The 2008-2009 Grinnell College athletic season kicks off in full force this weekend with multiple events.

The lone home action will involve the Pioneer soccer teams, as they host Coe College of the Iowa Conference on Saturday. The women's contest begins at 11 a.m. and the men play at 1:30 p.m.

Grinnell's volleyball team heads to River Forest, Ill., to participate in the Dominican University Tournament on Saturday and Sunday. The Pioneers play the host school at 10 a.m. Saturday and Benedictine at noon. They continue action on Sunday with matches against the University of Chicago at 10 a.m. and Augustana at noon.

The Pioneer cross country teams head to Lawrence, Kan., to participate in the prestigious Bob Timmons Invitational on Saturday. The meet starts at 9 a.m. Rounding out the weekend action will be the Grinnell women's golf team, which plays in the Illinois College Invitational in Jacksonville on Saturday and Sunday.

Grinnell's women's tennis team opens its season at home Tuesday against Simpson College. Match time is 4 p.m. The Pioneer football team doesn't begin until Saturday, Sept. 6, with a game at Cornell College in Mount Vernon.

After serving Grinnell College athletics as both players and coaches, Jason Anderson '01 and Zach Fletcher '03 are moving on to new coaching ventures.

Anderson (left), defensive coordinator for the Pioneers' football team and assistant baseball coach, has been hired as head baseball coach and assistant football coach at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis. Anderson was serving in an internship program designed by the College to provide quality coaching experience that leads to future coaching opportunities.

Fletcher (right), offensive line coach coach for the Pioneers' football team as well as director of the College's Fitness Center, is the new offensive coordinator at Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio.

Anderson and Fletcher both played football at Grinnell, while Anderson also was a member of the Pioneer baseball and basketball squads.

"I am extraordinarily pleased that Jason and Zach have landed very attractive positions coaching," said College President Russell K. Osgood. "Their success is a testament to the strength of our athletic program and the wisdom of our creation a few years ago of limited time positions that men and women interested in coaching can occupy, receive a basic salary and benefits, and then obtain a promotion. Most colleges pay very small stipends, provide no benefits, and rely on outside work to help support the aspiring coach. We thought this was a more responsible way and I am very glad Jason continues our tradition of these individuals landing good head coaching positions."

"We are very pleased that Zach and Jason will continue their professional growth in the coaching profession," said Grinnell Director of Athletics and Recreation Greg Wallace. "Their advancement continues the recent success of other young Grinnell coaches who are now college head coaches, such as Aaron Rushing (head baseball coach and assistant football coach at Carleton College), Alex Kuhn (head swimming and diving coach at Sweet Briar College) and Nikki McLellan (head women's soccer coach at Knox College)."

Grinnell College Director of Athletics and Recreation Greg Wallace announced that Kariann Blair has been hired as assistant athletic trainer at the school.

Blair comes from Eastern Illinois University, where she served as a graduate assistant athletic trainer since August 2006.

Blair graduated from Buena Vista University in Storm Lake with a bachelor's degree in athletic training and recently obtained her master's of science in cardiac rehabilitation from Eastern Illinois. Prior to her job at Eastern Illinois, she served as an intern at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and with Sports Medicine Northwest.

"We are very excited to have Kariann as our new assistant athletic trainer," said Wallace. "Her work with a wide variety of sports at both the NCAA Division III and Division I levels will be beneficial to all our student-athletes. She will be a great addition to our staff."

Grinnell College landed 41 student-athletes on the Midwest Conference All-Academic Team for the 2008 spring sports season. The Pioneers had 10 selections alone in women's outdoor track and field, nine in men's outdoor track and field and eight each in baseball and softball.

Student-athletes from all 10 member institutions who hold a cumulative 3.2 grade point average and letter in any of the MWC's spring sports (baseball, softball, men's golf, men's tennis, men's outdoor track and field and women's outdoor track and field) are eligible.
Midwest Conference Spring All-Academic Team

A number of senior student-athletes were honored at the annual Grinnell College Honor G Banquet Sunday at the Harris Center.

Allison Louthan, Hannah Wolf, Sarah Spencer and Sandra King received the highest honors awarded for female athletics. Louthan and Wolf received the Grace McIlrath Parker '11 Memorial Award for Outstanding Senior Athlete in a Single Sport, with Louthan earning it for an individual sport and Wolf for a team sport.

Winning the Joyce Buck '56 Award for Outstanding Senior Athlete in More than One Sport were Spencer (individual sport) and King (team sport).

Charlie Knuth, D.J. Warden and Sam Lancaster received similar honors for men's athletics. Knuth won the David Theophilus '51 Memorial Award for Outstanding Senior Athlete in More than One Sport, representing an individual sport.

Earning the Morgan Taylor '26 Memorial Award for Outstanding Senior Athlete in a Single Sport were Warden (individual sport) and Lancaster (team sport).

Ryan Lyerla won the men's Honor G Scholastic Award and Knuth the George B. Critchett '25 Service Award. King received the Honor G Scholastic Award for Women and Molly Kratz the Honor G Service Award for Women.
Photo Gallery

Veronika Platzer '87, who made a name for herself as a Grinnell College track and field athlete, will be inducted into the NCAA Division III Track and Field/USTFCCCA Hall of Fame in Oshkosh, Wis.

The induction will take place Wednesday, May 21, on the eve of the NCAA Division III National Track and Field Meet.

A three-time NCAA Division III discus champion, Platzer was inducted into the Grinnell College Hall of Fame and was voted the NCAA Division III Female Track and Field Athlete of the Decade (1980-1990).

In her four years, Platzer dominated the women's discus event, losing only once, her freshman year, when she placed second at the national meet. She went on to win three consecutive titles in the discus as well as place in the top six in both the indoor and outdoor shot put, earning her 10 All-American honors.

