General | 4/12/2021 9:53:00 AM

The Wartburg Athletics Meyer Strength & Conditioning Annex project was officially completed in April of 2021. The facility is located beyond the south side of Levick Arena inside the Wartburg-Waverly Sports & Wellness Center.

It offers a larger footprint to a growing intercollegiate athletics program and allow for integration with student-faculty research opportunities in exercise science.

The two-story addition replaces the former 3,500-square-foot strength & conditioning room, and is roughly 25 percent larger featuring 17 weight platforms, allowing at least two teams to utilize the space at one time.

A Wartburg Fund the Fortress fundraiser helped the project outfit each weight platform with the EliteForm motion tracking system, normally seen in Division I and professional sports programs. Wartburg is the first Division III team to use EliteForm throughout its weight room.

The college allocated $500,000 from a recent unrestricted gift from Darwyn (Dar) Meyer, a 1961 Wartburg graduate, to support the project. A former Wartburg wrestler, Meyer took pride in his alma mater's intercollegiate athletic program and wanted to help the Knights sustain that success into the future. The Charles City native, who later lived in California, died in February. The Board of Regents approved the naming of the Meyer Strength & Conditioning Annex, which will house the (Don) Canfield Athletic Weight Room, in celebration of Meyer's legacy.

Two longtime Wartburg College boosters and employees will also be honored with the naming of the college's new health and human performance center.

The Wartburg College Board of Regents recently approved the naming of the Wuertz Health & Human Performance Center to honor Elizabeth (Liz) and John Wuertz. Liz was instrumental in the development of women's athletics at Wartburg, serving as the first head coach of both the women's volleyball and track and field programs. She was named the Iowa Conference Track and Field Coach of the Year in 1983 and also spent several years in Wartburg's admissions and financial aid offices. John, a 1973 Wartburg graduate, served as head coach for the men's track and field program and building supervisor for the previous Physical Education Center before becoming director of the Wartburg Physical Plant, a position he held for nearly 25 years.

Murphy's gift is in support of the college's larger Health & Human Performance project, a $3.7 million addition and renovation to the Wartburg-Waverly Sports & Wellness Center (The W). The project features the new Meyer Strength & Conditioning Annex, named for Darwyn (Dar) Meyer, a 1961 graduate who died in 2019, to be built on the building's south side. The former athletic weight room on the second floor of The W will be renovated to create the health and human performance space, including two labs and several faculty offices to accommodate the new Department of Health & Human Performance. The entire project is dependent upon donors' gifts, and to date, $3.2 million has been raised.

The new space will allow for integration with student-faculty research opportunities in exercise science, health and fitness, and physical education. The Wuertz Health & Human Performance Center renovation is scheduled to be completed by May 2021. 

"The new addition will be a great enhancement, both in function and appearance, for our entire athletic department," said Rick Willis, director of athletics. "The updated and larger space, fully equipped with state-of-the-art technology, will benefit the development of all our student-athletes."