Weekend Getaway

We all know that the weather last week wasn’t up to my exacting standards. To show my displeasure with Earth I decided to take a last second trip down to Texas for the weekend, and by last second I mean I had been planning this trip for months. I went home to run in a Tough Mudder (I’ll give a full account of that next week) and see my mother for her birthday.

When I landed and walked outside the terminal I was met by a clear, blue sky; no wind to speak of; and a perfect temperature of 70 degrees. I immediately texted Coach Rodgers and told him I may not come back. This feeling was only compounded a few moments later when I ate lunch at the Mellow Mushroom. I know this sounds like the not-to-coy title of a place selling psychedelics in the back room – and honestly I think my waitress may have imbibed more than a few times in her life – but the pizza was delicious. Have you ever had a roasted red potato pizza? I hadn’t either until I sank my teeth into that little slice o’heaven.

He's wrong, it's actually when you have roasted red potato pizza

Once you have pizza like that your day can’t be anything but good. If you get in a car wreck, your wife leaves with your best friend, and the bank takes the house? “I’ll worry about that tomorrow, right now this pizza is just too good to worry about anything else.” And it also had sour cream, caramelized onions, and some mystery sauce that probably took 3 years off my life. The rest of that evening was pretty tame, I just had about 5 pieces of cornbread because I love cornbread… and anything edible apparently.

The next day I went to Brewed in Fort Worth which is a coffee/brew house which had a great iced cinnamon latte. I was with a coffee connoisseur this time so there was only a limited amount of awkwardness emanating from me. That’s not to say I didn’t do anything awkward – I almost knock my seat over when I sat down – but I kept it to a minimum. Brewed was just the preamble to the full meal at Cheesecake Factory. My whole family was there to celebrate my mom’s birthday. I went all out and split a salad. Yes I know what you’re thinking but I didn’t want to eat poorly before my race the next day. Of course, I immediately destroyed any good I had done by ordering a cheesecake. I couldn’t help myself! It had caramel, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, and Butterfinger!

This may be worse for you than drinking and driving

Afterward came the real exciting part: I spent 2 ½ hours at REI buying things for my trip to Big Bend. Do you know how easily you can spend all your money in that place? Let me give you a hint: very easy. I’m not quite sure how much I spent because I didn’t check the prices on anything. I figured it was better this way, so I wouldn’t back out due to some little complaint from my conscience like “if you spend that much you won’t have any money for food.” You know, something trivial like that. The rest of my trip was centered around the Tough Mudder which I took part in on Sunday. I’ll detail that next week, but my writing this post is a good indication that I survived. No promises though.

I'll take one of everything

Before coming back to Iowa on Monday I went to another hipster coffee shop in south Dallas called Oddfellows and then since I wasn’t feeling jittery enough I went to Coffee House Café in north Dallas. Yeah I may be developing a problem, but my iced vanilla latte was delicious. Despite all this I still managed to sleep the whole plane ride back. I was a bit tired from sleep deprivation over the past 3 days. Tune in next week as in chronicle my journey through a 12 mile obstacle course and cause everyone to believe I’m a masochist. 

Peace. Love. Coe.

A common question asked of college students is why they chose their respective school. Your mom's friends ask during breaks back home, co-workers ask to make conversation, and friends ask to see if there is a legitimate reason for you leaving them and choosing a different school. I can't express how thankful I am that the reasons Coe is so great never include "the party scene" or "well, that's where all the people from my high school go."

See, Coe is more special than that. It's a diamond in the rough, a hidden treasure, a well-kept secret. 

Campus is gorgeous this time of year. The fall colored leaves tumble gently through the crisp Iowa air, and lay gently on the grass. Walking to class it's impossible not to notice the crimson and gold leaves reminding me that Coe isn't just an academic institution (recently named one of the top 100 Private Liberal Arts colleges in the country), it's an atmosphere that resonates in the faculty, administration, students and landscape alike. Even the numerous squirrels are apart of this unique atmosphere.

I go to Coe because some of the most amazing people I have ever met are here, and continue to come here. This is hardly coincidental. It takes a certain type of person to believe in the welcoming culture of Coe. Indeed, it's a leap of faith choosing a college. Luckily for all of us, it's choice that proves worth making on a daily basis. Not only have I been challenged and expanded intellectually, I have also been broadened emotionally. I truly have become a more well rounded human being in just nearly 3 semesters, a latent product of being a Kohawk that is simply priceless.