Platzer currently serves as assistant women's rowing coach at the University of Michigan. In addition to coaching at Michigan, she is coming into her third year as the assistant coach for the United States Junior National Women's Rowing Team. Platzer has also been a competitive rower, representing the U.S. at World Cup races between 1993 and 1997 as well as the World Championships in 1993.

Prior to coaching at Michigan, Platzer coached women's rowing at the University of Virginia, leading their Varsity Four to an NCAA championship in 2004 and guiding novice crews to ACC and South Region championships in 2005 and 2006. Platzer also has coached rowing at Mercyhurst and the University of Wisconsin.

Platzer was surprised to receive the news of her selection to the Hall of Fame. "It's indescribable, and in some ways almost surreal," she said. "It's amazing that now, having been a rowing coach for a while, to be honored for a different sport."

Platzer was quick to distribute credit, though. "It's an honor for me, but really it's more of a credit to Grinnell College and (coaches) Will and Evelyn Freeman," she said. "It's certainly nice to be going into the Hall of Fame, but for me the greatest thing during that time was graduating from Grinnell College. That was very special."
Photo Gallery

Juan Carlos Perez Borja, Cyrus Mistry and Claire Reeder - all '11 - were honored at Grinnell College's annual GOAL banquet on Sunday.

Borja (left) and Mistry (center) shared the G. Lester Duke '25 Award as the top freshmen male athletes representing a single sport, while Reeder (right) was named the top female representing a team sport. Borja and Mistry were key contributors for the Pioneer tennis and swimming and diving teams, respectively, while Reeder was a big part of Grinnell's volleyball team last fall.

Also Sunday, Jon Antrim '09 and Liz Davis '11 won the Honor G Award while Joe Fox '08 and Amanda Keledjian '08 won the Pioneer Award.

The Pioneer men tallied 72.5 points in a system that gave 10 points to a conference team champion, nine for a runner-up finish, on down through one point for 10th place. Monmouth College narrowly won the title with 74 points, while St. Norbert College finished third behind Grinnell with 72 points. The Pioneer men claimed three conference titles during the season, winning in cross country, tennis and swimming and diving.

The Pioneer women, who were conference champs in the same three sports as the men, finished with 68 points to finish one point behind third-place Monmouth. St. Norbert was first with 81.5 points and Carroll College took second with 74.5.

Distance running legend Frank Shorter, the 1972 Olympic marathon champion, spoke to a captive audience of 200-plus during a presentation at Darby Gymnasium on the campus of Grinnell College last weekend.

Shorter's appearance was held in conjunction with the annual National Distance Running Summit hosted by the college. Besides his presentation at Darby, Shorter also spoke during a Summit session and met one-on-one for an interview with Grinnell College Sports Information Director Ted Schultz.

Shorter not only discussed his Olympic victory, but his near repeat win in the 1976 Games. However, he finished second that year to virtual unknown Waldemar Cierpinski of East Germany. Cierpinski's win has come under heavy scrutiny, though, due to alleged drug use by him and much of the East German Olympic team.

Since then, Shorter has been a major advocate in the battle against the use of performance-enhancing methods that tilt the playing field. In 2000, he became the first-ever chairman of the United States Anti-Doping Agency. That independent agency replaced the United States Olympic Committee's program.

"Because of that agency, bad people were replaced by people without conflicts of interest," Shorter explained. "It's getting to the point where the good guys are taking over. I think the paradigm has shifted in favor of the clean athletes. We're getting to the point where the clean athletes know that even if someone is doing drugs, they'll probably get caught."

Shorter's presentation at Darby was titled "The State of Distance Running in the United States." Things went downhill in the 1970s, said Shorter, but are now on the upswing. "Looking at American distance running, it started going down around the time of the 1976 Olympics," said Shorter. "The East Germans won more medals than any other country in those Olympics and you can answer your own question as to why. You can't take the drugs out of the history. My theme here is working through the denial. Many times with denial, you're well-meaning but feel you have no control of what's going on so it's better to pretend it's not there. By 1984 the men were already off the map (in terms of distance running) and the women were close in terms of the size of talent pool. But again, in looking for a reason, you have to factor in the 800-pound gorilla who's in the game."

But the growing disparity wasn't simply of physical nature. "There's the psychological effect of clean people lining up against people they knew were cheating," said Shorter. "How does that impact you in your race and when you're on the track doing your intervals? Do you really believe you can beat the guy you know is on drugs?"

But as performance-enhancing methods such as drugs and doping are being eliminated from the equation, the playing field is becoming more balanced, said Shorter. "I think it's coming around," Shorter said of the Americans' quest to return to elite status. "We're showing there's hope when you have someone like Ryan Hall not only winning the Olympic marathon trials, but running 2:09:02 on a tough course. People are actually looking at that performance and thinking he has a chance. I think it's becoming more apparent that the playing field is going back to level, and because of that Americans will do better."

On a side note, Shorter touched on his relationship with distance running legend Steve Prefontaine, who was killed in an auto accident in 1975. Two movies were made on Prefontaine's life, helping launch him to the status of icon. "Steve and I were actually very good friends," said Shorter, one of the last people to see Prefontaine alive. "We were also complimentary training partners. That's what American distance running needs, a return to the time when athletes chose with whom they wanted to train. It wasn't the agents, coaches or shoe companies deciding. The best talent has to get together to train without agents worrying their man might somehow give up some advantage by doing so."

Shorter added that he is known by younger running enthusiasts partly because of the Prefontaine movies. "Kids will come up and just look at me," said Shorter. "So I head them off at the pass and say, 'You want to talk about Steve, right?' And that's often what they want."