SLIAC Senior Send-Off: Track and Field

The St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference would like to send our best wishes to its 2019-20 senior track and field athletes. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, all spring seasons were canceled and while the NCAA has announced that seniors will not lose a year of eligibility due to the cancelation, not all will return. With that in mind, we salute the 2019-20 seniors. 

The 2020 SLIAC track and field senior class is a loaded one that is made up of an All-American, 5 SLIAC Newcomer of the Year winners, and two SLIAC Athletes of the Year. When one takes a look at this year's class the most prominent name is Webster University's, Meredith Sowers. Sowers is a former Track Athlete of the Year and Track Newcomer of the Year winner while gathering All-Conference honors 16 times. She holds the conference record for most medals in a career (16), most gold medals in a career (8), and is tied for both the most medals and gold medals in one meet while helping the Gorloks to back-to-back SLIAC Championships. Her teammate Jakara Brooks has grabbed 8 medals in her career while Brittney Griffin totaled five. Fellow Gorloks Daisha Reece (4) and Miranda Green (2) are also multiple All-Conference honorees. Colleen Gosser, who participated at two conference schools, finishes her career as a two-time All-Conference athlete and received the All-Sportsmanship award in 2018. 

Fontbonne University will say goodbye to two of the program's best throwers in history; sisters Jillian and Raven Venegas. Jillian was the SLIAC Field Newcomer of the Year in 2019 and earned All-Conference honors in the discus. Raven was the SLIAC Field Athlete of the Year last spring, two years after being named the conference Newcomer of the Year, and earned All-Conference honors five times in her career. Their teammate Emily Bay was a five-time All-Conference selection during her Griffin career.

Greenville University will have a pair of All-Conference performers depart in Deb Cunningham and Kori Nesbit, who was also an All-Sportsmanship selection. Likewise, the Principia College women's team also looses two All-Conference selections in Tara Adhikari and Paige DeBoer. 

On the men's side of the conference, Jeremiah Davis leaves Greenville after garnering All-American honors last spring after finishing 3rd in the nation in the 200-meter dash. Davis, a former SLIAC Track Newcomer of the Year, earned All-Conference honors six times in his Panther career. Dylan Goodyear is one of the more decorated runners in conference history. The middle distance standout was All-Conference four times and won the 3,000-meter steeplechase all three years he competed at the SLIAC Championships. Rakim Murphy leaves with four ALl-Conference performances and was the SLIAC Track Newcomer of the Year in 2019. Dylan Niswonger was a two-time All-Conference selection while Noah Dir, Mahari Holt, Steven Oscar, Russell Lamb, Jackson Pierce, and Erick Garcia all earned All-Conference honors at some point during their career as well. 

Kyle Goessler was a two-time All-Conference performer for Webster while teammate Jose Mejia earned the All-Sportsmanship award in 2017. Principia College's Abe Ott leaves with two medals in his career, along with an All-Sportsmanship nod, while Chris Puduski was All-Conference in the hammer throw with a second-place finish at last spring's SLIAC Championships. 

We wish the best of luck to every student-athlete as they move forward and salute them for their efforts in competition and the classroom over the years! 

Tara Adhikari Principia		Emily Bay Fontbonne		Savannah Brewer Webster		Jakara Brooks Webster		Thomas Broomfield Greenville
Deb Cunningham Greenville		Jeremiah Davis Greenville		Paige DeBoer Principia		Noah Dir Greenville		Abram Donovan Webster		Erick Garcia Greenville
Miranda Green Webster		Brittney Griffin Webster		Kyle Goessler Webster		Colleen Gosser Webster		Dylan Goodyear Greenville		Donovan Graydon Greenville
Trevor Haasis Iowa Wesleyan		Jacquez Hall Iowa Wesleyan		Mahari Holt Greenville		Adereio Jones Greenville		Russell Lamb Greenville		Lida Landre Iowa Wesleyan
Kathleen Matecki Webster		Chris McGee Greenville		Jose Mejia Webster		Shaun  Montgomery Spalding		Paul Mueller Webster		Rakim Murphy Greenville
Kori Nesbit Greenville		Dylon Niswonger Greenville		Steven Oscar Greenville		Abe Ott Principia		Pedro Palomo Iowa Wesleyan		Sarah Parks Greenville
Jessica Phibbs Webster		Jackson Pierce Greenville		Chris Puduski Principia		Daisha Reece Webster		Megan Schramm Webster		Marie Sherman Principia
Meredith Sowers Webster		Jillian Venegas Fontbonne		Raven Venegas Fontbonne		Scott Woker Greenville