Indoor Track & Field schedule features home meets Jan. 22 and Feb. 5

Cornell College head track and field coach Lonnie Speidel will get his first look at the Rams in action Saturday as they open the indoor season at the Sol Butler Classic on the University of Dubuque campus.

We're in our sixth week of practice together and I know the athletes are ready to get going with the season,” said Speidel, who enters his 11th season on the Hilltop. “I hope this meet will provide us with quality competition so that we can see where we're at as a team.”

The Rams bring back a total of 41 letterwinners, including six who earned all-Iowa Conference accolades a season ago. Speidel is also encouraged by the mix of underclassmen that should make both teams stronger from top to bottom. The Rams have 67 athletes, 24 competing in their first year in the program.

The men's team looks to continue momentum from the fall, when the program enjoyed its best cross country season in decades. Cornell returns three members from its IIAC indoor championship 4x800 relay in senior Kirkwood Donavin (Salt Lake City, Utah/West), junior Adam Rooyakkers (Kimberly, Wis./Kimberly) and junior David Kuhlmann (Readlyn/Wapsie). The group claimed Cornell's first-ever IIAC relay title and came within .11 seconds of breaking the conference record.

Rooyakkers, a three-time all-IIAC indoor performer in 2010, was conference runner-up in the 800-meter run. He also ran on the third-place distance medley relay, which is back intact with Kuhlmann, Donavin and junior Matt McGowan (Winona, Minn./Winona).

Senior Andrew Tobben (Washington, Mo./St. Francis Borgia), a national qualifier in cross country, turned in runner-up finishes in the 5,000 and 10,000 at the IIAC outdoor meet last spring. Junior Chase Nowak (Colorado Springs, Colo./Cheyenne Mountain) is the defending conference outdoor champion in the 10,000.

The men have a big void to fill in the field events left by James Wohrley, who earned all-America honors in the decathlon (sixth place) and pentathlon (eighth) last spring. He is now an assistant coach on the Rams' staff.

“Our men have a lot of potential to score in quite a few events. I am excited about that,” Speidel said. “We lost Wohrley, but I think our newcomers can step up and replace some of his scoring. We have more depth throughout the events this year. The potential is there.”

The 33-member women's squad is led by senior Madison Craw (Mason City/Mason City), one of the top throwers in the conference. She is coming off a solid 2010 campaign in which she earned all-IIAC honors in the indoor (second) and outdoor (third) shot put. Craw was a national indoor qualifier in the shot put in 2009.

“Madison has been a provisional qualifier, she's been to nationals,” Speidel said. “Now she needs to take the next step and be an all-American. That's definitely our goal and her goal.”

The Cornell women return 23 letterwinners, including seven in their fourth season in the program with Andrea Aerts (David City, Neb./East Butler), Craw, Michelle Hannemann (Elburn, Ill./Kaneland), Ellie Hutchison (Greeley, Colo./Greeley Central), Allie Jagielo (Almond, Wis./Tri-County), Allison Newman (Arvada, Colo./Pomona) and Jenny South (Springfield, Ill./Lanphier).

Hannemann is a two-time all-conference performer in the pole vault. Jagielo, Aerts, junior Laura Lindsay (Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook South), sophomore Elise Mead (Andover, Minn./Andover) and freshman Laura Ettlin (Torrance, Calif./West) were regular scorers on the cross country team last fall.

Speidel expects the women's team to be stronger in all events, with help from some promising newcomers.

“Our talent and depth is better than a year ago. We should be much improved,” Speidel said. “We have some decent young jumpers and young distance runners. We're going to be a lot deeper.”

Following Saturday's curtain raiser, the Rams host the Cornell Quadrangular Jan. 22, and are back home on Feb. 5 for the Hilltop Invitational. The IIAC Indoor Championships are Feb. 25-26 in Pella. The NCAA Division III Championships are March 11-12 in Bexley, Ohio.