Ken Shields, Krystal Lewallen and Jane Meier will be honored in May.
INDIANAPOLIS – Five individuals have been elected for induction into the Great Lakes Valley Conference Hall of Fame, a 2012 class that includes three all-time greats from Northern Kentucky University.
Former All-America softball pitcher Krystal Lewallen, longtime athletic director Jane Meier and retired men's basketball coach Ken Shields will be inducted into the GLVC Hall of Fame on May 22 at the Enterprise Rent-a-Car/GLVC Spring Awards Banquet at the Drury Plaza Hotel in St. Louis, Mo.
In addition, former Southern Illinois-Edwardsville two-sport standout Alicia DeShasier and former Southern Indiana women's basketball star Eileen Weber will also be inducted as part of the class of 2012.
One of the most dominating pitchers in the history of collegiate softball, Lewallen led NKU to a pair of regional championships. In 2004, Lewallen posted a 31-5 record and helped NKU advance to the NCAA Division II World Series for the first time in school history. She led the nation in earned run average (0.27) that season and was named the most valuable player of the Great Lakes Regional after tossing a one-hit shutout against Grand Valley State in the championship game.
The following year, Lewallen's dominating presence in the circle keyed NKU's record-breaking 55-0 start. She finished the season with a 32-1 record and led the nation in ERA for the second straight year. Lewallen earned National Player of the Year honors from the NFCAA and later was named the Honda Award winner, which is given to the nation's top collegiate female athlete.
After a successful coaching career in the sports of volleyball, women's basketball and softball, Meier stepped into the role of athletic director at NKU in 1988. Under Meier's leadership, NKU won two NCAA Division II national championships and captured 20 regional titles. NKU also won 61 GLVC regular-season or tournament championships during her tenure.
Meier also oversaw the NKU basketball programs' transition from Regents Hall into The Bank of Kentucky Center. Two other NKU athletics facilities - The Frank Ignatius Grein Softball Field and The Joyce Yeager Tennis Complex – were also built on campus during Meier's tenure.
Shields finished his 16-year career on the Norse sideline with a 306-170 record. He led NKU to regional championships in both 1996 and '97, and the Norse advanced to the NCAA Division II national championship games in each of those seasons. Shields guided NKU to seven 20-win seasons - the most in Norse men's basketball history - and three GLVC championships.
His 1996-97 team won a school-record 30 games en route to national runner-up honors. During that same season, NKU's Paul Cluxton – a GLVC Hall of Fame inductee in 2007 - became the first player in NCAA history to lead the nation in free-throw percentage without missing from the line (94-for-94). Shields' 1994-95 team won a school-record 16 consecutive games and captured the men's basketball program's first-ever GLVC championship.
The 2012 GLVC Hall of Fame class will be the 11th to be inducted since the institution of the honor in 2002. There will be 49 GLVC Hall of Fame members with the inclusion of the 2012 class.
