were fifth last year and the girls moved to second in a year, and we graduated some good girls last year. The track team will be traveling to Florida this spring break for some warmer training. Their first outdoor meet will be at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia on March 21.

Michael Higgins can be contacted at michael.higgins@loras.edu

Nick Helten
Published: February 18, 2009

Starting the season without a conference win until January twenty-fourth is not great news for a wrestling program, but the Loras wrestlers found a way to turn things around. The Duhawks finished the season four and four in the IIAC Conference and looked to do damage at the conference tournament.

The Duhawk wrestlers were at it again Tuesday at Luther College for the Iowa Conference tournament.

Loras placed seven wrestlers in the top six, Senior Tom Drosopolis (125), Junior Mark Beatty (125), Sophomores Mike Levassaur (174) and Alex Grafft (197).
The two finalists were senior Jordan Loy (141) and junior Erik Hanson (157).

They both went into the tournament as the number two seed and came out as runner-ups.

Loy is currently ranked ninth in the nation while Hanson is ranked third.
Senior Trevor Kaufman (285) took third place which was just enough to get him through to the National tournament.

Final team standings here. Final individual standings here.

Nick Helten can be contacted at Nick.Helten@lctv13.com

Chris Lehr can be reached at Christopher.Lehr@loras.edu

Nick Helten
Published: November 6, 2008

DUBUQUE- Thirty wins overall, eight wins in the IIAC, and a conference championship for Loras.
Needless to say, the players are excited.

“Its amazing!” said senior Maggie Hugulet.

The Duhawks have come a long way this years.
Last season the purple and gold limped to a last place finish in the Iowa Conference.
This season, things cleared up, but it wasn’t easy.

“We put in a lot of hard work. All the preseason work, it just really paid off,” Hugulet claimed.

Loras’ amazing turnaround wasn’t all about hard work and skill, it also had to do with atmosphere.
“We worked hard, but it was also about building chemistry, and I think we did that,” said an optimistic Kate Russell.

But work isn’t finished yet.
Loras hosts the conference tournament this weekend, and they know they’ll have to look inside themselves in order to win the tournament.

“We have to stay positive,” Russell said of their attitude, “and take it one game at a time.”

Thirty-two wins overall and An NCAA tournament bid?

We’ll have to see if all that hard work and chemistry can seal the deal for the Duhawks.

Chris Lehr can be reached at Chris.Lehr@loras.edu

Chris Lehr can be reached at Christopher.Lehr@loras.edu

Crystal Klein
Published: September 24, 2008

DUBUQUE- After a tough loss to Carthage the women’s soccer team had some work to do.

“The Carthage game we just didn’t come out ready, and we’ve improved on a lot with practice in communication and possession of the ball,” said team captain Torey Murray.

That hard work paid off with a win against the long time rival and undefeated Wheaton College.

“It was pretty amazing, we’ve played Wheaton every year, and now beating them is the most amazing feeling,” said Murray.

Jenna Kosek seems to think there is one key to keeping the teams momentum going after the big win last week.

“Yeah i think the big thing is communication with team, we just need to step that up within the team and then other things will fall into place,” said team captain Jenna Kosek.

With that in mind, the Duhawks look like they are on their way to another successful season.

Crystal Klein can be reached at Crystal.Klein@loras.edu

Morgan Finke
Published September 24, 2008

DUBUQUE- The basketball team has had some time off, since their NCAA tournament appearance last season and Coach Gorton hopes they will come prepared to work as the new season approaches,

“Hopefully at this point they have already prepared themselves in terms of skill work, so now it’s just a matter of trying to get their physical, their body ready for the wear and tear of a year,” said coach Gorton.

Despite an impressive finish last season, the team is looking to be even bigger and better this year.

“Our guys have great goals and aspirations this season to achieve things that have never been done, never been accomplished here at Loras,” explained Coach Gorton.

However, with a few key players lost through graduation, there is some doubt that the team will be able to match last year’s success.

“The other conference coaches think we’ll be down and it’s a great rally cry for us,” added Gorton.

That confidence is reassuring, but what is the source of the confidence?

Gorton explained, “I love our mixture of young fresh talent coming into the program, I think all of the Duhawk fans will be really excited about some of things new guys”

Come November 12th we’ll see if his confidence and the team’s hard work will pay off.

Morgan Finke can be reached at Morgan.Finke@lctv13.com