By WJBC Staff

ST. LOUIS – Former Illinois State All-American and NCAA champion Christian Goy was selected as one of six inductees in the 21st Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame class, revealed by MVC Commissioner Doug Elgin Thursday.

The 21st MVC Hall of Fame class features Goy, as well fellow track/cross country standout Mary Ellen Hill-Schupbach (Bradley). The class features two long-time administrators in Bill Rowe (Missouri State) and Lois Patton (Evansville); a women’s softball Olympian in Dani Tyler of Drake; and Southern Illinois’ Darren Brooks, the only player in league history to win both the Larry Bird Trophy and men’s basketball Defensive Player of the Year honor twice.

“The individuals we will be honoring in the Class of 2018 are representative of the men and women who have preceded them in our Hall of Fame,” Elgin said. “They’ve brought significant honor to themselves, their institutions and to the conference. We are truly humbled to have this opportunity to salute them for their achievements. In a year in which we are celebrating 25 years of women’s athletics in the MVC, we’re excited to announce our six-person class, which includes three women who positively impacted women’s athletics at their institutions.”

Goy is the 12th Illinois State representative in the MVC Hall of Fame, joining Kenneth “Buzz” Shaw (1998), Doug Collins (1998), Cathy Boswell (2003), Will Robinson (2003), Jill Hutchison (2008), John Coughlan (2009), Linda Herman (2014), D.A. Weibring (2015), Dave Bergman (2016), Sue Daggett Miller (2016) and Charlotte Lewis (2017).

“Christian Goy absolutely deserves this honor to be inducted into the MVC Hall of Fame,” Illinois State Director of Athletics Larry Lyons said. “He is a multiple-time MVC champion and a NCAA National Champion. He is a high character guy and a born leader. He represented Illinois State and the MVC with the highest degree of class and dignity, and continues to do so today.”

One of the most decorated track and field athletes in Illinois State history, Goy became the second individual in school history at the time to be named an NCAA champion, when he claimed the 2002 indoor track mile title (3:59.43), setting a school record with the championship time. The Rheinsberg, Germany, native holds the MVC championship indoor mile record with a time of 4:02.10 in 2001, and maintains the top-two fastest times in the indoor mile at ISU with 3:59.43 (2002) and 3:59.61 (2001).

“I’m speechless and feel like a little child, doing somersaults in my head,” Goy said of the honor. “One never aspires to be selected into the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame. I simply wanted to win championships. I wanted to be the best, to work hard, to persevere, and then to do it all over again. When I was done running, I hoped I had raised the bar a bit higher and inspired a few who would follow. Being selected among the greatest means nothing, but it means everything at the same time.”

Throughout his career as a member of the ISU track & field and cross country teams, Goy earned three All-American accolades, won 12 Missouri Valley Championships in the 800m, 1500m, mile, 3000m and cross country, received three Verizon All-American honors, two Academic Athlete of the Year awards, was the 2002 State Farm Scholar Athlete of the Year, and in 2003 received the Dr. Charlotte West Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award.

A two-time Drake Relays champion in the 1,500-meter run, he also ran the first leg for the 1999 Illinois State distance medley relay team which finished second at the NCAA Indoor Championships.  Additionally, he recorded the second-fastest 3,000-meter run in school history with 8:02.46 (2002) and was a member of the distance medley relay that holds the school record of 9:33.52.

Goy garnered the 2001 and 2002 Milt Weisbecker Illinois State Male Athlete of the Year Award and the Doug Collins Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year recognition, was the MVC’s Cross Country Athlete of the Year in 2002, the league’s Most Valuable Track Athlete in 2001-02 and the MVC’s Most Outstanding Track Athlete in 2000-01.

He currently manages the Behavioral Science Lab (of which he is co-founder) and serves as Vice President on the Gazelle Foundation Board in the Austin, Texas. Goy was inducted into the Illinois State Athletics Percy Hall of Fame in 2010 and was selected to the Valley’s All-Centennial Track and Field and Cross Country teams, announced in 2007.

The Missouri Valley Conference will honor its past when the league conducts its annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony in St. Louis on Friday, March 2, 2018. The league will conduct its annual Hall of Fame ceremony as part the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Men’s Basketball Championship next March 1-4. The March 2 festivities will begin with an 8:00 a.m. breakfast, followed by the induction ceremony at 8:30 a.m. Tickets to the 2018 Hall of Fame event – scheduled to be held in the Peabody Opera House which is adjacent to Scottrade Center – can be obtained by calling the league office at (314) 444-4300. Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis.