Last week revisited Highlights from performances by individuals and teams in district colleges last week: Westminster junior Ryan Trunk earned All-America swimming honors with an eight-place finish in the 50 freestyle (20.81) at the NCAA Division III swimming and diving championships. Carnegie Mellon's Tony Wingen is the D3hoops.com Great Lakes men's basketball coach of the year and senior forward Nate Maurer is on the All-Great Lakes second team. CMU finished 20-6 for its most wins in school history, won its first University Athletic Association championship and made the school's second appearance in the NCAA tournament. Maurer averaged 18.4 points, 7.1 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game. Mercyhurst's Zach Schafer finished second at 165 pounds at the NCAA Division II wrestling championships to tie for the highest finish in school history. J.J. Zanetta finished seventh at 141 pounds to earn All-America honors. CCAC South's Bethan McGerry finished in first place in all-events competition to earn All-America honors at the NJCAA women's bowling championship in Buffalo, N.Y. CCAC South was fifth among the nine schools. Grove City sophomore Caleb Courage became the school's first male swimmer to win a national title when he won the 100 freestyle with a time of 44.51 seconds at the NCAA Division III championships.

On the first day of spring football practice, Duquesne coach Jerry Schmitt answered the first question about his team with a laugh.

"Quarterback controversy? What quarterback controversy," he said. "What we have is a quarterback competition."

Schmitt and his staff will spend the next 14 days of drills that conclude with an intrasquad game April 22 evaluating the play of his two quarterbacks competing for one job -- Sean Knapp, a redshirt sophomore from Perry Traditional Academy, and sophomore Kevin Rombach of Harrisburg Central Dauphin.

"Sean Knapp's our starter, but he still has to win it back," Schmitt said. "You win or lose it on the field or in practice. They both know it's their performance on the field that will decide things."

Knapp, who started the first seven games before he had a season-ending shoulder injury, completed 49.8 percent of his passes for 1,337 yards and 10 touchdowns. He threw 12 interceptions.

Bombach came off the bench in the second quarter to spark a comeback victory against Iona and started the final two games, victories against La Salle and St. Francis. Bombach completed 63.6 percent for 584 yards and five touchdowns. He threw two interceptions.

"For a freshman walking into a game in the second quarter and taking his first collegiate snap, Rombach showed a lot of maturity," Schmitt said. "We had no idea what to expect from him. It seemed like we did not miss a beat at that position."

Duquesne returns 14 starters -- eight offense and six defense -- from a 7-3 team that won its seventh consecutive Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship and was ranked No. 3 in the Sports Network I-AA Mid-Major poll. The Dukes have won 37 consecutive league games.

"Quarterback is the most important position on offense," Schmitt said. "We aren't going to put a lot of new stuff in our offense, but we're going to utilize more of it this year because both quarterbacks have some experience. Knapp and Rombach run the same things.

"We're going to try to challenge them as much as we can during the spring. We want to put pressure on them to perform and to lead. It's always good to have competition. This is an important couple of weeks for both quarterbacks."

The quarterback will be surrounded by veteran running backs and receivers.

The Dukes return tailbacks Jeremy McCullough (587 yards rushing, 7 TDs) and James Jacobs (383 yards, 3 TDs) along with fullback Greg Hough (164 yards, 3 TDs) and several of their top receivers.

Alex Roberson (31 catches, 504 yards, 4 TDs) and Dan Spriggs (27 catches, 419 yards, 4 TDs) are efficient possession receivers and Bruce Hocker (12 catches, 233 yards, 1 TD), who missed the final seven games with a broken collarbone, provides a consistent deep threat.

The offensive line must be rebuilt with the loss of three starters. Tackle Zach Wolfe and guard Matt Hoffman are the only returnees.

"We have a lot of very good players on offense," Schmitt said, "but how well we play will depend on the quarterback."

Defensively, the Dukes will be thin up front and deep in the secondary.

The most significant losses are All-Americans end Antoine Bullock, tackle Josh Antinopoulos and linebacker Harry Carter. Duquesne will rely on cornerbacks Aaron Strader, the MAAC defensive rookie of the year, and Kyle Postell and safeties Todd Mills and Michael Hill to complement the newcomers.

"This is going to be a tough spring," Schmitt said. "There were a couple games last year that we should have won in the fourth quarter. We didn't. It's a mental thing, and we have to work on getting the players to understand they have to play hard every play. They can't take a play off."