Samantha Donisi
Assistant Editor

New NIACC volleyball coach Ted Bieth tends to look at the glass half full as opposed to half empty when it comes to his team's success on the court this season.

A self-described optimist, Bieth said he believes attitude is the key to playing well.

Bieth, the 2004 assistant coach for the volleyball team, steps up as the head coach this year.

Although this is Bieth's first time as head coach of a college team, he is in no way a stranger to the game.

Bieth started coaching volleyball in 1977 at Britt-West Hancock, when it was still Britt High School.

He was also the Newman Catholic volleyball coach from 1983-2002, and most recently was the NIACC assistant volleyball coach. Outside of school-related volleyball, Bieth coached an Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) volleyball team for his daughter, and assisted with the Club Volleyball program.

All that time around volleyball has given Bieth a unique perspective on the game.

"There has been a progression of gradual changes to the sport for the better," Bieth said.

Bieth said he remembers when the sport introduced a new rule called rally-scoring to the game. Under that rule, teams could earn points even if their side was not serving, which is how the game was originally played.

"That rule has made the sport better and more exciting," Bieth said.

Bieth said he feels confident that this coming volleyball season will also be an exciting one.

For him, it is all about attitude.

"Attitude is the key," Bieth said. "This year we are going to look sharp and we are going to act sharp. Anyone who has ever worked for me knows I am looking for a class act."

Bieth said he does not believe that jumping from high school volleyball to college level is going to be a problem.

"This year we have four old players and seven new ones, the trick is getting all 12 to mentally learn to cooperate," Bieth said. "It is important that the girls learn to play like a team, but it is more important that they feel like one." Bieth said he is a coach that sees every player's full potential.

He said he feels winning is important, but not the only thing to be had from volleyball.

"If a girl plays for me, I am proud of her," Bieth said. "As long as she is out there giving her best, then that is all I can ask."

The NIACC volleyball team is hoping to play strong this season, with one thing for certain. With Bieth at the helm, the team is going to have a positive attitude.

Samantha Donisi
Assistant Editor

New look - that pretty much sums up the NIACC volleyball team this season.

Changes this season include a new head coach, Ted Bieth, and the strategy the team will be applying to the game.

Last year, the team placed 7 out of 10 in its league. This season, Bieth has different plans. "They are going to do better," Bieth said.

The key to doing better, according to Bieth, is to play more offensively.

"We were not a very offensive team last season, and we need to improve," Bieth said. "I am a very offensive coach, and I expect to step up the offense this season."

There are four returning players coming back this season. They include Hiroko Hattori, Tara Hansmeier, Samantha Schmidt and Deb Hamilton.

Bieth said he expects seven new incoming freshmen to join the team.

The team lost sophomore Emily Vold to graduation and her leadership role will be missed Bieth said.

"We need some leaders this season," Bieth said. "You never know where they are going to come from, we might have a new freshman step up and take the lead."

The biggest thing Bieth said he is looking for this season is attitude. He said he wants die-hard players.

"Good teams have a good concept of team spirit," Bieth said. "They are willing to go all the way."

The team's expectations this year are to improve the total team concept and go for the win. The team goal is to place in the top three in the league. Bieth said that was "difficult, but not unattainable."

The NIACC volleyball team plays in one of the toughest junior college conferences in the country. At least one to two teams from the league have gone to nationals in previous years.

Bieth said the team hopes that the higher-than-average NIACC fan attendance will continue this season.

As a long-time volleyball coach, Bieth said he is amazed at the number of people who come to watch the games.

During one away game against Marshalltown last season, there were more NIACC fans than Marshalltown fans, according to Bieth. "The number of people who come to watch the girls play is amazing. It is support like that that makes us want to play harder," Bieth said.

The volleyball team will travel to a weekend tournament on September 2-3 in Estherville. The next home game will be held on September 26 against Iowa Lakes.

Jonathon Braden
Assistant Editor/Sports Editor

With their fourth coach in as many years, the NIACC football team is ready to kickoff the 2005 season.

Leading the Trojans this fall will be Scott Strohmeier. Strohmeier spent last season at Truman State University as the team's associate head football coach and served as the Bulldog's offensive coordinator.

Strohmeier was also at Division II Concordia St. Paul where he last served as offensive coordinator. While at Concordia St. Paul, Strohmeier helped lead an offense that finished sixth nationally in 2003 and seventh in 2004.

Strohmeier's first game as head coach will also mark NIACC's first contest in the Midwest Football Conference.

The newly formed conference brings together the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference football schools with the N4C, a conference of schools in Illinois and Michigan.

