Rich Glas to replace Larry Papenfuss as Concordia athletic director
Rich Glas has been named the new athletic director at Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn., effective March 15. Glas will also retain his role as Concordia’s men’s basketball coach. Glas joined the Concordia athletics staff in 2008, earning his 500th coaching victory during his first season leading the Cobbers. He previously served as an assistant coach at Northern Iowa and spent 18 seasons as head coach at the University of North Dakota. His coaching career began in 1971 at the University of Minnesota Morris and has also included stints as head coach and athletic director at Willamette (Ore.), as well as assistant roles at the University of Arizona and University of Hawaii.

Glas replaces Dr. Larry Papenfuss, who will assume new administrative leadership at Concordia as director of the Annual Fund and External Relations — a position recently vacated. His new responsibilities will include supervision of the Annual Fund and Alumni Relations staff, as well as duties as a major gift officer.

Papenfuss, who came to Concordia as a faculty member in 1994 before accepting his role as athletic director in 2004, has played an integral role in fundraising efforts associated with the Update the Jake campaign. Academic and athletic achievements have also been a signature of Papenfuss’ leadership. Concordia has had eight NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship honorees in the last eight years, during which time Cobber teams have also made 15 NCAA tournament appearances and claimed seven MIAC championships.

Good news from trio of MIAC women's basketball programs
Under first-year head coach Bill McKee, Augsburg s women s basketball team is in the process of surpassing several milestones. At 8-6 entering Wednesday's play, the Auggies are just one win from tying the number of wins the team had the past two seasons combined (4-21 in 2009-10, 5-20 in 2010-11). Augsburg's eight wins are already the most since the 2001-02 season (8-17), and with 11 games remaining in the regular season, Augsburg has the potential to reach double-digit wins for the first time since 2000-01 (11-13). As a varsity program (since 1972-73), the Auggies most women s basketball wins in a single season is 14 in the 1983-84 season (14-11).

Monday’s 52-49 win over Hamline extended the Saint Mary's women's basketball team's season-high winning streak to four straight. The last time SMU won four straight games came in a seven-day stretch from Feb. 2-9, 2005. The Cardinals enter Wednesday’s game at Carleton looking for its first five-game winning streak since opening the 2004-2005 season with five consecutive wins.

For the first time in 10 seasons, the University of St. Thomas women's basketball team has cracked the top-25 national poll. Coach Ruth Sinn's team (13-1 overall, 11-0 MIAC) is ranked 24th by D3hoops.com and has won 13 consecutive games. That's the program's longest win streak since the 1999-2000 Tommies won 26 in a row. UST is 6-0 in a 15-day stretch of January. UST used a game-closing 7-2 run on Saturday to edge Concordia-Moorhead, 49-48, capped by Kelly Brandenburg's baseline drive and basket with seven seconds left. UST saw a 21-point lead evaporate Monday at Bethel but it held on to win 68-66.

Pair of MIAC men's basketball stars headed for 1,000-point club
St. Olaf senior Stu Neville had 36 points and 11 rebounds in Saturday's come-from-behind win at Saint John's to move within four points of 1,000 for his career. Neville helped engineer the comeback as St. Olaf trailed by 17 with 7:30 to play. Neville would become the Oles' second to reach 1,000 this season as teammate Bobby Fong reached 1,000 on Dec. 5.

Macalester's Pierce Peters (Jr., Glenwood, Minn. / Minnewaska Area) tallied a career-best 31 points in a loss Saturday to Gustavus, going a perfect 5-for-5 in first half three-point tries, and is also approaching the 1,000-point career plateau (he is now up to 928). Peters is ranked third in the MIAC in scoring, fourth in rebounding, first in blocked shots, fourth in three-point percentage and threes made, sixth in free throw percentage and 10th in steals.

Former Gustavus runner Nichole Porath competes At U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials

Former Gustavus Adolphus standout cross country runner Nichole Porath (Petersen) `05 qualified and competed in the Olympic Trials Marathon on Saturday, Jan. 14 in Houston, Texas. Porath, hailing from Northfield, Minn., came in 69th place with a time of 2:44.12. It was the first time that the men’s and women’s Olympic Trials Marathon were hosted on the same day, at the same site. The event determined the three men and three women who will represent the United States in the marathon at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Porath, originally of Arco, Minn., was an All-Conference performer in each of her four years under the direction of Head Coach Scott Jerome, taking home the honor in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004.

Carleton's Klontz breaks three pool records, repeats as MIAC Swimmer-of-the-Week

For the second consecutive week, Erik Klontz (Jr./Bethesda, Md./Bethesda-Chevy Chase) was selected as the MIAC Men's Swimming and Diving Athlete-of-the-Week. He was at his best, rewriting the Thorpe Pool record books in three of his four of his events during the Jan. 14 dual meet against Saint John’s University. Klontz won two individual events and anchored a pair of first-place relays.

Individually, Klontz won both the 50- and 100-yard freestyle races with new Thorpe Pool standards in both events. In the 50, he met the NCAA 'B' mark with his new record time of 20.87, and his new facility-best time in the 100 was 46.97 seconds. Finally, he swam the final leg of the 400-yard medley relay to help his team secure a first-place finish and a record time of 3:34.10 seconds, expunging the longest-standing pool record on the books. Finally, Klontz swam the anchor leg of the 400-yard freestyle relay to also lead that team to victory.

His second-straight MIAC honor comes just a week after he won three events, met a 'B' standard and set a pool record at Gustavus.

This year, the MIAC enters its second season with weekly television exposure in the Twin Cities and beyond thanks to GameON! The weekly sports show features "The MIAC Minute" each week, where host/producer Rod Simons sits down for an interview with a coach, student-athlete or administrator from the conference.

This week, Simons' guest will be University of St. Thomas swimming and diving coach Tom Hodgson. The two will discuss the Tommies' annual "Meet of the Saints" coming up this weekend, and look ahead to the 2012 MIAC Swimming and Diving Championships, which again figure to be one of the league's marquee events.

Tune in to GameON! every Sunday at 10:30 a.m. on MY29 in the Twin Cities. For MIAC fans outsite the metro area, visit the show's home page to watch full archived episodes. Fans are also invited to attend the weekly tapings, which are Tuesdays at 7 p.m. at Seven Steakhouse/Sushi/Ultralounge & Skybar on the corner of Hennepin and 7th in downtown Minneapolis.

In addition to the MIAC home page, stay connected to the conference through its various social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.