LAKER WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PROGRAM 'TOPS' IN THE NATION

Iowa Lakes Community College appears for the first time in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll; and the appearance is at the top of the list.

The Laker women were honored for their excellence in the classroom during the 2006-2007 season where they boasted an average 3.59 GPA, on top of an outstanding season record of 27-4.  As well as having the highest GPA among Community College teams, the Laker women have the ninth highest GPA in the country among all academic institutions that house women's basketball.  The Iowa Lakes team is ranked ninth out of 1,683 teams in divisions which include: NCAA I, NCAA II, NCAAIII, NAIA I, NAIA II, NJCAA I, NJCAA II and NJCAA III.

"I definitely feel that it is a great honor to even be able to work with these types of student-athletes," said Head Women's Basketball Coach Brian Radtke.  "We finished 27-4 on the year, and to be academically successful is also just a great honor.  I know once they hear about this they will be ecstatic about it.  They worked very hard in the classroom and on the court."

The members of the women's basketball team receiving the honor are:
     
      Brittney Wilson, Cedar Rapids;
      Brittany Chambers, Spirit Lake;
      Kristin Patterson, New Ulm, Minn;
      Samantha Widmer, Sleepy Eye, Minn;
      Karissa Kramer, Sleepy Eye, Minn;
      Kym Zitzner, LaCrosse, Wis;
      Kate Milbrandt, Elmore, Minn;
      Shanda Novak, Oxford, IA;
      Danni Whiley, Iowa Falls; and,
      Allie Renberg, Sleepy Eye, Minn.

"Iowa Lakes is extremely proud and excited about the academic honors bestowed upon our women's basketball team," Athletics Director Troy Larson said of the achievement.  "The young women worked extremely hard and obviously take academics seriously.  Coach Radtke has done an outstanding job of placing a high emphasis on recruiting quality students and stressing the importance of academics." 

The president of Iowa Lakes, Dr. Harold Prior, was pleased with the team's outstanding achievement as well.

"I believe this is the epitome of what college athletics is all about," said President Prior.  "Students who are college athletes have tremendous demands placed on their time for the athletic part of their career as well as carrying a full load of academic courses. This level of achievement shows tremendous motivation, desire and hard work on the part of our student-athletes and we're extremely proud of their contribution to the traditions of Iowa Lakes Community College."

Founded in 1981, the WBCA promotes women's basketball by unifying coaches at all levels to develop a reputable identity for the sport and to foster and promote the development of the game in all of its aspects as a sport for women and girls.  The GPAs are calculated by dividing the total number of quality points earned by each student-athlete on an institution's roster in the given academic terms by the total number of hours earned by the team.  The GPAs are rounded to the nearest thousandth of a point.