SLIAC Hall of Fame Class Announced

The St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference has announced its Hall of Fame Class for 2021. This year's inductees are Andrew Fuiten, Danni Glixman, Ngonzi Mwanamwambwa Asinga, Bill Rosner, and Carlie Sanderude.  

Andrew Fuiten finished his career as one of the most decorated players in Webster University baseball program history. An outfielder for the Gorloks in 2008 and 2009 he was a two-time SLIAC Player of the Year and earned First Team All-Conference honors in both seasons. He remains the only Gorlok in conference history to win multiple Player of the Year awards and is just the third player in conference history to achieve that feat. Fuiten earned All-American honors in 2009 and was the NCBWA Central Region Hitter of the Year the same season and twice earned First Team All-Central Region honors. Fuiten holds school records for batting average, slugging percentage, and on-base percentage, and his .416 career batting average is tops in SLIAC history. He finished his career with 27 home runs, 112 runs batted in, and 98 runs scored. With Fuiten the Gorloks won back-to-back SLIAC regular-season titles and advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2008, winning a then-school-record 31 games, and advancing to the Central Region championship game. He was a 2016 inductee to the Webster University Hall of Fame and he becomes the second Gorlok baseball player to be honored.

The next inductee is Danni Glixman, a softball player from Fontbonne University. Glixman was one of the faces of the Griffin softball program that won six consecutive SLIAC Tournaments. Playing from 2012-15 Glixman and  the Griffins went 94-41 overall and 64-2 in conference play with two undefeated seasons against SLIAC competition. She ranks first in Fontbonne history in batting average (.458), hits (232), doubles (68), slugging percentage (.737), and runs batted in (172). Those numbers place her in the top 10 in SLIAC history in average, hits, RBI, and doubles. She also holds the conference record for consecutive hits with nine and has the second-longest hitting streak in conference history at 27 games. Glixman was a four-time First Team All-Conference selection and was named All-American in 2013. She was named to the Fontbonne University Hall of Fame in 2020 and is just the second Griffin softball player to be inducted into the SLIAC Hall of Fame.

The third honoree is Ngozi Mwanamwambwa Asinga from Principia College. Asinga competed for the Principia track and field team from 1990-93, qualifying for nationals in all four years including in 1991, the lone year the conference sponsored the sport before 2017. That spring she earned All-American honors in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash, and 400-meter run; setting the program record in the 100-meters at 11.9 seconds. She earned All-American honors seven times in her Panther career and was the national champion in the 200-meter race in 1992. Asinga represented her home country of Zambia at the Olympics in 1992, becoming her country's first female Olympic track competitor, and was Zambia's flag bearer at the opening ceremonies. She was an Olympian once again in 1996 and later represented the International Olympic Committee promoting the Spirit of the Olympic Games. 

Bill Rosner joins the list of coaches elected to the SLIAC Hall of Fame. The former Fontbonne University softball head coach led the Griffins from 2009-16; totaling a record of 222-99 over that span. He guided the Griffins to a  conference record six consecutive tournament titles. Rosner was a three-time SLIAC Coach of the Year and led the Griffins on a conference record 22 game winning streak as well as 54 consecutive wins against SLIAC opponents. During his time he coached 26 First Team All-Conference players, 4 SLIAC Newcomers of the Year, 2 SLIAC Players of the Year, and 3 SLIAC Pitchers of the Year as well as 11 All-Region players and 4 All-Americans. He was selected to the Fontbonne University Hall of Fame in 2020 and joins one of his former players, Danni Glixman, in this year's class.

The final selection is Principia College's Carlie Sanderude. Sanderude was a two-sport athlete at Principia from 2010-14, playing both women's soccer and women's tennis. In soccer Sanderude was a four-time All-Conference selection, earning First Team honors as a senior and Second Team as a junior. The defender helped her team to three SLIAC regular-season titles, including two undefeated conference seasons, and two SLIAC tournament championships. As a tennis player Sanderude earned First Team All-Conference honors five times and was a two-time SLIAC Player of the Year. The Panther tennis team won the conference tournament in each of her seasons, appearing at nationals each time. Playing at #1 singles and on #1 doubles, Sanderude dropped only one match during her SLIAC career. Sanderude is the first women's tennis player to be inducted into the SLIAC Hall of Fame. 

All five inductees, as well as the class from 2020 which included Ashley Everett Zeier, Kevin Fann, Kim Kutis, and Keith Quigley, will be honored at the SLIAC Awards Banquet on May 17, 2022. 

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