8 selected to go into W Association Hall of Fame
Eight College of Wooster greats have been selected for induction into the W Association Hall of Fame. Additionally, all women’s athletes, women’s athletic teams and members of the Women’s Athletic and Recreation Association from the 1972-73 academic year were selected for this year’s W Association Distinguished Award of Excellence.
The W Association Hall of Fame induction ceremony is set for Saturday, Sept. 17 at 7 p.m. at Sheide Music Center’s Gault Recital Hall as part of the College’s Black & Gold Weekend. A reception will follow the induction ceremony. Registration is required. A flat fee of $25 enables registrants an all-access pass for all Black & Gold Weekend events. Register to attend the ceremony on The College of Wooster alumni website.
Individuals chosen for induction are Amanda Artman, Class of 2010; Brent Bizyak, ’89; Ian Franks, ’11; Marcy Hunt, ’94; Kurt Kapferer, ’06; Linda Paynter Rhein, ’83; Megan Sward, ’06; and Tiffany Rice O’Dell, ’06.
Artman, Wooster’s lone four-time National Field Hockey Coaches Association All-American, is one of the top offensive players in NCAA Div. III field hockey history. She graduated as the fourth-highest scorer in Div. III history with 257 points.
Bizyak was a key piece of Wooster’s rise to a national power in baseball. He earned first-team American Baseball Coaches Association All-America honors as a senior after helping the Scots to the program’s first appearance in the Div. III “World Series.” The two-time All-NCAC honoree ranked fifth in program history upon graduation with a .371 lifetime average (162-for-437).
Franks, arguably Wooster basketball program’s biggest success story, went from a jayvee player to two-time All-American. He played on the program’s national runner-up team as a senior and dropped in 623 points, at the time the fourth-most in single-season program history. Franks’ 1,696 points were the fifth-most in program history upon graduation, and he is one of 12 in program history with a career scoring average of at least 15.1 points per game.
Hunt helped Wooster’s rise as an NCAC power in women’s soccer as part of the first two NCAC championship teams in program history, with those conference crowns coming in 1990 and 1991. She also played on the first team in program history to make the Div. III Championships and earned All-NCAC honors as a senior. In track and field, Hunt blossomed as a senior, earning four All-Conference honors including being part of Wooster’s NCAC champion 4-by-400 relay (4:12.56) at the indoor conference meet.
Kapferer, Wooster’s greatest power hitter, earned first-team ABCA All-America honors as a designated hitter in 2006 following a third straight All-Region certificate, NCAC Player of the Year honors and a fourth All-Conference selection. He mashed a school-record 49 home runs during his career, and still holds the NCAC and Wooster records for longest hitting streak at 29 games.
Paynter Rhein was the starting goalkeeper for Wooster’s 1981 field hockey team, which placed third at the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women/USA Field Hockey Championships, the national championship for the sport at the time.
Sward earned third-team All-America honors from the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association as a sophomore and was a three-time All-Region selection. She earned three All-NCAC certificates with first-team honors as a sophomore, junior and senior.
Rice O’Dell accumulated a school-record 1,750 kills, and she is the only Scot to post three 400-kill seasons. Her lifetime .334 attack percentage sits atop the program leader board, and no Scot before or after Rice O’Dell has finished a career with at least a .300 attack percentage on a minimum of 1,000 attempts.
The W Association board voted to recognize women’s athletes and teams from the 1972-73 academic year with the 50th anniversary of Title IX being signed into law this past June. Wooster had six women’s teams — basketball, field hockey, lacrosse, swimming and diving, tennis, and volleyball — at the time, plus a trio of standout track and field athletes enrolled at the college.