Stairclimber

Brad would be proud of the "Old Coach". After a four hour upward 6.6 mile trek, I found myself here at Kelly's Lake in Colorado's State Forest State Park (weird name, huh?)

Part of my annual summer "walkabout". Helps me prepare for the upcoming Fall season of Kohawk Tennis.

18 days!

Iowa Open Week

ITA Academic Awards

KOHAWK WOMEN'S TENNIS PLAYERS
 RECEIVE ITA SCHOLAR-ATHLETE AWARD

Tai Lucero, Amy Sebastian and Shade Hannum have been recognized as scholar-athletes by the Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches Association 

In order to earn ITA Scholar-Athlete status a player must meet the following criteria: 1.) be a varsity letter winner, 2.) have a grade point average of at least 3.50 (on a 4.00 scale) for the current academic year, and 3.) have been enrolled at their present school for at least 2 semesters (including freshman thorough senior year).

Summer Tennis Camp - 2013

Had 20+ campers join us last week for the annual Summer Camp.  Turned out to be a great week of weather, progress and fun!

Special thanks to Laura, Bill, Lindsey, Ashley and Coach (and Emmie!) for making the week a success.

Laura & Bill working on serves.  Coach demonstrating a forehand on the second court.

Hanging out in the Player's Lounge.

Believe that is Cameron with the wicked follow-through....and the boys cornered!

Can you find Emmie?

By week's end, the campers see that Coach Kris has a fun side too.

Kohawks in the Community!!

We are introducing a new feature on the blog – Kohawks in the Community.  Many of our tennis players, current and past, devote time to philanthropic activities.  As such, I’d like to recognize them for their efforts, and spirited/giving nature.  Each act will be noted in a blog post; you can also access past philanthropic efforts via the feature (Kohawks in the Community) accessible in the right hand column.

Dating back to the Spring, I would like to recognize the players and causes listed below.

Chris Paasch (’06), and his brother Cory, visited their high school to sponsor/present an anti-bullying campaign through the Midwest Center for School Safety.

Tai Lucero (’14) ran with Holland Van Metre in a Girls on the Run event.  

Coach Kris spent a half day putting up trellises on a Habitat for Humanity house with a team of faculty and staff from Coe College.

The Crew!

I am confident that many more of our players served the community this past Spring.  Unfortunately, I am not always made aware of these efforts.  Suppose this is understandable since the spirit of giving, rather than recognition, is at the heart of philanthropy.  Nonetheless, volunteerism is a staple/tenant of Kohawk Tennis and I would like to see that principle both recognized, and grow/flourish!

Stay tuned for TEAM efforts in the months to come as well!  A date will soon be established for the 2^nd Annual Fitness, Fun & Philanthropy.  Kohawk Tough, an on campus physical test of participating faculty, staff and students, may be released this Fall also.  The event would benefit a team chosen organization. 

A Tribute to Geoffrey....

This video has been a long time coming.....

Geoffrey's Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoSGQsr3NMg

National Individual Rankings

The national Individual rankings were finalized today. Top Kohawk honors went to Michelle Schupbach and Tai Lucero who finished 16th in doubles. Tai ended the season as #41 in singles while Noah Sprinkel was 43rd on the Men's final listing.

Dean's List

Five Kohawk Tennis Team members were selected for the Spring 2013 Dean's List

Shade Hannum, Tai Lucero and Amy Sebastian from the Women's Team

Mark Kroll and Daken Starkenburg represent the Men's Team

Congratulations!

Academic All-American

CoeAthletics Junior Tai Lucero named to CoSIDA/Capital One Academic All-American team. She is first @KohawkTennis women's player to ever earn award

Iowa Conference Men's Tennis Awards, All-Conference Team

                             Coe's Sprinkel Named MVP

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa --- The Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) has announced its All-Conference Team and major awards for the 2013 men’s tennis season. Coe College sophomore Noah Sprinkel (Minneapolis, Minn. / South) has been named the 2013 IIAC Men’s Tennis Player of the Year while Buena Vista University’s Kevin McCadams and Coe College’s Eric Rodgers have been named co-recipients of the 2013 IIAC Men’s Tennis Coach of the Year award.

Sprinkel was voted all-conference in both singles and doubles this season and captured Most Valuable Player honors for the first time in his career after posting a 48-13 overall record, including a 21-7 mark in singles play. In the fall, he took third at the Iowa Conference Individual Championships and advanced to the quarterfinals of the USTA/ITA Division III Midwest Region Championships. Sprinkel was ranked sixth in the May 2 ITA Central Region singles rankings and was selected for the field for the 2013 NCAA Division III Men’s Tennis Championships at Kalamazoo, Mich., where he fell, 6-4, 7-5, to Amherst’s Andrew Yaraghi in the first round.

In doubles, he partnered with Curtis Newman to post a 27-6 mark, winning the title at the Iowa Conference Individual Championships and advancing to the quarterfinal round at the USTA/ITA Division III Midwest Region Championships. Sprinkel and Newman were ranked sixth in the May 2 ITA Central Region singles rankings and was selected as Central Region alternates for the 2013 NCAA Division III Men’s Tennis Championships at Kalamazoo, Mich.

