The Southern Arkansas College Division of Athletics has introduced that it’s going to add eight new particular person members to its Sports activities Corridor of Fame because the twenty first class was elected by the Corridor’s induction committee earlier this summer time.
The latest class will likely be formally inducted throughout a ceremony at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, October 4 within the Grand Corridor of the Donald W. Reynolds Campus and Group Middle. The category may even be publicly launched at halftime of the October 4 Homecoming sport towards Southern Nazarene.
The 2024 Southern Arkansas College Sports activities Corridor of Fame Class is comprised of eight former student-athletes representing six of the division’s athletic applications. Learn concerning the latest members of this 12 months’s corridor of fame class under.
They embrace the next:
Brooke Goad – Fashionable Period (Softball)
No different feminine athlete within the historical past of Southern Arkansas Athletics introduced extra notoriety to the division than Waxahachie, Texas native Brooke Goad.
Essentially the most embellished feminine athlete within the historical past of the Muleriders, Goad was a key catalyst for Mulerider Softball’s rise to nationwide prominence as her illustrious profession in Magnolia stands as probably the greatest ever in all of collegiate softball.
The Texan showcased a plate prowess unmatched on the NCAA Division II stage and arguably within the historical past of NCAA Softball. She completed her celebrated Mulerider profession because the Division II profession chief in house runs (90) and walks (218) in addition to the only season Division II document holder in these classes as nicely (32 HR, 91 BB; 2018).
Cedric Thornton – Fashionable Period (Soccer)
It was solely becoming that the Muleriders signed Arkansas Delta product Cedric Thornton out of Star Metropolis as a result of by the point his run resulted in Magnolia, the relentless defender had grow to be a star destined for a profitable profession within the Nationwide Soccer League.
A member of the D2Football.com All-Decade Second Group, Thornton’s successes in Mulerider Nation included him spending a majority of his time within the opponent’s backfield. The defensive lineman recorded 50 profession tackles for loss totaling 156 yards to go together with 13 quarterback hurries and a dozen profession sacks; numbers that catapulted him into the higher echelon of defenders that wore the Blue and Gold.
Karonce Higgins – Fashionable Period (Soccer, Monitor & Discipline)
The Searcy remained within the Pure State when it got here time to take his abilities to the collegiate stage and to say the Muleriders benefitted can be an unlimited understatement.
A two-sport star for Southern Arkansas over the course of his profession, it was Higgins’ 2018 12 months which resulted in arguably probably the most dominant 12-month calendar stretch of any athlete in division historical past. Higgins captured the Nice American Convention’s Excessive Level Award on the league monitor and subject championships in April, competed in two occasions on the nationwide championship in Might and was named a Harlon Hill Trophy award finalist, the highest honor in Division II soccer and the primary Mulerider to achieve the ultimate poll, in December.
Skyler Stromsmoe – Fashionable Period (Baseball)
As profitable academically as he was athletically, Etzikom, the Alberta, Canada native proved to be one of many program’s most versatile gamers on the sector and within the classroom.
Stromsmoe’s first season in Magnolia ended with this system’s first championship, the 2006 Gulf South Convention Event title, of its NCAA membership and its second NCAA regional look.
An All-GSC first-team choice in back-to-back seasons, Stromsmoe earned the plaudits at two totally different positions claiming the dignity as an outfielder in 2006 and as a second baseman in 2007.
In his profession at SAU, Stromsmoe hit .331 (145-for-438) with 30 doubles, six triples, six homeruns and 76 RBIs. He holds a high ten profession rating in hit-by-pitch (33) which features a high ten single-season mark of 19.
Brittany Wright Manley – Fashionable Period (Volleyball)
The Carlsbad, New Mexico native shouldn’t be solely one of many high Mulerider Volleyball performers of this system’s early rally-scoring period, however probably the greatest to ever characterize the Muleriders in over five-plus many years of program historical past.
A two-time All-Gulf South Convention choice, with first-team recognition in her senior season of 2003, in addition to an all-academic staff honoree, Wright was the primary participant in this system’s rally-scoring period to earn a superlative all-league accolade when she was named the 2003 GSC West Division Participant of the 12 months.
Val Morris – Golden Period (Soccer)
Earlier than SAU Sports activities Corridor of Famers Nik Lewis and Karonce Higgins made their mark as Muleriders, this Shreveport native who set the usual for all different SAU cross catchers to comply with.
Within the early Nineteen Nineties, Morris might be discovered on the gridiron showcasing his distinctive pass-catching talents. However he may not often be caught. The speedy wideout hauled in a then-program document 151 passes over 4 seasons (1990-93), set a brand new single-game receiving yards document with 216 (vs. Howard Payne; 1992) and have become the second broad receiver in program historical past to cross over 2,000 profession receiving yards.
His 838 yards receiving in 1993 set a brand new program document and he’s one in all solely two within the fashionable period, of which he turned the primary, to document two seasons of 750 yards receiving. Morris’ profession ended with 16 receiving touchdowns; the third-most on the time by any Mulerider cross catcher.
Michael George – Golden Period (Monitor & Discipline)
He performed a key a part of Southern Arkansas Males’s Monitor and Discipline’s leap to nationwide notoriety. A local of Texarkana, Arkansas, George set the usual for Mulerider jumpers within the mid-Eighties. George’s 1984 and 1985 seasons are two of probably the most dominant ever recorded by a Mulerider within the sand and aided an SAU squad that claimed Arkansas Intercollegiate Convention {hardware} every year.
Sherman Evans – Golden Period (Monitor & Discipline)
A local of Dallas, Texas, he sits among the many quickest in a storied historical past of the Mulerider Males’s Monitor and Discipline program. Evans was a key a part of historical past within the 1991 season as his blazing efforts because the anchor leg of SAU’s 4×100 meter relay staff earned the squad a nationwide runner-up end; the best postseason outcome by any group or staff in division historical past.
That ’91 marketing campaign noticed Evans earn All-Arkansas Intercollegiate Convention honors as a sprinter along with All-America acclaim following the Muleriders’ silver end within the 4×100 relay.
