INDIANOLA, Iowa --- The Loras College men and Wartburg College women claimed team titles at the 2014 Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) Cross Country Championships at Pickard Park.

Luther's Tricia Serres successfully defended her individual title, crushing the field by over one minute, but it was Wartburg that dominated the team race. The Knights placed their seven scoring runners in the top 13 overall for 28 points and captured nine of the 15 all-conference honorees to outdistance Luther, 28-45. Loras (89) was third, followed by Central (111), Dubuque (137), Simpson (154), Coe (203) and Buena Vista (257). It is Wartburg's 15th title overall, fourth in a row and sixth in seven years.

Coach Johnson on the team's success, "This has been an interesting year, we struggled to find ourselves as a team and with practice and this meet we really come together well. This was great meet to watch the team pull together to create an identity… We put a race plan together perfectly and it was awesome, it was great to see them come together!" 

Serres, for her part, claimed her second title with a time of 21:57.7. It is the 17th individual title for a Luther runner and Serres becomes the 10th runner to claim at least two individual crowns.

Serena Goetzl was the highest-placed Knight, finishing second in 22:59.7, just ahead of Loras' Brianne Cook (23:04.3).  Wartburg's Erin Sawyers (23:10.4) and Morgan Gerdes (23:16.9) rounded out the top five.

Dubuque's Fabiola Ortiz (23:18.0) took sixth, while Luther's Kaia Bierman (23:24.0) edged Wartburg's Beth Mallon (23:24.7) for seventh. Wartburg's Dakota Tell (23:26.3) and Maddie Kleve (23:27.9) finished ninth and 10th, respectively. Ortiz is the highest-finishing Spartan since Lisa Demerath took second in 2000.

Luther captured the next two spots as Lauren Mordini (23:31.2) took 11th and Kenzie Carney (23:33.0) 12th. Three Knights -- Elli Parker (23:38.2), Megan Silbernagel (23:41.3) and Sarah Shirar (23:44.7) -- rounded out the top 15.

For Serres, Sawyers and Gerdes, it was their third all-IIAC honor. Serres was third in 2012 before winning the title last year. Sawyers was fourth in 2012 and sixth in 2013 and Gerdes was 13th in 2012 and 12th last season. Cook, Goetzl, Parker and Kleve all earned their second honor. Goetzl was fifth, Parker eighth, Cook 11th and Kleve 14th at last year's championship.

For their efforts, Decker and Serres were voted the Conference's Most Valuable Runners by the coaches following the conclusion of the championships.

Wartburg's Johnson, Loras' Schultz Named Coaches of the Year
This year's winning coaches -- Wartburg's Steve Johnson and Loras' Bob Schultz -- were named the 2014 Iowa Conference Cross Country Coaches of the Year by a vote of their peers. The honor is the second for Schultz in men's cross country (2011). For Johnson, it is his 16th IIAC women's coach of the year honor to go with nine in men's cross country.

All eight schools take next weekend off before reconvening in Pella on November 15 for the NCAA Division III Central Region Championships on Central's on-campus course at the Kuyper Athletic Complex. 

For Full Results: IIAC Championship
Wartburg Circuit recaphttp://wartburgcircuit.org/conference-four-peat-for-womens-cross-country/