Sprinkel is the sixth Coe player to be named Iowa Conference MVP, accounting for 10 total honors, and the first since Greg Janssen in 2010.

McCadams received IIAC Men’s Tennis Coach of the Year honors for the first time after leading the Beavers to a 10-7 mark and a tie for third in the Iowa Conference standings. It is the first time since 1997 that Buena Vista has posted at least 10 wins. The Beavers also qualified for the Iowa Conference Team Tournament for the first time since it became a six-team affair in 2006, finishing fifth.

Rodgers received IIAC Men’s Tennis Coach of the Year honors for the fifth time overall and the second year in succession. He led Coe to a 32-2 record overall and a 7-0 mark in the league, winning the school’s eighth Iowa Conference men’s tennis title. Under his direction, the top-seeded Kohawks defeated fifth-seeded Wartburg and second-seeded Luther by identical 5-0 scores to win the Iowa Conference AQ Tournament. The Kohawks advanced to the NCAA Championships, earning a first-round bye. Coe dropped Earlham, 5-3, in the second round before bowing out to 10th-ranked Washington University in St. Louis, 5-0, in a third round match-up.

Rodgers is also a five-time IIAC Women’s Tennis Coach of the Year (2006-08, 2011-12).

The IIAC also announced the 2013 All-Iowa Conference Men’s Tennis Team. Thirteen individuals were selected to fill the 12 singles and six doubles positions with Sprinkel, Newman, Coe freshman Yasushi Inoue, Luther junior Ramesh Karki, and Central freshman West Adelman receiving honors for their play in both singles and doubles.

Karki was selected All-Iowa Conference in both singles and doubles for the third time, while Newman and Sprinkel were singles and doubles honorees for the second straight year. Luther senior Nick Mozena picked up his third straight all-conference honor in singles and Coe junior Sean Stokstad earned his second straight All-IIAC honor in singles.

Iowa Conference champion Coe led all schools with eight all-conference selections between five players. Luther received four honors spread among three players, Wartburg had two individuals receive singles honors alone and Central had one individual receive honors in both singles and doubles. Buena Vista and Loras each had one player receive all-league honors in singles alone.

The complete 2013 All-Iowa Conference Men’s Tennis Team follows this release.
 

~~ www.iowaconference.com ~~

2013 All-Iowa Conference Men's Tennis Team
Most Valuable Player – Noah Sprinkel, Coe
Co-Coaches of the Year – Kevin McCadams, Buena Vista & Eric Rodgers, Coe
Singles	School	Year	Hometown / High School
Adam Gustad	Buena Vista	Jr.	Fargo, N.D. / Fargo South
West Adelman	Central	Fr.	Geneva, Ill. / Geneva
Riley Galbraith	Coe	Fr.	Cedar Rapids, Iowa / Kennedy
Yasushi Inoue	Coe	Fr.	Kokubunji, Tokyo, Japan / Waseda
Curtis Newman $	Coe	Sr.	Ankeny, Iowa / Ankeny
Noah Sprinkel $	Coe	So.	Minneapolis, Minn. / South
Sean Stokstad $	Coe	Jr.	Ramstein, Germany / Ramstein
Jon Moore	Loras	So.	Dubuque, Iowa / Wahlert
Ramesh Karki ! $	Luther	Jr.	Kathmandu, Nepal / Xavier International
Nick Mozena ! $	Luther	Sr.	Dubuque, Iowa / Senior
Yusuf Chowdhry	Wartburg	Fr.	Independence, Iowa / Independence
Brian Rasmussen	Wartburg	Sr.	Fort Dodge, Iowa / Fort Dodge
Doubles	School	Year	Hometown / High School
West Adelman	Central	Fr.	Geneva, Ill. / Geneva
Yasushi Inoue	Coe	Fr.	Kokubunji, Tokyo, Japan / Waseda
Curtis Newman #	Coe	Sr.	Ankeny, Iowa / Ankeny
Noah Sprinkel #	Coe	So.	Minneapolis, Minn. / South
Quinn Foley	Luther	So.	Dellwood, Minn. / Mahtomedi
Ramesh Karki ^ #	Luther	Jr.	Kathmandu, Nepal / Xavier International
Honorable Mention	School	Year	Hometown / High School
Kyle Freischlag	Central	Jr.	Downers Grove, Ill. / Downers Grove South
Tim Kahl	Central	So.	Grinnell, Iowa / Grinnell
Ryan Hickman	Coe	Fr.	Hutchinson, Kan. / Hutchinson
Michael Janssen	Coe	Jr.	Oshkosh, Wis. / Lourdes
James Ayer	Luther	Jr.	Philadelphia, Pa. / Central
Matt Bellio	Luther	Jr.	Fond du Lac, Wis. / St. Mary’s Spring Academy
Torstein Jystad	Luther	So.	Kolbotan, Norway / Oppegaard Videregaaende Skole
Alex Hook	Simpson	Jr.	West Des Moines, Iowa / Valley
Eric Hilpert	Wartburg	So.	Stillwater, Minn. / Stillwater