Kelsey Ackerman | Sports Co-Editor
Tanner Hoops | Staff Writer
Over the Winter and Interim breaks, many Buena Vista University (BVU) students headed home for the holidays and to internships or travel opportunities for Interim. However, for the winter sports teams, the action never stops. The season must go on for Men’s and Women’s Basketball, Indoor Track and Field, and Wrestling.
Below, are updates on all of the teams’ seasons, and what you might have missed over the winter breaks.
Indoor Track and Field
For both the Men’s and Women’s Indoor Track and Field teams, January highlighted the beginning of the competitive season for the teams.
In the first meet of the 2017 season at Dordt College, the Beavers competed against schools ranging from Division II to NAIA. A first place finish came from sophomore Drew Beall, who took the championship in the shot-put. The Beavers also added three first place finishes on the Women’s side with senior Madison Spear and a PR in the 55m hurdles, sophomore Victoria Leffler with a PR in triple jump, and senior Mallory Spear won the 400m.
The Beavers then traveled to Wartburg College for the Chelsey M. Henkenius Open. The Beavers had several athletes achieve PRs throughout the meet. Highlighting the finishes, was Beall’s first place finish in the shot-put. Beall broke the indoor shot-put record with his toss of 15.06m, by 11 inches. The Men’s team ended up at sixth place, while the Women’s took fifth place.
The following weekend, the Beavers came home to host the Dennis Young Classic. Beall broke his own school record set the weekend before with a shot-put toss of 15.28m. Senior Kyle Wessling came up just short of his school record in the heptathlon with a score of 4,208 points. Leffler took her third title in a row in triple jump, while Madison Spear took the 60m hurdles. The Men’s team finished fifth in the invite, while the Women’s team finished fourth.
First year Head Coach for the Beavers, Colton Slack, has been thoroughly impressed with his athletes’ performances and efforts through the beginning of their indoor season.
“Everyday this team comes to workouts with a genuine desire to succeed. They hold each other accountable and push each other to be the best they can be,” Slack said, “It is no surprise to me that they are having the success they are, but we are not satisfied and there is still a lot more to accomplish. This is only the beginning!”
Currently, the Beavers have landed several athletes in the NCAA DIII National Rankings. Beall sits at #35 in the shot-put, Wessling sits at #42 in the heptathlon, Madison Spear sits at #12 in the 60m hurdles, and Mallory Spear sits at #36 in the 60m dash and #38 in the 200m dash.
“Many people on this team are running, jumping, and throwing the best they ever have,” Slack said, “I would like them to look at their performances at this point of the season and have confidence for what is to come.”
The Beavers continue their indoor season at the NJCAA Regional Meet here in the Lamberti Recreation Center on January 17 and 18.
Wrestling
Over the breaks, the BVU Wrestling team competed in the bulk of their Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) duals.
Mid-January, the Beavers competed in the IIAC duals against strong opponents: Dubuque, #1 Wartburg, and #10 Central.
Senior Andrew Nelson and sophomore Shane Vaughan came out of the day with 2-1 records. Nelson was the only one to pick up a win for the Beavers over #1 ranked Wartburg, as well as a win against Dubuque. Vaughan got both of his wins over Dubuque. Senior Ernesto Garcia picked up a win over Dubuque as well.
The Beavers also traveled to the Pete Willson Invite, where sophomore Brad Kerkoff captured an eighth place finish at 157 pounds. This accomplishment came in an invite which included some of the top-ranked teams nationally.
One of the major trials for this Beaver wrestling team, has been how young they are.
“With the bulk of our season in December and January, I think our guys have done really well being able to transition over from high school to college. It is very tough to successfully transition to the next level of competing, but the freshmen are making big jumps for us in the lineup and competing really well against tough competition,” Nelson said.
The middle of the season for the Beaver wrestlers, proved to be quite the grind, which ends up as great preparation for the regional and national tournaments.
“Over the past couple months our team has showed great promise,” Garcia said, “We have had place winners at every tournament, our team is coming together at the right time as we get ready for the regional and national tournaments. I hope that we can take our success and the level of fight that we’ve had up to this point into the end of the season.”
In order for the team to push to their full potential, Nelson thinks much of that relies in not learning new techniques or tricks, but in perfecting the things that have worked well for individuals. Another aspect he thinks the team has to work on is improving mentally and gaining the confidence needed for an extra advantage.
“Our team has put an emphasis on putting your mind in the right place to compete at your highest level,” Nelson said.
BVU currently sits at 1-6 (0-6 IIAC), while they look ahead this week to one of their last IIAC duals against Nebraska Wesleyan. The Beavers will host Wesleyan for their annual Dinner and Show Dual on Wednesday Feb. 8 at 7 pm inside Dows Ballroom.
Women’s Basketball
The Beaver women headed to Seattle after classes let out for winter break and split a pair of tournament games; defeating host Pacific Lutheran before falling to Puget Sound. The Lady Beavers ended the 2016 portion of the schedule with a win over Grinnell and a loss to Grand View.
The Beavers went 4-4 in the month of January but have dropped their first two games of February to even the team’s overall record at 11-11. Buena Vista currently sits fourth in the IIAC standings with a game and a half lead over 5th-place Coe.
Senior guard Sidney Beckman became just the third player in program history to reach 200 career 3-pointers, a feat she accomplished on February 1 during the team’s 81-68 loss at Simpson.
“We’re going to keep working,” says veteran head coach Janet Berry. “We’ve got a big game coming up. We’ve got to come out with a little more energy and be less hesitant. We’ve had a good year so far, we’re right in the thick of things and we’re fighting for home court in the conference tournament.”
The Beavers currently sit at 11-11 overall (7-6 IIAC) and host their final home game this Saturday against Coe College with their annual Pink-Out game at 2 pm.
Men’s Basketball
Once classes let out and the first semester ended, the Beaver Men’s Basketball team finished the final two weeks of December by playing five non-conference games in three different states. BVU picked up wins against Beloit and Elmhurst during that stretch but fell to Greenville in a shootout 115-108 before dropping two games during the team’s winter trip to Washington against #8 Whitworth and #2 Whitman.
The Beavers returned to IIAC action after New Year’s and posted a 7-1 record through the month of January, at one point reeling off six consecutive wins. Following his late game heroics in the team’s win over Coe, senior forward Kennedy Drey was named the IIAC Male Athlete of the Week for the final week of January.
After splitting their first two games in the month of February, the Beaver men find themselves atop the IIAC standings at 14-8 (10-3 IIAC). BVU holds a one game lead over second-place Nebraska Wesleyan while Loras sits in third, a game and a half behind the Beavers.
“We try to take each game one game at a time,” says 21-year head coach Brian Van Haaften, “the schedule is grueling and if you look too far ahead it eats you up.”
The Beavers gear up for their final home game this Saturday, Feb 11 at 4 pm for their Senior Day game.
Photo by Emily Kenny