NIACC, Ellsworth, Iowa Central, North Dakota State College of Science, Rock Valley College, College of DuPage, Joliet Junior College, William Rainey Harper College and Grand Rapids (Mich.) Community College will make up the nine-team conference.

"I know the caliber of the teams having recruited the area," Strohmeier said. "Every game is going to be a dogfight."

Strohmeier said he plans to spread out the offense with a wide-open attack, featuring multiple sets on the offensive end. "I think we definitely have the personnel to spread it out," Strohmeier said.

The quarterback position heads up the potentially potent offense. Four players without starting experience last year for the Trojans will vie for the job.

"Anytime you run this system, that (the quarterback position) is definitely the main concern," Strohmeier said. Transfer Ben Alford heads the current group when it comes to experience.

Alford hails originally from Florida where while at Pasco High School he set career school records with 50 touchdowns and 3,225 yards.

At running back, last year's two leading rushers Kevin Hart and Dominic Lemmons both return after rushing for over 1,000 yards combined.

"We have a strong offensive line nucleus, strong running back nucleus and strong wide receiver nucleus coming back," Strohmeier said.

The receiver position will also have a strong newcomer, literally and figuratively. Warren McDuffie, of Iowa City, practiced with the team last season and the 6'7" 240 lb. tight end should help the team this season.

On the other side of the ball, the Trojan defense will face a tough task weekly attempting to shut down tough conference foes.

Led by Eric Young, a pre-season honorable mention All American, the defense should gain from experience.

Strohmeier said the defensive system will be simple."We will run a base package to simplify things," Strohmeier said. NIACC opens its season this Saturday at home against Iowa Central with a 1 p.m. start.

Jeremy Koenigs
For the Logos

Coach Curtis Vais hopes to use the experience from his returning runners to field a competitive men's cross country team this fall.

With Matt Crooks, Justin Rustvold, Brian Haeflinger and Andrew Flugum all back from participating in the National cross country meet, one can see why Vais is optimistic for his NIACC team, which looks like a strong group in the conference. Crooks and Rustvold will be counted on to show leadership, being named co-captains and Crooks, Flugum and Haeflinger all earned second-team, all-region honors last season.

Crooks ran the 8K National meet in 29 minutes, 29.35 seconds, Haeflinger in 29 minutes, 59.30 seconds, Rustvold in 30 minutes, 23.15 seconds and Flugum in 30 minutes, 35.20 seconds so each returning member knows what it will take if the team is to achieve big goals this season.

Vais said he hopes for a solid effort from his team and hopes to have a little fun out there although he is cautious about the challenges that lie ahead.

"I have a feel of where the team is and where I want it to go, but at the same time they have to be willing to challenge each other to get better," he said.

His team took part in the ICCAC Time Trial on August 26 here in Mason City, the beginning of what could be a special season. With the goal to get his runners back to Nationals, Vais said he hopes newcomer Ryan McCurnin of Mason City can add depth to the roster to go along with the returning experience.

Vais said his team works as hard as anybody and they come out there every day and show their competitiveness. He said he feels that he knows what his team can do this season just by being around them every day.

The team continues action today and Saturday at the Mustang Gallop at Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids.

Jeremy Koenigs
For the Logos

Coming into his second season, NIACC coach Curtis Vais will lean on the return of National participants Stacy Allen and Trudy Stensland to lead the women's cross country team this fall.

The team opened its season on Tuesday, August 26 with the ICCAC Time Trial here in Mason City.

With only the two sophomore co-captains returning from last year's squad that had the fourth highest grade point average in the NJCAA, Vais will look for Allen and Stensland to help anchor a team that he said will possess great potential.

The team didn't just bring it in meets, but in the classroom and Vais said he is proud of the dedication shown by his athletes with the time and effort put forth.

Allen, who earned academic all-American status, ran the 5K National meet in El Paso, Texas in 22 minutes, 47.75 seconds, while Stensland posted a time of 28 minutes, 32.40 seconds.

Vais said he feels that his team can win conference and compete at Nationals and it will be possible with his team now able to field a whole team for every meet.

"Last season, we didn't have a full squad, but this season we will be able to take a full team to every meet," he said. He said he feels better going into this season knowing each school's coaches and where and when he should schedule meets. He also added that he has a better feel for what his team can do and where he wants the program to go with knowing his team better just by being able to see them every day in practice.

"Last year when I came in I didn't know what to expect out of them," Vais said. "This year I know what I have coming back and am able to see their focus and hope that they can lead the freshmen."

