AU Wins NAC All-Sports Championship

AURORA, Ill. May 17, 2007 - The Aurora University Spartan athletic teams that competed in the Northern Athletics Conference (NAC) captured the 2006-2007 All-Sports Award in both men’s and women’s sports, the fourth consecutive All-Sports Championship for the Spartan program. The previous three awards came in the former Northern Illinois-Iowa Conference following the 2003-2004, 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 seasons.

AU won eight NAC championships in women’s soccer, women’s cross country, men’s cross country, men’s basketball, softball, volleyball, men’s indoor track and field, and women’s golf; had second-place finishes in men’s soccer, men’s and women’s outdoor track and field; and third-place finishes in women’s basketball, and women’s indoor track and field.

The Spartans out-distanced Concordia University, WI, 250 points to 221 in the women’s sports and Edgewood College 163.5 points to 136.5 in the men’s sports. NAC schools are awarded points for each sport’s finish in the regular-season conference standings and in conference tournament finishes.

With the on-field success came post-season honors for numerous coaches and players for the AU teams from the NAC. Four Spartan student-athletes were named NAC Player of the Year in their respective sports, while six AU head coaches in eight sports were named NIIC Coach of the Year.

Spartans named NAC Player of the Year were junior Larry Welton (men’s basketball), senior Sarah Campbell (volleyball), junior Dana Cebular (softball) and senior Fran Sikorski (women’s track and field).

Head coaches named NAC Coach of the Year were Kanute Drugan (women’s soccer), James Kluckhohn (men’s and women’s cross country, men’s indoor track and field), Jerry Angle (volleyball), Chad Johansen (women’s golf), Mike McKenzie (softball) and James Lancaster (men’s basketball).

The newly formed Northern Athletics Conference began its first season of competition in the fall of 2006. The NAC consists of 12 colleges and universities from the shared-border states of Illinois and Wisconsin. Many have shared traditional rivalries dating back to the NAC's predecessor conferences, the Lake Michigan Conference and the Northern Illinois-Iowa Conference. Member schools include: Alverno College, Aurora University, Benedictine University, Concordia University Chicago, Concordia University Wisconsin, Dominican University, Edgewood College, Lakeland College, Maranatha Baptist Bible College, Marian College, Rockford College and Wisconsin Lutheran College. The Northern Athletics Conference sponsors 18 sports. Men's teams include baseball, basketball, cross country, football (starting in 2008), golf, soccer, tennis, indoor track and field and outdoor track and field. Women's squads are fielded in basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, tennis, indoor track and field, outdoor track and field and volleyball.

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