Last week, Loras’ concert choir joined forces with Clarke University’s collegiate singers, the University of Dubuque concert choir and the Wartburg Seminary choir to mark the International Day of Peace with a special performance.

In perfect harmony, around 200 voices sang songs written in memory of those who lost their lives in the events of 9/11 and the Oklahoma City bombing. The lighting then dimmed for a performance of “Unveiled,” a one-artist play put together by Chicago-based playwright and actress Rohina Malik.

The event was a part of Dubuque’s second annual commemoration of the United Nations’ International Day of Peace. Loras has had the honor of hosting many of these events for both years. Initiated by a group of Dubuque-area residents, this city-wide celebration intends to “create a culture of peace.”

Rohina Malik’s play, “Unveiled,” tells the story of five fictional Muslim women who find inner strength when confronted by prejudice and pressure following the 9/11 attacks. The five separate acts were contextualized on five Muslim female characters serving chai (the Indian spiced, flavored tea) in the post 9/11 world. As the acts unfolded, the stories that lay beneath the veils of these Muslim women gradually are “unveiled.” With a blend of humorous, satirical and provocative tone, Malik effectively presented her message of religious tolerance and peace through the heart-wrenching stories of these women.

Dana Livingston, professor of modern languages and  cultures, said, “The event was a wonderful example of how we can be better, and understand more, through art.”

The ideas presented in Malik’s play were complimentary to the interfaith notions discussed in the first-year Modes of Inquiry classes this year. David Cochran, professor of politics, said, “I think her exploration of women, Islam, and post-9/11 American culture was especially timely given the 10-year anniversary of the attacks and the common reading, Acts of Faith by Eboo Patel, that the campus is doing ahead of Patel’s visit on Oct. 5th.”

Senior Traci Evers said “Rohina Malik’s powerful performance was deeply moving and eye opening. She offered the audience a unique opportunity to share more than just tea with five Muslim women, unveiling the larger issue of the discrimination that exists today.”

The International Day of Peace dates back to 1981, when it was established by a U.N. resolution to coincide with the opening of the General Assembly, which occurred in September 1982. Later, the General Assembly officially declared Sept. 21 as the permanent date for the International Day of Peace. The goal of this celebration, as mentioned in its official website, is “to create practical acts of peace on a shared date.” Across the world, this day is commemorated with simple and large-scale events, like lighting candles and public concerts. The International Day of Peace is also a “day of cease-fire,” not only in the political scene, but also in the personal lives of individuals. It is an opportunity to make peace in our own relationships as well as impact the larger conflicts of our time.

After having a week off from the competition, the men’s team hit the course this past weekend looking to pick up where they left off.

With two weeks of practice in between their meets, they hoped to show improvement, but the practice was not quite enough.

The men finished 10th out of 12 teams at the Clarke University Fall Classic.

“We are not playing anywhere near our potential,” said Coach Jeremy Hawkins. “And we need to figure out a way to do that.”

As the men search for their full potential, the women also are seeking to improve while playing on courses that they have never seen before, putting them at a clear disadvantage.

“The women are continuing to work on getting used to playing courses they haven’t seen before,” said Hawkins. “So far this year we have only played one golf course that we competed on last year.  Lauren Gonner, who is a freshman, is obviously playing all of these courses for the first time.”

The difficulty of playing on a course they had never played on before set the women back a bit, resulting in a finish of 18th out of 20 teams.

Luckily, after looking back at scores from last year, they have been doing better as an overall team.

“In comparing to scores to last year, we are better as a team,” said Hawkins. “Unfortunately for us, our competition, especially in conference, is also getting better.”

Speaking of getting better, the men’s team is also looking to improve over this next week, and quickly too.

With just this week of practice before they hit the greens again, they will have to be at their best to make a quick turnaround possible.

Fortunately for them, Coach Hawkins knows exactly where they need to start at.

