Induction Ceremony - April 20, 2019
Pasca Cheruiyot | Cross Country & Track and Field (2007-2008)
The Kenyan native arrived in Ina in January ’07, but it did not take her long to become All-American (x 3), placing second in the Outdoor Track and Field 10,000-Meter Run, third in 1500M and 3000M.
⭐ By that Fall, she was the NJCAA Cross-Country Champion and part of an Academic All-America Team with a 3.20 composite GPA.
⭐ Another highlight of her only Cross-Country season for RLC came against four-year competitors when she won the U. of Southern Indiana Stegemoller Classic 4K Run.
⭐ The second Lady Warrior Track and Field Team in history won a first NJCAA Indoor Championship early in 2008 under Coach Denny Myers (matched by their male counterparts) thanks to her firsts in the Mile, 3000M and 5000M and second in the 1000M.
⭐ Individual blue ribbon performances Outdoors in the 5000M and 10,000M brought her three-semester total to six National titles and 10 All-America distinctions.
⭐ She set seven team distance records – three Indoors, four Outdoors.
⭐ Cheruiyot competed in the NCAA Cross-Country Finals the next three seasons, first as Missouri Valley Conference Champ for Missouri State before All-America finishes the next two for runner-up Florida State. She was fifth in the Outdoor 10K as a junior, ninth in the Indoor 5K as a senior.
⭐ She is the youngest of nine children.
⭐ Myers was coaching at Iowa Central C.C. and his former student-athlete was pursuing a nursing career in nearby Minnesota when they reconnected. They were married in March 2013 and he became her coach again as a pro.
Boaz Lalang | Track and Field (2007-2008)
Long before there was the HOF Induction, there already had been “Boaz Lalang Day” on campus (9/3/08), as well as Warrior red T-shirts proclaiming, “Boaz and Brent: Putting the INA in ChINA,” and a college community tuned in intently to the Beijing Olympics.
⭐ Consider the Year of Boaz 2008 . . . Indoors – Individual championships in the 800M, 1000M and Mile, anchor of the winning Distance Medley Relay Team and “Athlete of the Meet” after leading Warriors to NJCAA Team title.
⭐ Outdoors – Two more National crowns in the 800M and 1500M en route to another “Athlete of the Meet” recognition.
⭐ I.e., six-time All-America and a National Team Championship. Plus Track and Field Coaches Assn. Academic All-America honors for the dedicated, disciplined student-athlete.
⭐ Boasted fastest collegiate times – all levels – at 800M (1:47.82, breaking 23-year-old fieldhouse record at Indiana Relays and eighth-best in world at the time, one week before his 19th birthday) and in the Mile (3:58.34 at Arkansas Tyson Invite).
⭐ Support from campus boosters, the RLC Foundation and others enabled him to return to his native Kenya for Olympic Trials in the 800M Run and to be reunited in Beijing with Coach Brent and Dr. Deedra McLain.
⭐ Once in Bird’s Nest Stadium, he advanced by finishing second in Heat 8 (1:45.72). Third-place 1:45.87 showing in Heat 3 of semis was seventh-best overall, but 1-2 finishers in slower heat kept him out of finals.
⭐ Return for RLC Year Two foiled late by too-good-to-refuse pro offer from Adidas.
Darin Lee | Alumni Coach (1989-Present)
One of best basketball mentors in Illinois High School Association annals, with record to prove it.
⭐ At age 54, after 30 seasons on the bench, ranks 35th all-time with 632 victories in 911 games (.694), No. 12 among active coaches.
⭐ Never experienced a losing record as a three-year varsity performer for McLeansboro Foxes, Warrior floor general from 1984-86 and first 23 seasons as a head coach.
⭐ Small-school teams were dominating – 39-16 at Vienna first two seasons and 426-128 (.769) from 1991-2009 at Nashville. Since moving to Class 4A Collinsville, he is 167-136 in 10 years (27-6 in ’18-19).
⭐ Twenty teams have won 20 or more.
⭐ In ’06-07 a perfect Hornet season ended at 33-1 in State Quarterfinals. Elite Eight likewise was The End for a 30-2 quintet in ’97-98; 29-5 squad in ’04-05, which lost to eventual Class A champs who had to forfeit every game; 27-6 team in ’96-97, and 24-10 team in ’99-00.
⭐ No. 1 NCHS was 28-1 in Class A when upset in second post-season outing in ’98-99, 27-3 a decade later before he left for the Southwestern Conference, where CHS is next-to-smallest school.
⭐ Joined prep Coach David Lee (447 wins, ’93) in Illinois Basketball Coaches HOF in 2011 . . . winningest Father-Son combo ever. Darin helped MHS (31-4) to third in Class A in ’83, 77-15 mark in three seasons.
⭐ Air Force Academy transfer averaged 10.1 ppg, 5.7 assists as RLC freshman during 18-13 season.
⭐ Assistant Coach for ’88-89 HOF team.
⭐ Elected RLC Board of Trustees Student Rep.
⭐ Wife, Gina; children, Jackson and Danielle.
NJCAA Division II Men's Basketball National Championship Team (2012-2013)
These Warriors epitomized what any coach would want in a team . . . more specifically, the perfect example of what RLC’s Randy House needed in 2012-13 for a winning team (30-3) that could claim a Great Rivers Athletic Conference crown (14-2) against all odds, considering eight Division I rivals, and then complete a dream season by capturing a first-ever NJCAA Division II National Championship.
⭐ The unselfish squad averaged 80.6 ppg, yet boasted only two players in double-figures – Second-Team All-America and NJCAA All-Tourney Cortez Macklin, a 6-3 freshman guard, at 13.4 and National Tourney MVP Bronson Verhines, a 6-7 soph, at 10.2.
⭐ Defense also was key to their crown: four foes in the D-II Finals in Danville shot a composite .368 from the field – Cecil College (MD) in a 98-75 loss; quarterfinal victim South Suburban in o.t., 85-83, when RLC overcame a 22-point deficit; Owens C.C. (OH) in an 80-75 semifinal, and Moraine Valley in the finale, 87-69. It was first time in D-II history same-state teams played for title.
⭐ Starters Noel Allen, a 6-5 forward, and Dawson Verhines, a 6-3 guard, returned from a 15-14 squad which reached the Nationals in 2012; Guard Corey Ayala was a redshirt freshman, joined by sophs Jesse Smith and Dennis Froemling.
⭐ The championship cast was completed by 6-4 All-Tourney Guard Jeril Taylor, Montez Buford, Trice Whaley, 6-7 Montez Williams, Stephon Bryant, Antoine Buchanon and Alonzo Singletary.
⭐ The GRAC champs were 1-2 (8-2 overall) before winning eight in a row, dropping a 66-62 decision at No. 2 ranked Danville, then refusing to lose thereafter. Fourteen straight victories helped clinch the GRAC by four games.
⭐ RLC claimed the Region XXIV Tourney by hitting 50% FG / 76% FT in decisions over Lincoln College, 76-65, and John Wood, 86-78.
⭐ Ten different players led the team in scoring, including Macklin 11 times, Allen (9.8 ppg) and B.Verhines six times each, Taylor (9.3) in four games and Buford (8.6) in three; D.Verhines (7.8) had 26 vs. Wood. Whaley, Ayala and Williams averaged between 5.1-5.8 ppg.
⭐ B.Verhines and Allen led with 8.1 and 6.0 rebounds, with Whaley, Ayala and D.Verhines assist leaders between 2.2-2.6.
⭐ D.Verhines took home the Sportsmanship Award and House was named Coach of the National Tournament.
⭐ All-Region XXIV and All-GRAC – Macklin and B.Verhines.