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Top row (left to right): Stan Aukamp, Steve Bamberger, Steve
Bayuk, and Kayla Heising. |
A class of nine former College of Wooster standout student-athletes will be inducted into the W Association Hall of Fame during the school’s “Homecoming 2014,” announced the alumni organization that supports intercollegiate athletics Thursday. The official ceremony will take place on Friday night, Sept. 26, at Scheide Music Center.
Scheduled to be on hand for their induction are Stan Aukmap ’92, Steve Bamberger ’76, Stephen Bayuk ’00, Kayla Heising ’04, Robin Mayo-White ’83, Shannon (O’Neill) Olney ’94, Matt Rodgers ’97, and Emily (White) McKee ’02, while Lloyd Van Nest ’23 will be recognized posthumously.
Aukamp, one of the top big men to ever come through Wooster’s tradition-rich men’s basketball program, capped his career with second-team All-American honors in 1991-92 after leading the Fighting Scots to a North Coast Athletic Conference championship (regular season and tournament) and 26-3 record. The 6-9 center from Charlotte, N.C., earned first-team status on the All-NCAC Team three times, and remains among the top-10 in school history in scoring with 1,490 points on a .560 field-goal percentage, rebounds with 827, and blocked shots with 216. Also notable, Aukamp was the second Wooster player, now one of six, to collect first-team all-Great Lakes District laurels twice from the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
Bamberger played a key role on the Scots’ only national championship team, scoring in all three rounds of the 1975 NCAA Div. III Men’s Golf Championships with a team-low 76, followed by 79 and 77. Individually, the Wooster native finished two strokes shy of All-American accolades that year while averaging 78.8 overall, and narrowly missed the national recognition as a sophomore as well, just one stroke short when totaling a Wooster-best 308 (78-78-81-71) at the then-NCAA College Division Championships. Overall, Bamberger started all four years for teams that finished among the top-20 at the NCAA’s four times, including fourth-place in Div. III when he was a senior captain, and won three Ohio Athletic Conference championships.
Bayuk earned eight All-American awards, tied for the third-most in Scots’ men’s swimming history. The freestyle specialist from Beaver Falls, Pa., peaked as a senior at the 2000 NCAA Div. III Championships where he led off both the third-place 200 free (1:23.22) and fifth-place 400 free (3:06.88) relays and finished fifth individually in the 50 free (20.88) as well as 11th in the 100 free (46.55). Bayuk had also posted four national finishes in 1999, including fourth in the 200 free relay (1:23.09) and 11th in the 50 free (20.85). Additionally, he garnered all-conference recognition all four years and is part of two school records (200 and 400 free relays) while still ranking second in the 50 (20.80) and 100 (46.51).
Heising, a W Association Hall-of-Fame inductee in her first year of eligibility, swam her way to 20 All-American certificates (out of a maximum of 28), which stands as the second-most in team annals. The Wauseon, Ohio, product particularly excelled in the 50 freestyle with three top-five national performances, headlined by second-place as a junior (23.32). Heising also finished as high as fourth at the NCAA’s in the 100 free (51.59) and ninth in the 100 fly (57.80) and led off five relays that reached the championship heat (top-eight), with top finishes of fourth in the 200 free in 2004 and fourth in the 400 free in 2002. She collected the NCAC Swimmer-of-the-Year award in 2003, the first from Wooster to do so, graduated with seven school records, three that remain – the 50 free (23.32), 100 free (51.24), and 200 medley relay (1:47.40). Equally impressive in the classroom, Heising was an Academic All-American® both her junior and senior years, an NCAA postgraduate scholarship recipient, and the 2004 NCAA Woman of the Year for the state of Ohio.
Mayo combined for four All-American honors during her two-year track & field career, three coming at the 1982 Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women Div. III Championships, with the Scotties. The AIAW national meet saw the Columbus, Ohio, native finish fifth in the long jump (18 feet, 4.5 inches) and help both the 4x100 (49.1) and sprint medley (1:48.54) relays to fourth-place performances as a junior, and she had a previous fifth in the long jump (17 feet, 9.75 inches) as a sophomore. Mayo left the program with six school records and still owns two – the outdoor 100 (12.04) and 200 (25.04) meters.
O’Neill won 10 NCAC championships on the track – five as an individual and five on relays – and was all-conference eight other times, all despite missing the 1991 and 1994 outdoor meets due to illness and injury, respectively. She swept the 100 and 200 meters at the 1992 and 1993 outdoor meets, with identical sprints of 12.66 in the 100 and a top mark of 26.00 in the 200, an NCAC Championships record at the time. As a relay member, O’Neill, who came to Wooster from Rochester, N.Y., anchored the winning 4x100 teams each of those seasons, plus two others (880-yard, mile) that crossed first during conference indoor meets.
Rodgers helped pitch the Scots to the eight-team finals of the NCAA Div. III Championships twice, as he was the staff ace during the 1997 campaign when they finished second in the nation and picked up two wins in relief en route to tournament MVP honors of the 1994 Mideast Regional. A product from nearby Orrville, Ohio, Rodgers gained all-conference mention three times, highlighted by the 1995 NCAC Pitcher-of-the-Year award when he went 12-1 with a 2.27 ERA, and all-region twice. Statistically, he is the league’s career leader in wins with 34 and also holds the school record for innings pitched, logging 316.2.
White excelled in two sports, combining for seven all-NCAC and four all-region honors in field hockey and lacrosse. She came to Wooster from Western Reserve Academy and particularly stood out on the field hockey team, becoming the program’s fourth (now one of nine) to reach the 100-point milestone for a career with 102 coming on an evenly distributed 35 goals and 32 assists. Seventeen of those assists were during the 2000 season when she was named the conference’s Offensive Player of the Year. White also piled up 100-plus points (90 goals, 15 assists) for the lacrosse squad, while her crowning achievement may have been playing a key role on NCAC championship teams in both sports her senior year.
Van Nest was a two-sport star in the early 1920s, selected all-Ohio in both football and basketball. On the gridiron, he lettered for teams that produced a 23-3 record from 1920-22 while playing at the end and guard positions. The basketball team experienced success as well with Van Nest on the floor, as it went 32-14 during his career, and as a senior forward in 1923, he averaged 11.4 points, which included four 20-point games.