Lawrence Today magazine, Spring 2009

Wrestling
Sam Laes ’10 became Lawrence’s first national qualifier in three years when he received an at-large berth for the NCAA Division III Championships. The 184-pounder finished with a 1-2 mark at the championships and completed the season with a 25-9 record. Laes won individual titles at the Milwaukee School of Engineering Invitational and the Northern Wrestling Association Tournament.

Swimming and diving
Hayley Vatch ’09 and Peter Brengel ’12 walked off with Swimmer of the Year honors at the Midwest Conference Championships at Grinnell College. Vatch broke five records and won three individual titles. Led by Vatch, the Lawrence women placed second in the team standings with 583 points. Vatch defended her title in the 500-yard freestyle and set the meet and pool records with a time of 5:08.28. That shattered the championships record of 5:12.52 set by Lake Forest College’s Randi Estes in 1999. Vatch won a second title when she swam to first in the 200 freestyle in 1:57.03. That broke the 23-year-old record of 1:57.50 set by Coe College’s Jennifer Gaard in 1986. Vatch wrapped up the meet by defending her title in the 1,650 freestyle and breaking the meet and pool records with a time of 17:45.10. She set the record of 17:49.25 at last season’s championships. Brengel set a record and won a trio of titles. He led the Lawrence men to a third-place finish with 613 points. Brengel picked up the first of his three titles when he won the 100 backstroke in 52.13 seconds. Brengel broke the championships record of 52.60 seconds set by Grinnell’s Brett McMillan in 2002. Brengel then picked up a pair of titles on the final day of the championships when he won the 200 backstroke and the 100 freestyle. He swam to victory in the 200 backstroke in 2:01.24 and took first in the 100 freestyle in 48.62 seconds.

Women’s basketball
With a roster of only seven players for nearly half the season, the Vikings finished with a 0-23 record. Forward Erin Henzi ’10 was named to the All-Midwest Conference team. A second-team selection, Henzi finished sixth in the league in scoring at 14.4 points per game and 15th at 5.8 rebounds per game.

Fencing
The Vikings finished 17th in the combined team standings at the Midwest Fencing Conference Championships at the University of Notre Dame. Lawrence’s top finishers at the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships were Dorothea Schurr ’11, who placed 13th in foil, and Alex Chee ’11, who took 13th in sabre.

Men’s Basketball
The run of success continued as the Vikings won their fifth Midwest Conference championship in six seasons. For the second consecutive season, Lawrence won the league title, the MWC Tournament championship, and played in the NCAA Division III Tournament. Lawrence, which finished with a 19-7 record, was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament with a heartbreaking 67-65 first-round loss to Washington University of St. Louis, which went on to win its second straight national title. Lawrence earned its spot in the NCAA Tournament with an 88-69 drubbing of Grinnell College in the MWC Tournament game. The Vikings finished 13-3 in league play and had won nine straight games before falling in the NCAA Tournament.

Guard Ryan Kroeger ’09 earned honorable mention on the D3hoops.com All-America team and was an All-Midwest Region selection by D3hoops and the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Kroeger was the MWC Player of the Year for the second straight year, and Joel DePagter ’98 was Coach of the Year. Kroeger finished his career with 1,537 points, 28 shy of tying Chris Braier’s ’06 career scoring record. DePagter, who has a record of 41-10 in two seasons, is the only basketball coach in MWC history to win league titles in each of his first two seasons. He also is the first man to win Coach of the Year and Player of the Year, capturing the latter in 1997. Forward Chris Page ’09 and guard Jayce Apelgren ’09 both received honorable mention on the all-conference team.

Hockey
The Vikings had their best season in school history with a 16-11-1 record and a second-place finish in the Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association. Lawrence went 14-5-1 in MCHA play and set a school record with nine consecutive conference victories. Forward Nick Jennette ’09 and goaltender Evan Johnson ’11 were both named to the all-conference team, and defenseman Jameson Raymond ’12 was chosen for the all-freshman team.

Jennette finished his career by tying the Lawrence records for career goals (48) and points (103). Johnson set Lawrence season records for wins (13), goals against average (2.11), and save percentage (.918). He also led the nation with seven shutouts and posted the fifth-longest scoreless streak in NCAA history at 192 minutes, 26 seconds. Raymond was the highest scoring defenseman on the team. In MCHA play, ranking sixth in the league in both freshman scoring and defenseman scoring at 0.70 points per game.

Indoor track and field
Madeline Steininger ’10 won the high jump and placed in two more events to lead the Vikings at the Midwest Conference Championships at Monmouth College. Steininger won the high jump with a leap of 5 feet, 1.25 inches. She also placed fourth on the long jump at 16-7.25 and fourth in the 55-meter hurdles in 9.17 seconds. Marva Goodson ’12 also placed in three events for the Vikings. She took second in the long jump at 17-8, was third in the 55 meters in 7.51 seconds, and grabbed sixth in the 200 meters in 26.76 seconds. The Lawrence women finished fifth in the team standings with 49 points. The men were ninth with nine points. Goodson broke three school records during the indoor season. She shattered the marks in the 55 meters (7.42), 60 meters (8.10), and 200 meters (26.49).