By ISU Sports Information
NORMAL – The Illinois State Athletics Department will honor a group of four deserving individuals with induction into its Percy Family Athletics Hall of Fame during Homecoming Weekend, Oct. 7-8, 2016.
The 2016 class of the ISU Percy Family Athletics Hall of Fame includes former student-athletes Jared Dufault (baseball), Krystal Featherston (swimming & diving) and Lori Vogel (softball), as well as Neal MacDonald, who will be honored with the Campbell “Stretch” Miller Award.
The official induction ceremony will take place Saturday, Oct. 8, in the Brown Ballroom of the Bone Student Center on the Illinois State University campus beginning at 8 a.m. The three inductees and the Stretch Miller Award winner will also be recognized during halftime of the Illinois State-Youngstown State football game later that day. Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m.
The class is the 44th in the history of the ISU Athletics Percy Family Hall of Fame, which began with the charter class in 1972. Tickets for the Hall of Fame ceremony are $25 per person and can be purchased through the Weisbecker Scholarship Fund office by calling (309) 438-3639.
2016 ILLINOIS STATE HALL OF FAME CLASS
Jared Dufault – Baseball (1998-2001)
Four-year letterwinner and two-time All-Missouri Valley Conference selection as an outfielder (2000-01) … the first player in Illinois State history to lead the team in triples for four seasons in a row … finished career with a .346 batting average in 740 at-bats … collected 256 hits, including 39 doubles, 19 triples and 23 home runs during four-year career and drove in 141 runs while stealing 18 bases … ranks as the ISU all-time triples leader with 19, ranks fourth in career hits (256) and fifth in career runs (169) and on-base percentage (.419) … owns two of the top four single-season hit totals in program history (79 in 2000 and 80 in 2001) … earned American Baseball Coaches Association All-Midwest Region Second-Team honors following final season in 2001 … led the MVC that season with a .394 batting average, thanks to 24 multi-hit games and a 20-game hitting streak … ranked No. 11 nationally in triples per game in 2001 … started all 55 games played in as a junior and hit .351, with 79 hits including 15 doubles, three triples and two home runs while driving in 36 base runners … named an All-MVC Honorable Mention selection as a sophomore after driving in a career-high 49 runs while hitting .328 and belting 11 home runs, also a career-best … named MVP of the Clark C. Griffith Collegiate Baseball League and a Baseball America Summer All-American in 1999.
Krystal Featherston – Diving (2001-05)
Member of the Missouri Valley Conference All-Centennial Team … named the 2004-05 Jill Hutchison Female Athlete of the Year at Illinois State … was the first and one of only two divers in MVC history to be named Diver of the Year three times (2003-05) … collected six MVC individual diving titles, winning three consecutive each on the 1-meter and 3-meter boards from 2003-05 … four-time MVC All-Conference selection and two-time MVC Scholar-Athlete pick (2004-05) … two-time qualifier for the NCAA Zone C qualifying meet (2002-03) … named MVC Diver of the Week seven times during senior season on way to being named MVC Diver of the Year for the third-straight time … as a junior, won MVC Diver of the Week honors four times, before winning MVC titles on both the 1 and 3-meter boards at the MVC Championships … posted wins on both boards as sophomore at the MVC Championships, scoring a personal-best 474.45 (11 dives) … finished fourth at the MVC Championships on the one-meter and second on the three-meter board as a freshman to earn All-MVC honors for the first time.
Lori Vogel – Softball (1985-88)
Four-year letterwinner and two-time All-Gateway Conference First-Team selection (1987-88) … named Second-Team All-Region as a junior in 1987, after leading the Gateway Conference with a 0.65 ERA and 24 wins … owns a career record of 69-35 in 733.1 innings pitched with 219 strikeouts to just 82 walks … holds the Illinois State career record for fewest walks allowed per seven innings (0.78), ranks second in career wins (69) and innings pitched (733.1) and sixth in career ERA (1.00) … set single-season records for fewest walks per seven innings (0.43 in 1988) and innings pitched (269.0 in 1987) … ranks fifth on the single-season wins list (24 in 1987) and owns two of the top 10 single-season ERA marks in school history (0.65 in 1987 and 0.75 in 1986) … also made 263 plate appearances in her career, with 52 hits, seven doubles and 19 runs batted in.
Neal MacDonald – Stretch Miller Award Winner
A valued member of the Illinois State Athletics statistics crew for nearly 20 years … has volunteered time to help stat more than 600 ISU contests and helped teach nearly 100 staff members the Stat Crew system for various sports … first began typing volleyball stats in the fall of 1997 … began working with the women’s basketball stat crew the follow year in 1998 and worked with both sports before moving to the west coast in 2003 … while in Colorado, helped with the women’s basketball program at Northern Colorado … returned to Bloomington-Normal in 2005 and immediately resumed typing responsibilities for the volleyball and women’s basketball programs and continues in that role … took over statistics typing responsibilities for the men’s basketball team in 2014 and continues to hold that post … in addition to being a crucial member of the Illinois State staff, has also worked on the official stat crew for several Missouri Valley Conference Men’s Basketball tournaments in St. Louis and was a member of the official stat crew for the inaugural MVC Women’s Basketball Championship in Moline in 2016 … has also worked with the IHSA since 2012, scoring the girls’ volleyball championship hosted annually at Redbird Arena.