“We need to really work on our short game, especially putting,” said Hawkins. “We also need to keep our mistakes to a minimum.”

This will be one of their primary focuses for this week as they begin preparing for the next meet which will be held Sunday the 25th and Monday the 26th by the University of Dubuque.

After coming off of this tough showing, the men’s team will be looking to show their true skill and prove themselves as one of the top teams in the conference.

Meanwhile, the women will be hosting an invitational this weekend at Thunder Hills Country Club in Peosta. The meet will help in the Iowa Conference Championships.

DUBUQUE, IOWA – The women’s soccer team faced Wartburg College in a second round matchup of the NCAA tournament, one week after squeaking by with a 1-0 victory in the Iowa Conference Tournament Final last week. The #4 ranked Duhawks were able to come away with yet another victory against the conference foes winning 2-0 last night.

Coach Dan Rothert expressed some keys to success before the game stating, “We hope to score through more conventional methods rather than our goalkeeper, but if that is how it comes, we’ll take it.” Take it they would as the first goal of the game once again came off the head of Katie Chambers in the 29th minute, her third goal in the first two games of the tournament and her fourth on the year, courtesy of a corner kick assist from Jessica Kern. This sent the Duhawks to the locker room with a 1-0 lead.

The women came out strong in the second half by creating scoring chances and playing sound defensively and were able to net an insurance goal late in the 73rd minute to close out the game. Kate Young lofted a shot from 35 yards out and sent it over the goalkeeper for her 12th goal of the year. The Duhawks were able to hold Wartburg to only one shot on goal and advanced to the semifinals with a 2-0 victory. “We seemed to have more energy than them tonight. Katie Chambers and Kate Young proved to me why they are not just two of the best players in the conference, but nationally,” said Rothert.

The Duhawks hope to continue to build and play well as they head deeper into the tournament on the coat-tails of a 15 game winning streak. “We are striking fear in our opponents on our set plays in addition to our normal, strong play. We need to stay strong and keep it going,” said Rothert.

The Cross Country teams displayed their dominance at their home meet last week; both men and women blowing away their competition for first place finishes.

Last Friday was the 26^th annual Dr. Robert Tucker Invitational, the only home cross country meet of the season for Loras. The invite hosted five men’s teams and six women’s teams.

The Men’s team came into this meet one week after posting a seventh place finish at Wartburg College, a meet that hosted 25 teams.

“The competition was high at Wartburg since this was a Pre-National meet.  Many of the top teams around the country wanted to run on this course to get a feel for it prior to the end of season National Championships,” said Head Coach Bob Schultz.

The Duhawks responded to their home field advantage by posting the very rare perfect score.  The men posted a perfect score of 15 by sweeping the first five finishes and also placing eight runners in the top nine.

Junior Dan McDermott led the way for the Duhawks edging teammate Jerry Olp by 14 seconds to take the top spot. Following McDermott and Olp were: sophomores Austin Steil and Chris Higgins who finished third and fourth respectively, and senior Tom Henders who finished fifth. Senior Ryan Engleman finished sixth overall, and sophomore Ted Wittman and senior Dain Leytem finished eighth and ninth respectively.

“In my 20 years of coaching, I’ve never had a team score a perfect 15. It was a lot of fun to see, especially at home,” said Schultz. “This was the first collegiate win for Dan McDermott and Tom Henders ran his best college cross country race ever.”

The Women’s team came away from the home meet with an equally impressive performance by also finishing first overall beating Augustana College by 23 points. As it has been a similar story this year, the Duhawks were once again driven by the strong performance of junior Katie Hemesath who finished  third overall. Including Hemesath, the Duhawks had four runners finish under the 24 minute mark for the meet. Junior Genna Kinley finished sixth, senior Tara Kilburg eighth, and first-year Mary Rector ninth.

“I was happy with how we ran as a team, top to bottom.  We had a lot of PR’s due to a home course, a lighter week of training and great weather,” said Schultz. “It was great to see our women win at home again.”