The following 2 and half years hold a number of opportunities for further growth and I could not be more excited. As Kohawk volleyball player, Erin Dalke, and I have said since deciding on coming to Coe together...

Peace. Love. Coe.

Weekend Recap

Thursday evening was Coe's Annual Playground of Science.  Students in the science department assist in the community event, which hosts 1,000+ kids!  Emmie has attended the past three years.  This year, she saved her marshmellows from the molecule building station to put on her ice cream (created using liquid nitrogen).  Daken Starkenburg '14 was present to help, as was supporters of the tennis program, Kaylee Johnson '17 and Sam Kerby '14.

Kaylee demonstrating to Emmie.

Fire dancing to the sound waves.

Saturday and Sunday marked our Annual Campus Showdown Tournaments!  Jordan Ferree '15 was top dog on Saturday, and Riley Galbraith '16 picked up his 3rd straight title on Sunday.  Ryan Hickman '16 took 2nd, Victor Khristenko '11 3rd and Alex Bernt '17 4th.  As always, appreciate the support displayed by our parents here at Coe.....was great to have Moklestad's, Bernt's, Galbraith's, etc in attendance.

Emmie had a hot chocolate and coffee stand both Saturday and Sunday.

She also put together an obstacle course.  By Sunday, it was rather extensive.  She had all of the participants doing push-ups at some point throughout the day.....hope this does not constitute an NCAA violation since I'm not allowed to train players in the off-season.

2013 Iowa Conference Women's Tennis Awards Announced

Story here.

"Coe College senior Tai Lucero (Odessa, Texas/Permian) has been selected Iowa Conference Women's Tennis Player of the Year for the 2013 season, while Coe assistant coach Kris Diehl has been selected as the 2013 Iowa Conference Women's Tennis Coach of the Year."

Honestly, I am grateful to have been awarded COY.  However, I accept on behalf of Coach Rodgers, and alongside Coach Brad.

2013 All-Iowa Conference Women's Tennis
Most Valuable Player — Tai Lucero, Coe
Coach of the Year — Kris Diehl, Coe assistant
Singles	School	Year	Hometown/High School
Angie Allgood	CEN	So.	Muscatine, Iowa / Muscatine
Laura Birky	COE	So.	Cedar Rapids, Iowa / Xavier
Jordan Ferree	COE	Jr.	Pekin, Ill. / Pekin
Tai Lucero	COE	Sr.	Odessa, Texas / Permian
Amy Sebastian	COE	So.	Mundelein, Ill. / Vernon Hills
Elizabeth Dickhut	LOR	Jr.	Appleton, Wis. / Xavier
Adriana DePaolis	LUT	Jr.	Shorewood, Minn. / Minnetonka
Maggie Helms	LUT	So.	Moline, Ill. / Moline
Caroline Treis	LUT	Fr.	Brookfield, Wis. / Brookfield Central
Lola White-Baer	LUT	Jr.	Iowa City, Iowa / West
Melissa Davis	WAR	So.	Lakewood, Colo. / D'Evelyn
Katheryn Ross	WAR	So.	Littleton, Colo. / Chatfield
Doubles	School	Year	Hometown/High School
Angie Allgood	CEN	So.	Muscatine, Iowa / Muscatine
Megan Davis	CEN	So.	Highlands Ranch, Colo. / Valor Christian
Laura Birky	COE	So.	Cedar Rapids, Iowa / Xavier
Jordan Ferree	COE	Jr.	Pekin, Ill. / Pekin
Tai Lucero	COE	Sr.	Odessa, Texas / Permian
Maggie Helms	LUT	So.	Moline, Ill. / Moline
Honorable Mention	School	Year	Hometown/High School
Elizabeth Hoffmann	COE	Sr.	Cedar Rapids, Iowa / Xavier
Diannah Watson	COE	So.	Frisco, Texas / Lone Star
Carrie Crabill	LOR	Fr.	Dubuque, Iowa / Hempstead
Caroline Rainey	LOR	Jr.	Cedar Rapids, Iowa / Prairie
Jenna Myers	LUT	So.	Cedar Rapids, Iowa / Linn-Mar
Jessie Behrer	WAR	Sr.	Urbandale, Iowa / Urbandale

The Craziest Thing Ever

October 2013 has certainly been a crazy month. The US government went offline, somehow the Grand Canyon was closed, healthcare websites are crashing like the Giants season, and it’s not even Halloween yet. On Tuesday I saw what has got to be the craziest thing that has happened in the whole month of October. While riding my bike to the school on Tuesday I got snowed on. I want that to sink in. Snowed on.