Vais said he expects big things out of freshman Elly Meyer. He said she was consistent in high school in Fremont, Nebraska, and could be one of many freshmen he hopes makes a splash as a newcomer.

The team continues its season today and Saturday at the Mustang Gallop at Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids.

Jonathon Braden
Assistant Editor/Sports Editor

Colin Murphy never thought being the NIACC men's soccer head coach would be simple.

When he took over the program after the 2002 season, Murphy set an optimistic four-year plan for the program.

Last year was his second year on the job and if all went according to Murphy's plan, the Trojans would have celebrated their first double-digit win season ever.

"(We) set optimistic goals for last season," Murphy said about the desired progress of the program.

Somewhere, something went wrong, and because of that Murphy seems more dedicated than ever to revive his program that went just 2-15 in 2004.

The dismal 2004 season that ended with seven consecutive defeats was not a complete washout though for the coach or his players, Murphy said. He pointed to a stat that speaks volumes for the overall state of NIACC's young soccer program. In 10 of NIACC's 17 contests last season, Murphy's Trojans were tied with their opponent at halftime.

Out of those 10 even keel matches at half, NIACC won just one of them. An ugly stat for a coach no doubt, and something that Murphy says pointed out a number of problems for his Trojans, but can be solved with just one change.

"It just came down to a numbers game," Murphy said. "We were short on quality players."

The lack of quality players presented itself the year before as well, Murphy said.

And just as those areas looked to be resolved through recruiting, multiple recruits had verbally committed to NIACC, only to back out of their commitments and not attend NIACC.

Murphy also said that a few players broke team rules during the start of the season, resulting in their removal from the team.

"The holes we had before the season, were still there," Murphy said as a result of the de-commitments and the removal of players.

However, with defeat traditionally comes experience, something that the five sophomores returning to the NIACC soccer team will bring as they embark on their final season.

Perhaps the biggest area those sophomores look to shore up is on defense.

The 2004 squad allowed five or more goals in 12 of its contests.

"Defending is huge no matter the sport," Murphy said. "(But) team defense is absolutely critical (at the college level)." A main component of that defense is freshman goalkeeper Jacob Lee of Dewitt.

Murphy said that last year's goalie Kyle Ronemous did not return to the team.

Second-team all region performer Alex Bogdanovic of Rijeka, Croatia, returns to help DeWitt and to the shore up the rest of the defense.

On the offensive side, Murphy's squad returns the key component of last year's firepower.

First-team all region performer, Ido Barzilay, returns to the Trojans after scoring 12 goals and adding five assists during last year's campaign.

Ricardo Reyna of Panama also returns on the offensive side.

Besides the offense and the defense, Murphy said other keys for his team's late game turnarounds include maintaining possessions, not making mental mistakes late in the game and improving the team's conditioning.

"I think we have a very good chance to come in the top half of the conference," Murphy said.

Jonathon Braden
Sports Editor

This past summer was as simple as Easy Mac for most NIACC students with few classes and even fewer tests. The NIACC Athletic Department though had a pair of crucial and challenging summer exams.

The tests were impromptu to say the least, leaving the baseball team's first conference championship as just about the only thing that was expected last summer.

The football program saw another coaching change.

After a 5-4 initial campaign, former head coach Dave Gillespie resigned to return to the state of Nebraska and become athletic director at Lincoln Southwest High School.

Now though, NIACC may have finally found a football coach that will stay for longer than 365 days.

Scott Strohmeier will lead the 2005 Trojans and with the 30-year old coach comes a wide open attack.

Strohmeier has spent his whole coaching career on the offensive side of the ball and said that he likes to spread it out on offense.



This head coaching job will be Strohmeier's first, a sign that maybe he is here for the long haul. Not too long after Gillespie got finished packing, another one of NIACC's veteran coaches started opening his suitcases. Former men's head basketball coach Steve Krafcisin resigned from his position to take the women's head basketball coaching spot at DMACC.

His replacement is a young coach accepting his first head coaching job. Bryan Martin, 29, comes to NIACC from one of the top junior college programs in Iowa.

Martin spent the past three seasons as an assistant at NJCAA Division I Indian Hills.

Gone are the wiley veterans with D-I experience in Coach K and Coach Gillespie. Their eras, in NIACC coaching terms, are now over.

The Strohmeier and Martin eras are just hitting the cusp and with excitement.

It goes without saying that the upbeat, enthusiastic and young duo resemble each other. Their obvious age similarity beside the point, the two attempt to replace good coaches and good people.

From their first games on out, the two should expect to be graded on every test together, fair or not.

And come Saturday, Strohmeier's first game, NIACC will have started its biggest and possibly longest exam yet.