The Men and Women do not run again until Oct. 30, at the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) Championships hosted by the University of Dubuque.

“We’d like to have the Duhawk Nation take that place over and cheer our teams on to victory.  The more Duhawks we get out there, the better our teams will do,” said Schultz.

The men’s and women’s cross-country teams took on their toughest challenges so far this season, and both teams again posted impressive results.
The Duhawks traveled to the University of Minnesota for the 25th Annual Roy Griak Invitational on Saturday. The invitational drew thousands of competitors that competed in several races running throughout the day. The 30-team division for the men and the 32-team division for the women was the biggest challenge yet for the Loras runners.
“This was the best competition we’ve faced all year,” said Coach Bob Schultz
The previous weekend, the men were the top Division III team at the National Catholic Invitational hosted by Notre Dame. First-year Jerry Olp was named the Iowa Conference Runner of the Week. Olp blazed to a 10th-place finish among the more than 200 non-Division I runners at the Notre Dame meet. He finishing the 8K course with an impressive time of 26:14.
Olp and his teammates carried that momentum to Minnesota on Saturday, as the team placed seventh in the 30-team field.
“The six teams that beat our men’s team are all ranked among the top 30 in the country. We also beat three regionally ranked teams from the Central region on the men’s side, including conference foes Wartburg and Coe,” said Schultz.
Olp paced the Duhawks with his 24th-place finish among more than 300 runners in the race. He completed the 8-kilometer course with a time of 26:38.
Junior Dan McDermott had an equally impressive performance, finishing just four seconds behind Olp. Sophomore Chris Higgins crossed the line in 27:08, junior Ted Wittman clocked a 27:19 and senior Ryan Engelman covered the distance in 27:31. They all placed in the top 70.
“We finished close to some nationally ranked teams and we were the top-finishing team out of our conference,” McDermott said. “To have early success like we are having this season is promising for the meets that count.”
The women’s field featured 32 teams and a whopping 453 competitors in the 6K race. As a team, the Duhawks finished 13th.
“I was happy with our women’s results,” said Schultz. “We ran against seven nationally ranked teams and beat one team that is regionally ranked.”
The women were led by junior Katie Hemesath, who finished 46th overall with a time of 24:07. Junior Genna Kinley finished with a time of 24:26, first-year Mary Rector finished in 24:32, and senior Tara Kilburg crossed the finish line next at 24:47 for the Duhawks, placing 63rd, 66th and 76th, respectively.

The cross-country teams took their 13-day layoff in stride as they prepared to face Division I talent last weekend at Notre Dame. The men finished fourth and women finished sixth among dozens of teams.

The men and women last competed on Sept. 3, allowing about two weeks of training and preparation for the National Catholic Invitational last Friday, in South Bend. Both teams had the extra week to train and reflect on their impressive top-five performances from their previous meet.

“Having last weekend off allowed us to get in a really good week of training while a lot of other teams were resting up for a race,” said coach Bob Schultz.

The extra week of training proved to be helpful in preparation for the 35-team invitational that hosted schools from NCAA Division I, II and III, in addition to the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics).

“It is always a good level of competition, as there are about a dozen NCAA Division I schools and a few are traditionally nationally ranked,” said Schultz. “Overall, both teams performed well.”

The men posted their second straight top-five finish of the season last weekend, placing fourth in the non-division I category. Overall, they placed 11th in the 35-team field that included a total of 285 runners.

“Our men were the top-finishing (Division III) school at the meet,” said Schultz.

Once again, it was first-year Jerry Olp leading the way for the men’s squad with a 10th-place finish in the non-Division I group that had a total of 204 runners. 

According to Schultz, Olp’s finish was the best any Loras runner has placed at this particular meet in his time here as coach, and Schultz noted that Olp is a first-year this is only his second collegiate race. Olp finished the course with a time of 26:14 and was followed closely behind by his teammates, junior Dan McDermott and sophomores Austin Steil and Chris Higgins who finished with times of 26:31, 26:42, and 26:59 respectively.

