Coe College - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Coe's Schmitz earns regional honor

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Coe senior Matt Schmitz has been named to the D3football.com All-West Region Football First Team, the fourth straight year Coe has had a first-team selection.

Schmitz, a defensive tackle, led the Iowa Conference in tackles for loss with 9.5 and tied for the league lead with two fumble recoveries. He also ranked second in sacks with 4.5 and tied for 19th with 51 tackles.

He ranked 20th in the nation with two blocked kicks and 123rd in tackles for loss. He ended his career ranked fourth in school history in blocked kicks and tied for 10th with eight quarterback hurries.

Schmitz is now eligible for the D3football.com All-American teams, which will be announced prior to the NCAA Division III National Championship game.

Sheldon brings toughness to Coe wrestling

Coe senior Ryan Sheldon is tough and dedicated to wrestling.

The biggest thing for Sheldon is being tough during the events.

“There’s not a lot of thinking while I wrestle. It’s just a lot of reacting,” he said.

Sheldon, a Kennedy graduate, is ranked No. 4 at 184 pounds at the NCAA Division III level. He has a 9-2 record, with four major decisions and three pins for the fifth-ranked Kohawks.

He won the 184-pound title at the Turkey Open at Coe Nov. 22 and placed third at the Luther Hill Invitational in Indianola Saturday.

Sheldon said wrestlers build their toughness in the workout room and in practices. “You feel like your body doesn't want to go any more so you keep pushing it to get tough,” he remarked.

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Mustangs turn up defense on Coe

The Mount Mercy Mustangs were picked to finish sixth in their final season in the Midwest Collegiate Conference.

Coach Paul Gavin admitted his men's basketball team has been playing with a chip on its shoulder and that chip fell squarely on visiting Coe on Saturday afternoon at the Hennessey Recreation Center.

Mount Mercy's pesky defense forced 21 turnovers, 12 in the first half. The Kohawks could never get into a consistent offensive flow as the Mustangs raced to a convincing 81-65 victory.

"Our kids have worked awfully hard this year," Gavin said after his team moved to 9-3 with the win. "It was a tough year last year, both personally and privately and they've worked really hard to change the culture here.

"It's been a lot of fun to be with these guys each and every day."

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Fitzgerald sets two records for Coe

GRINNELL – Freshman Sam Fitzgerald set two school records to lead the Coe College women’s swimming team at the Pioneer Classic on Saturday at Grinnell College.

Fitzgerald finished second in the 100-yard breaststroke in a school-record time of 1 minute, 9.38 seconds. She was third in the 200 breaststroke in a school-record time of 2:31.85.

The Coe women finished fourth with 453 points, while the Coe men were 11th with 191 points. Grinnell’s men’s and women’s teams each placed first, scoring 1,178 ad 1,506½ points, respectively. Fitzgerald also took 10th place in the 100 butterfly in 1:05.06.

Other top-10 finishers for the Coe women were the 200 medley relay team in sixth place in 1:56.32, Lindsay Meade with sixth place in the 200 freestyle in 2:04.33, Kendall Bundy with third place in the 100 backstroke in 1:02.24 and fifth place in the 200 backstroke in 2:17.73, Lindsay Meade with fourth place in the 1,650 freestyle in 19:20.18, Kendallyn Recker with eighth place in the 1-meter diving with a score of 283.30, and the 800 freestyle relay team in eighth place in 8:43.79.

Tucker Dangremond was seventh in the 100 and 200 breaststrokes in 1:02.50 and 2:20.54, respectively, for the Coe men.