It was pretty much like this give or take a few feet

It may have not looked exactly like that, and there may have been zero accumulation – if we’re being factual then there was no accumulation – but that isn’t the point. Snow in October is not just unwelcome, or crazy, it is in fact an abomination! This may seem like a bit of overkill or hyperbole just to prove my point. I can assure you it is neither. October is supposed to be a fall month where the weather starts cooling and we’re treated to grand vistas of turning leaves. So what if this isn’t New England, I’ve been robbed of a very important season of my life! I know it’s important because I just said so in the last sentence which must make it true. Thank you very much Old Man Winter. I bet you’re just upset you couldn’t register for health care meaning you’ll never get rid of your cold and are just trying to give it to everyone else out of spite.

Also have I mentioned my caffeine intake has increased dramatically lately? I’m sure that has nothing to do with my shaky hands or jitteryness or my free-flowing rage at the weather – that last one has been present for years. I was afraid I would get more paranoid about crazy weather conspiracies because of this lifestyle change, but I put those thoughts to rest while I was on my back porch screaming at the illuminati. It was here, while trying to catch my breath, that I knew October snow is the craziest thing to befall us in my lifetime.

Crazier than this?

Just think about it. Snow is white, there is fairy tale character named Snow White, Snow White hangs out with a bunch of dwarves, dwarves are heavily featured in Peter Jackson’s new movie The Hobbit, The Hobbit was filmed in New Zealand, and New Zealand is in spring right now and thus has much nicer weather than us. This can lead to only one conclusion: New Zealand has figured out how to control the weather and is making their weather seem much nicer to help their tourism industry. It makes sense if you don’t think too hard. I know it may seem like I pulled that crazy idea out of nowhere, but you can just add that to the many crazy things that have happened this month.

Now, I have seen a lot of crazy things. I saw in the Matrix that Neo is the One, I saw Skyfall grossed over One Billion dollars worldwide, I even saw October Sky where rockets were falling everywhere. But even one flake of snow falling from the sky in October? That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever seen.

HOF Post

JOHNNY WATSON


Last night was a special evening for Kohawk Tennis and Coe College as the Athletic Hall of Fame inducted four new members, including Johnny Watson(2001). Johnny is only the second tennis player to be selected to the HOF following the 2006 induction of Jon Turbett(1996).

Like Jon, Johnny was a local kid who elected to stay home for college after completing his highly accomplished high school and junior tennis career. Johnny won the Iowa State High School Singles Championship playing for Cedar Rapids Washington and legendary coach, Ron Capps, in 1996 and was also an exceptional junior USTA player, qualifying for the prestigious Kalamazoo National 18U Championships in 1997 while being trained by Coe's longtime Tennis Professional, Tom Galbraith.

Johnny's career at Coe was equally impressive.

Iowa Conference MVP 1999, 2000, 2001
ITA Regional Champion 2000
NCAA Singles Qualifier 1999, 2000, 2001
All American 2000, 2001
198 Career Wins as a Kohawk, 2nd on the all time list.
Captain of the 2001 Iowa Conference Team Champions(Coe's 1st IIAC Tennis Title)

Johnny currently serves as Director, Game-Event Presentation for the Milwaukee Bucks of the NBA

Congratulations to Johnny and his Family!

Homecoming!

Kohawk Chalk Walk is a Homecoming tradition.  Thanks Jordan!  Not sure if your mother, the artist, would be proud or not?

Johnny Watson ('01) will be inducted into Coe's Hall of Fame on Friday evening!

Several Kohawk Tennis players took part in America Reads on Thursday and Friday of this week.  Volunteers visit local elementary schools to read favorite children's books to the kids.  I had a great picture of Tai and Chad holding a Thank You card from the children, but my phone sent it off to space.  Will supplement this post will the names of all players that participated.