“We were all excited to see that we had everyone under 27:50 and knowing that we had our top 5 under 27:20 when last year our top runner finished at 27:15,” said Olp. “Our results this past weekend surpassed all of our expectations.”

There was a similar story for the women’s team as junior Katie Hemesath led the way for the Duhawks once again. Hemesath finished the course with a time of 19:27 to finish 73rd overall out of 280 runners.

“Katie ran well, but we know she is going to do a lot better,” said Schultz.

Finishing next for the women was senior Tara Kilburg with a time of 19:44 and junior Genna Kinley with a time of 19:52. First-year Mary Rector crossed the finished line next at a time of 20:00 even. The Duhawk women’s joint effort placed sixth in the non-division I category and 15th overall in the 35-team field.

“Getting sixth out of 25 Division II and III teams is pretty darn good for our young team,” said Kinley. “Big races like Notre Dame help us work on sticking with our teammates for as much of the race as possible.”

Which Kinley believes was vital to the team’s success on Friday.

“Notre Dame cross-country coach Joe Piane is a Loras alum and it is always great seeing him at this meet,” said Schultz. “He always gets excited to see the Duhawks come to South Bend.”

The volleyball team is eyeing another great season with a number of returning players, including four returning seniors.
“We’ll take it one match at a time, but we have a lot of great returning and incoming players on the team” said Coach Teresa Kehe. “My expectations are very high for this team and I think we will do great.”
Since joining the team in 2005, Coach Kehe has seen great improvement on and off the court.
“We’ve been picking up a lot of momentum over the past few years and have been building up our chemistry” said Kehe. “There are always those tough teams, but we’ll just take it one step at a time and be prepared for our opponents.”
Some of Loras’ biggest matchups this year will be against powerhouses Wartburg and Central.
The volleyball team won three out of their first four matches at the season opener at the Sugar Loaf Classic at St. Mary’s University in Winona, MN. The team opened their 2010 season last Friday at the Sugar Loaf Bowl Classic at St. Mary’s University in Winona, Minnesota.
“We’ve been playing in the tournament the last 3 years,” said Kehe. “It is very tough and competitive, but it will be a measuring stick on how well we can play.”
During the weekend, the team started off great winning against University of Wisconsin-Stout, Augsburg College, St. Catherine University and lost against St. Mary’s.
With experience in players like seniors Julianne Lord, Morgan Murphy and Rachel Heir; juniors Julie Rogers, Kate Russell and Kelsey Smith; and sophomores Kenzie Goedken, Regan Reily and Kaity Frost, there is a lot of excitement surrounding this year’s team. Not only will experience play as a major role but so will the 12 first-year players who will join the team.
“I have high expectations for this team and I hope we can show our full talent,” said Kehe.
Tuesday night the Duhawks went up against perennial powerhouse Luther. But Loras swept the mighty Dutch. The Duhawks now are 4-1 going into this weekend’s tournament. The Duhawks open the tournament Friday against Clarke University, beginning at 7:30 p.m.

