MOUNT PLEASANT – The Iowa Wesleyan College men’s and women’s track and field teams begin their 2009 indoor season on Saturday, traveling to the Knox Pentangular in Galesburg, Ill.
Both Tiger teams will open their seasons on the campus of Knox College for the third straight year. This year’s field at Knox includes the host Prairie Fire, Monmouth (Ill.) College, Cornell College and St. Ambrose University.
IWC goes into the 2009 track season with a new coach, as well as a beefed up roster with a considerable number more participants in the program than a year ago.
Both the men’s and women’s teams are being led this year by first-year Head Coach Anne Dreyer. A three-time NAIA national qualifier in both track and cross country at Doane (Neb.) College, the Nebraska native took over as coach in September after spending the past two years as a graduate assistant at the University of South Dakota. She replaces Lane Levine, who now is an assistant with both teams.
Numbers for both teams are also up this year, particularly for the men’s team. A total of 32 athletes are out for track this year after just 16 participated last year. That includes 23 on the men’s roster this year, a number that is 15 more than competed last season.
The IWC women’s squad returns a pair of athletes who won Midwest Collegiate Conference championships last season. Wendy Madison (Yucca Valley, Calif.) returns for her senior season after winning the conference indoor and outdoor meet titles in the long jump and triple jump. Corrie Wagner (Sr.-Iowa City, Iowa) also returns for one more season after winning the conference indoor and outdoor championships in the shot put.
The men’s team did not claim any MCC champions last year but does get back sprinter Jason Amy (Jr.-Lake Elsinore, Calif.). Amy redshirted last year but two years ago was part of the IWC 4 x 100 relay team that won the conference outdoor title. He also was all-conference in the 200 in the 2007 indoor track season.
Other returnees for the men include the team’s two seniors, sprinter Mervin (Pep) Shaw (St. Louis, Mo.) and hurdler Lonzell Maddock (Seattle, Wash.). Shaw and fellow sprinter Shane Newbill (Jr.-St. Louis, Mo.) both were members of the 2007 4 x 400 relay team that finished second at the conference outdoor meet. Maddock had a place on the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relay teams last year and also placed seventh in the MCC in the 110 hurdles last year.
After competing at Knox, the men’s and women’s teams will have two weeks before their next meet, the Illinois Wesleyan University Titan Open in Bloomington, Ill. Both squads will compete in a total of five events for the indoor season, including the MCC Indoor Meet to be held Feb. 21 in Sterling, Ill.
For more information regarding the IWC men’s or women’s track programs or any of the Tiger athletic teams, contact sports information director Adam Glatczak (319-385-6306 phone; 319-385-6384 FAX; aglatczak@iwc.edu e-mail) or log on to IWC's athletics web site at www.iwc.edu/athletics.