A New World

It’s Thursday and if you weren’t paying attention the last few weeks this is the self-appointed day of our destruction if the government fails to come to an accord on… something, anything. I haven’t seen any news lately so don’t tell me what happened, but I’ve spent the last few days preparing for a full on apocalyptic, civilization shattering, culture abominating, hell-scape. I’ve been doing this based on the assumption that nothing will get done in Washington which, let’s be honest, is a pretty good assumption.

My preparations have mostly involved watching crazy futuristic, dystopian movies like Mad Max. You need to be sure to watch the movies with the most unbelievable premise because, sadly, they have the most connection to what has been going on the past few weeks. I’ve filled my psyche with some pretty awful things: Mad Max 2, Blade Runner, Waterworld, C-Span. I even watched The Postman! Do you know how desperate you must be to watch The Postman? You know once that movie is brought out there is no turning back. 

 

Yes that is Kevin Costner and Tom Petty in a post-apocalyptic movie. Yes it is.

After this buffet of awfulness I am now ready for what lies ahead. With the downfall of our way of life and everything we hold dear, this is the perfect opportunity for me to make my ascension as the ruler of the mankind. Sorry, if you thought I was going to try for the peaceful reconciliatory building of humanity, but that ain’t happening. I’ve been dreaming about world domination since my freshmen year of college and even gave an entire speech dedicated to my future goal of world domination (that last sentence is, sadly, completely true. I got an 85 because the professor couldn't handle the revolution).

I know most people think having world domination as a goal in life is pretty stupid, and they are completely correct. It’s incredibly stupid and can only be precipitated by a series of stupid, dumb, irrational decisions by people already in power in order for me to attain my goal. And it can’t just be one stupid, dumb, irrational decision; it must be a veritable avalanche of stupid, dumb, irrational decisions by an entire group of people in power made day after day for no reason whatsoever in order for me to have even the slightest hope of achieving my goal. Well, luckily for me (or unluckily depending on how you look at it) that seemingly impossible possibility has reared its beautiful, stupid face for me to embrace. 

 

I love you all

I know this will be difficult for many of you since oaths of fealty have generally been out of fashion since the dark ages in Europe. But I will be a just ruler (if somewhat eccentric and crazy) especially for those who pledge early. Those who wish to do so can email their testament of love and devotion, but I suggest this be done quickly since technology and infrastructure will surely start getting destroyed at an alarming rate. I can personally promise internet will be the first thing to go followed by electricity and Miley Cyrus. This is inconvenient I know, but being a totalitarian dictator is kinda the opposite of a democracy: you really want an uninformed and poorly educated populace. I don’t suspect that will be too difficult to accomplish. With access to literally any knowledge in the world at our fingertips we have managed to paradoxically become a less informed electorate than before the forward march of information technology began. 

So there you have it. I, your Fearless Leader, Ruler of The World and head of The Peoples Republic of Brad do declare with my first decree that tomatoes are fruit of the devil and are not fit for consumption.....

 

Just look at them! They're red, just like stop signs, and I hate stop signs.

What’s that? We didn’t default and send our country into a dystopian, God-Forsaken future? Oh. Man do I feel bad now. Well, looks like I get to go to Big Bend National Park after all! That’s good because it would’ve been a shame if I never got to use all my new camping gear. You're all safe for the next few months until our borrowing limit is reached again. Until then I'll happily go camping and prepare for my eventual rise to power.

Campus Showdowns & Nike Apparel

Flyer with Nike Kohawk Tennis apparel.  (link revised)

Also upcoming, our annual Showdown events.  To register, please click the links below and submit the requested information.

Women's Campus Showdown - Oct 26th

Men's Campus Showdown - Oct 27th

Kids' Community Event - Fitness, Fun & Philanthropy

This past Saturday marked our 2nd Annual Fitness, Fun & Philanthropy event.  The kids were escorted through 5 different stations.....tennis, obstacle course, nutrition, philanthropy and the ever so popular, Zumba with Tai!

Once again, this would not have been possible without the help of the Postnikov and Van Metre families, and player support!  Jordan, Noah & Tai were instrumental from a leadership perspective - it was evident that they'd done this before.  The other players helping were great in helping create a positive and fun environment for the kids - thank you to Laura, Tam, Hoff, Diannah, Andy, Kaitlin, Virginia, Sarah, Chad, Alec and Amy.

Think best to convey via pictures/videos:

Chad, Sarah & Amy teaching forehands.