The women’s soccer team is off to a great start this season.
Junior Kate Young scored right off the bat on a follow up of a free kick from junior Jessica Kern in the first half. This brought the score to 1-0.
“This was nice to get the lead before half-time,” said coach Dan Rothert.
Senior Kelly Murphy felt pride at being able to beat Macalester College after an upsetting game the last time they saw each other.
“We lost to them in overtime last year, so this was sort of a revenge game too. I feel like as a team, we are mentally stronger than we were last year.” Murphy said.
Murphy is confident that the team can continue to outshine last year’s season.
“We have many returners who know the game and know what they need to do on the field,” she said. “We have been taking it one game at a time, and looking at the team we are playing next and concentrating on beating them and moving forward. I feel like we have great potential to be better than last year.”
That strategy seems to be working for them so far, as they have won both of their games. The first was against St. Ambrose on the first day of the month. And their second win was against Macalester on Sunday.
Murphy felt that beating Macalester was not an easy task, but it was fun and a huge morale-booster.
“It was a very physical, close, and exciting game, so it was a little draining but I wouldn’t say frustrating,” she said. “And it is fun to win, so yes it was fun. It was a really great win for our team because Macalester is a really good team.”
Kern explained the win against such a good school by a simple matter of “we wanted it more”.
“The game was fun. We came out strong and wanted to play and get the win and that’s what we did,” Kern said.
Rothert also commented on how well the team adjusted to Macalester’s tough defense.
“Winning a 1-0 game against a team like Mac is important and we are happy with our play offensively and defensively at this point,” he said. “We also made some major adjustments during this game to counter what Mac was doing and the team responded very well. That is a great sign.”
Looking ahead with confidence in his team’s ability, Rothert is also careful not to underestimate the strength of the opponents they will have in the near future.
“We are very athletic this year and there is no doubt that our new players are helping us, but we have some great experienced players and leaders too. The good start leaves us very optimistic and we have a very challenging schedule,” he said.
This team has so much potential, and Murphy said that while she doesn’t want to be getting ahead of herself, she would love to see her team win our conference and advance into the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament.
The Duhawks next game is home against  University of Wisconsin-Whitewater this Sunday. The game starts at 6 p.m. right before the men’s game.

The men’s and women’s cross-country teams collided with some vicious winds on Friday, but that didn’t stop either team from placing in the top five.
The Duhawks traveled to Elmhurst College for the Early Bird Invitational this past Friday. Along with the windy weather, the teams also dealt with the added excitement of starting a new season.
Both teams look to improve on their 14th-place finishes in last season’s Division III Central Region Championships.
“Our goals this season for men and women are top 2 in the Iowa Conference,” said coach Bob Schultz. “Our men are also shooting to qualify for the national meet while our women are shooting to surprise teams in the region.”
This weekend, the women’s team placed third overall among 14 teams at an event mostly dominated by the University of Chicago.
The Duhawks were led by junior Katie Hemesath, who placed fifth among all competitors. Hemesath ran the 4K race in 15:28, just a minute behind the runner who placed first.
“I expected Katie to come in and have a strong impact on our team right away, but to finish fifth in the first meet with that kind of competition exceeded my expectations. She is only going to get better too,” said Schultz.
Loras had two other runners who placed in the top 21. Senior Tara Kilburg finished the 4K course with a time of 16:01, and first-year Mary Rector finished in 16:14. The Duhawks edged out the Trinity Christian College squad by five place finishes to place third.
The men’s team also had an impressive meet, placing fifth out of 15 teams. One could say it was a 14-team meet, as North Central College was in a league of their own, placing seven runners in the top 11, and taking the top six spots.
Finishing with the best time for the Duhawks was first-year Jerry Olp, who placed 14th out of all competitors. In the 6K race, Olp posted a time of 19:48, a mere five seconds from placing in the top 10.
The Duhawks next three finishers were sophomores Austin Steil and Chris Higgins and junior Dan McDermott, who finished relatively close to one another with finishes of 28th, 30th and 33rd, respectively.
“I thought the team did a great job especially for it being the first meet of the season. It really is a learning experience for our first-year runners and a good gauge for testing our endurance,” said senior captain Ryan Engelman, who finished 41st.
Schultz also was pleased.
“I was pleased with how both teams performed. The men met my expectations, and the women actually did better that I thought going into the meet. Our women also ran without one of our top runners, Genna Kinley who was attending a family wedding in California,” he said.
The Duhawks don’t run again until Friday, Sept. 17, when they will compete at the National Catholic Championships at Notre Dame. Both teams will look to improve on their already impressive beginnings to their seasons.