SLIAC Track and Field: Greenville Power
Over the next few weeks, we will be taking a closer look at the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference spring sports history. We will look at the sports by each decade, examining the 30 years of SLIAC history, culminating with a send-off for SLIAC seniors. Today we look at the "newest" sport sponsored by the SLIAC, track and field.
Track and Field has been a conference sponsored sport by the SLIAC for just 12 seasons which includes an 18-year absence after its first championship in 1991. Men's and Women's Track and Field was reestablished in 2010 as a conference sport, holding an outdoor invitational for seven years before moving to an official championship event in 2017. In 2020 the conference added to the championship schedule by officially sponsoring indoor track and field, holding its first-ever indoor championship in January of 2020.
Although track and field is the most recent sport to be added to the league, it can already claim to be the most successful. Much of that success stems from the Greenville University program. Greenville head coach Brian Patton has led the men's program to a pair of top-eight finishes at the NCAA Division III Outdoor National Championships, including a conference-high 6th place finish in 2015, while also guiding the women's team to a 25th place finish at the 2012 NCAA Division III Indoor National Championship.
The Panthers program boasts 28 track and field All-Americans between the two programs. Edgar Townsend became the first Greenville athlete since joining the SLIAC to be named a national champion after winning the 110-meter hurdles in 2010. Since then Bruce Gray (100-meter dash) in 2015 and Andrew Sharp (800-meter run) in 2018 have joined that elite list. Gray is the most decorated athlete in SLIAC track and field history, having been named an All-American eight times during his Panther career. The Greenville women's program lists four athletes to earn All-American recognition: Penny Grant (triple jump) in 2011, Kristen Schutte (javelin) in 2012, and two-time honoree, Chelsea Gilles (400-meter run) in 2016 and 2017. Since the conference has resumed sponsorship of a championship event the Greenville men's program has added three SLIAC outdoor titles and the women's program one more title to their trophy case. They have swept the conference's Field Athlete of the Year award since its inception in 2017 and in a unique tidbit, between the indoor and outdoor awards have had four different athletes claim the award.
SLIAC Track and Field has had success even outside of the Greenville program's long and sustained success. Principia College won the inaugural SLIAC Track and Field Outdoor Championships back in 1991. Principia won an astounding 28 of 35 combined events at the men's and women's championships behind head coach Robert Baker. Dwayne Elliott was the star at the 1991 SLIAC Men's Track and Field Championship, capturing four gold medals; winning the 100-meter dash, triple jump, high jump, and long jump. Kerste Bryant was the only female athlete to win multiple gold medals at the championship that year, finishing first in both the long jump and javelin, and went on to earn All-America honors later that spring. One year later her teammate Ngozi Mwanamwambwa would become the first and only female athlete in SLIAC history to win an event at the NCAA Division III National Championship, claiming first in the 200-meter dash. She also earned All-America honors in 1991 (100-meter dash) and 1992 (400-meter run). Other Panthers to be named All-American are Marnie Holley (pole vault) in 2000, Steph Hood (5,000-meter run and 10,000-meter run) in 2003, Kristina Muller (hammer throw) in 2003, and Rachel Charleston (hammer throw) in 2004.
The Principia programs continued to shine even without official conference sponsorship, with the men's team qualifying for four national championships (1994, 1995, 1999, and 2005) and the women's program going in 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 2000, 2003, 2004, and 2005. More recently Principia continued to send several individual athletes on to nationals. Andrew Schierholz (1994), Josh Burek (1999), and Lewis Howes (2005) all earned All-American honors in the decathlon when Track and Field was not a conference sponsored sport. More recently, Drew Clark was an All-American in 2011 in the 1500-meter run. Conrad Bollinger was a two-time All-American (2015 and 2016) in the pole vault while Shane Witters-Hicks earned the honors in 2017 in the 3000-meter steeplechase.
But there is one name above all for the Principia track and field program, Corey Carter. Carter is a three-time All-American and national champion in the 200-meter dash. Carter's time of 20.89 seconds at the 2019 NCAA Division III National Championship was the 6th fastest time in the history of nationals. He was named the SLIAC Athlete of the Year in both 2018 and 2019, and as just a junior, will have a chance to add to his hardware collection next spring.
In fact, the SLIAC was home to the three fastest runners in the 200-meter dash at the 2019 D3 Nationals. With Carter setting the pace, two more SLIAC runners followed him across the finish line. Webster University's Jacob Ridenhour was 2nd and Greenville's Jeremiah Davis finished 3rd as the SLIAC swept the event.
Over on the women's side, Webster University has won the SLIAC title in each of the last two years thanks in large part to the excellence of Gorlok Meredith Sowers. Sowers will leave as the conference's all-time leader in medals (15) and gold medals (8) and was the 2019 SLIAC Women's Track Athlete of the Year. Megan Illig was the only other Gorlok to receive that award, doing so in 2018.
Fontbonne University has had recent success in throwing events, where the Venegas sisters dominated. Raven Venegas, the 2019 Field Athlete of the Year, was a two-time All-Conference performer while Jillian, the 2019 Field Newcomer of the Year, earned All-Conference honors last spring.
Spalding University, who joined the league in 2009, has made a name for itself as well. Katie Suiters, a two-time All-Conference performer, was the 2018 SLIAC Women's Field Athlete of the Year while Eric Whipple and Kyle Jenkins earned NCAA Division III All-America honors from the men's program.
Westminster College's Shannon McCaul will also go down in SLIAC Track and Field history, being named the 2017 SLIAC Women's Track Co-Athlete of the Year after winning three gold medals at the conference championship and is still the conference record holder in the 3000-meter steeplechase.
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