Susie baked zucchini oat bars, and then had the children guess the healthy ingredients. 

Sidetracked by Coe's Dance Team practice - they took 1st place in this past weekend's hip hop competition hosted by the Univ of Iowa.

Natasha playing a game in which children earned tokens to vote on which philanthropic organization will receive a  donation from Kohawk Tennis.

In prep for Halloween, Tai appropriately chose "Thriller" and had the children acting as zombies!

Obstacle course with Virginia, Kaitlin and Andy!

You may recall that Sushi popularized Gangnam Style within Kohawk Tennis.  The kids performing their impression below....oh, and is that Amy "conditioning"???

Crimson

On a recent recruiting foray to South Dakota, Emmie found a patch of crimson flowers to match her sweatshirt.

Shutdown

This past summer in the midst of travelling around and pretty much living-the-dream I set down some plans for this winter. Namely, do some more travelling and dream-living. I decided that the best thing to do would be take a cue from Coach Rodgers and visit Big Bend National Park. Now I, and Coach, both have plans to see the national park with the least yearly visitors and darkest night skies in the entire country. With this plan in mind I have recently set out on a shopping spree like I’m on supermarket sweep. You know, the game show where contestants swooped down the aisles trying to accrue the greatest bill? That’s what I’ve been doing, except with high end camping equipment. I haven’t seen money flow out of my account this quickly since I was in Vegas. 

ME, circa last week

If the summer used up all the money I made last year, then my next trip is definitely going to suck out every bit of the money I make this year. There’s just one problem. In the middle of my spending spree a little something happened. It’s not a big deal, we’ll just call it, oh I don’t know, THE GOVERNMENT SHUTTING DOWN!!! I normally wouldn’t care about this  except it also means the national parks are closed as well.

Now I love America. When it comes to my country I proudly say the lovin I give it falls somewhere between Uncle Sam and Malcolm X. I do, however, try to avoid politically charged debates because they usually fall along the lines of both people saying they’re right no matter what (by the way, I’m right you’re wrong whatever we’re talking about). One solution to my problem is the two parties coming together and working out a bipartisan deal to reopen the government. But I stopped believing in fairy tales when I was 10 so it’s on to Plan B. I have seen many people arriving at these parks be disheartened to find out the government has closed them down while seemingly giving America the middle finger. A few Americans have apparently seen this as a challenge and flipped the government the bird right back while driving on into the park.

Suck it Uncle Sam

I would think about doing this in Texas if it wasn’t for one major problem. It is in Texas. If this doesn’t immediately make sense to you let me try to enlighten that soupy, industrial-looking sludge floating between your ears. Big Bend is way out in rural West Texas. This part of the state gives new meaning to the word rural; other rural areas look at West Texas and know that can only dream of being that un-populated. This may seem counterintuitive at first, “if there’s no one out there then just going into the park should be easy!” Yes, I know that’s how it may seem random person interrupting my blog post, but now we come to main reason for my concern. I will get shot. Texas is full of conservative people and guns. The two are attracted to each other like birds and clean glass doors.

And nothing makes Texans happier than shooting people for trespassing. It’s the reason we (I am Texan so I can say “We”) co-opted the litter campaign slogan “Don’t Mess With Texas” to mean basically don’t mess with anything here or we’ll shoot you. Adding to this problem is that on a per capita basis the number of guns is inversely proportional to the population. As the number of people go down, the number of guns goes up. What this means is that urban centers farther in the eastern part of the state have relatively few guns compared to the amount of people there. Austin is pretty much one dreadlocked hipster away from starting Woodstock back up: there are zero guns in Austin, the police carry tasers and occasionally bear spray for the really wacked out hippy. In a smaller town such as Tyler (population 100,000 give or take) there is a good 1-to-1 gun to person ratio that is enforced by the state legislature. In my hometown of Vernon (population 11,000) there is a 5-to-1 gun to person ratio. Once again just the letter of the law. In a place like far Southwest Texas where human settlement is sparse to non-existent there is a gun leaning against everything larger than 2 feet tall.

And even if it wasn’t their own property, I’m sure the good citizens living near Big Bend would shoot someone trespassing on another person’s land just on sheer principal.

This land may belong to Big Government and Uncle Sam... but the law is the law

You can now see my predicament. I wouldn’t think twice about going into a national park in a state like New Hampshire. What are they going to do? Give me a stern lecture on the need for civil discourse in our society? At Big Bend I could end up as fodder for whatever roams the landscape: cattle, vultures, Mad Max. So we need this shutdown to come to an end! We needn’t be pressing loftier goals of partisanship and the correct path of our nation. Really we all need is to come together in this instance so Coach Rodgers and I can go hiking, and (quite separately) get away from everyone else. I like to think that’s something we can all agree on, and if not, then you’re dead to me and you’re opinion matters not.

Now what?

Well what seemed to be a never-ending rush of 12 + hour days has suddenly ceased with the weather-forced cancellation of the Women's IIAC Individual Tournament. Yes, I am a bit at loss as to how to fill my time and feel "guilty" leaving the building after only 10 hours.

All the Tennis we played has been well chronicled by Coach Kris and Coach Brad, so I will simply say, I am pleased, very pleased, with the play of both Teams. A job well done.

I should also point out that it is October. And that means Baseball playoffs! Oops. Brad's Rangers neglected to win game #163 and failed to make the playoffs. My Reds neglected to play well in playoff game #1, and therefore are done playing,. (Still making news, tho, by making a managerial change) This leaves Kris' Braves..... who got off to a not very wonderful beginning, losing their game #1 last night. So far there have been five games since Sunday. Each Team I have rooted for has LOST!

Now what goes on in the the Racquet Center? I thought I could sneak out for a quick hike or so in some part of the country. However, I did notice that the National Parks are all CLOSED (of course, I just received my National Parks Pass) and in studying the Tennis Google Calendar it seems that Coach Kris has me scheduled for activities in the Center on every weekend for the foreseeable future.

So you can find each of the three of us here in the Racquet Center! Call or stop by anytime!

Shortened ITA Roundup

This is going to be a pretty short post for me. My writing has been on the fritz lately due to a lack of internet which has also been on the fritz. For the past few days our connection here at Coe has been non-existant which can have quite a negative effect when you're trying to write an internet blog.

A recap of the men's ITA has already been posted on the blog and I'll just reiterate a few points. Overall the team did very good and was well represented on each day of the tournament. And make no mistake each of those well represented days was very very long. On Friday we got to the courts at 8am and left that night sometime around 11pm. I don't know the exact time because I was bleeding from the eyes and hearing voices in my head. Being at a tournament for that many hours in one day will do that to you. The following day was much better but still a long one. We put in a good 12 hours at the tennis center with Noah being on court for over 8 of them. That is the definition of a long day.

After such a long day Noah got to experience his first ice bath! Judging by the look of pure... whatever the opposite of joy is, on Noah's face I assume it was not an experience he wishes to repeat. Noah was in great shape coming into the tournament and it helped him get to the semifinals in both singles and doubles where he partnered with Riley. All that time on court had to eventually take its toll. Even though he was dead tired in his Sunday singles semifinal Noah was able to mount a second set comeback and force yet another 3rd set. He eventually succumbed 6-3 in the final set to a very tough Whitewater opponent, but Noah fought the whole way through. As a consolation prize we went to Culver's, but in the name of healthiness we didn't order anything of poor nutritional value. 

That's obviously a lie. We got ice cream of course. 

As a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialists I highly recommend the Mint Oreo Mixer

Now it's on to off-season. It will be quite a few months before we hit the courts again which should be just enough time for all of us to recover from the weekend.

MT - ITA Regional

The Men's Team wrapped up their Fall season with ITA play this past weekend.

Tournament website/results here.

"It was a good, almost great, performance," noted Coach Rodgers.  Of highlight, and excepting Noah Sprinkel's rather difficult (top seed) to hold, all Kohawks held their given seed (singles and doubles).  Coe was represented by six players in the Round of 32 (Sprinkel, Riley Galbraith, Ryan Hickman, Sean Stokstad, Alex Bernt, Mike Janssen) and two Kohawks, Sprinkel and Galbraith, in the quarterfinal round.  Noah advanced to the semi-finals before losing in three sets to the eventual Champion.

On the doubles front, Coe had two pairs in the Round of 16 (Sprinkel/Galbraith and Janssen/Stokstad).  Sprinkel/Galbraith continued on to the semi-final round.

Ring Ceremony

20+ rings were distributed yesterday to members of last year's Men's and Women's Conference Championship teams: