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Releases 2004-05 |
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| February
18, 2005 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Release by Mike Marzolf Photo available upon request |
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Star
studded Barton Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2005 announced Veronica Campbell, Derrick Brew, Bernard Williams, and Suzie (Wiemers) Fritz will take their place on the wall of the Hall of Fame at Barton County, Saturday, February 26, at halftime of the men’s basketball game against Butler County at the Barton County Gym. The 2005 class is the 6th Hall of Fame class for Barton. Veronica
Campbell Campbell’s excellence at Barton was evident from the start as she began posting her name in the Barton record books from nearly day one. Campbell set Cougars records in the 60m and 200m indoors as well as the 100m and 200m outdoors. During her freshman season, Campbell not only won gold in all four events at the NJCAA Championships, she put her name at the top of those charts. Campbell ran NJCAA Meet records of 7.26 in the 60m and 23.27 in the 200m to capture those titles. At the 2002 NJCAA Outdoor Championships, Campbell blazed to an 11.17 time in the 100m to set the Championship Meet record as well as tie an all-time community college best. Later in the meet Campbell blew away the competition to run a 22.39 200m to also set the Championships Meet record and put her name alone in the community college record book. That
summer Campbell ran an 11.0 to set the school record in the 100m.
Her sophomore season saw her run a 7.09 during the indoor season
to tie the all-time mark for a collegian in the 60m. Her 22.63 in
the 200m that indoor season is the best all-time at Barton by more
than a full second. She missed the NJCAA Indoor Championships and
the entire outdoor season with an injury. She went on to the University
of Arkansas, where she set school records in the 60m and 200m indoor
as well as the 100m and 200m outdoors. She won the 60m and 200m
NCAA indoor titles before injury kept her from the NCAA Outdoor
Championships. While at Barton, Brew made his mark on the national scene. Brew won two NJCAA Championship gold medals as a member of the 4x400m relay teams his 1st season with Barton. The Cougars won the indoor and outdoor 4x400m and Brew earned All-American honors in the 400m dash as well. His sophomore season Brew picked things up even more. Brew won the NJCAA Indoor Championships with a 46.11 to set the Barton indoor record in the event. The Cougars again won the 4x400m indoor title that year. During the outdoor season, Brew broke the 45-second barrier on his way to the NJCAA title in the 400m in a record-setting time of 44.53. That mark set the NJCAA Championships Meet record as well as the Barton record in the event. That time was the 8th best in the nation that year. At LSU, Brew was the outdoor runner-up in the 400m and set an LSU record of 44.29. That was the 4th fastest time in the world in 1999. That is still the fastest time Brew has ever run. Brew would finish 4th at the USA Outdoor Championships in 2001 and 2003, again posting the 9th best time in the world in 2003. Brew finally broke into the top 3 in the US at the 2004 Olympic Trials to earn his spot on the US Olympic team and on the road to his two Olympic medals. Bernard
Williams Williams was a 3-time individual NJCAA Champion at Barton as well as a 4x100m relay gold medal winner for the Cougars. Williams didn’t have as much success indoors, with his only title coming the 200m his freshman season. He did earn All-American honors in the 60m and 200m both years. During the outdoor season, Williams was unbeatable in the 100m at the NJCAA Championships. Williams became the 1st Cougar to win back-to-back 100m titles and also picked up All-American honors in the 200m both year despite not winning the gold. Williams holds Barton’s 60m indoor record in 6.65 and the 200m indoor mark at 20.69. He also holds the outdoor record in the 100m with a 10.03. His best 200m time of 20.46 was a record at the time, but is now 5th on the Barton all-time list. Williams won the Pan Am Games 100m dash the summer after his sophomore season at Barton. Williams was a frequent finisher in the Top 10 in the world in the 100m and 200m, posting Top 5 efforts most of the time after his days at Barton. He was the NCAA 100m champion at Florida in 200. He earned a bronze medal the World Outdoor Championships in 2001 in the 100m and won the US Outdoor Championships 100m in 2003. He posted the fastest time in the world in the 200m in 2003 with a 20.01. Suzie
(Wiemers) Fritz While at Barton County, Fritz, then Wiemers, helped the Cougars to a pair of Jayhawk West titles and two Region VI Championships as the Cougars setter. Fritz finished the 1991 season with 1219 assists, which was No. 3 all-time at Barton then and is now No. 8 all-time. Both Cougar teams made it to the NJCAA Final Four, taking 4th place both years. In 1991, Fritz was named to the NJCAA All-Tournament Team. After her playing days at Barton, Fritz spent a year at Northeast Louisiana and a year at Florida Atlantic as a player. She spent a year as an assistant at Florida Atlantic before returning to Barton to coach with her college coach Ray Bechard, who is now coaching at rival Kansas and is also a member of the Barton Athletic Hall of Fame. She spent two years with Bechard before moving onto Kansas State as an assistant until she was named interim coach in the fall of 2001 and eventually the full time head coach later that year. Her husband is no stranger to the Olympics either as he is a former Olympian himself. Steve Fritz placed 4th at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta in the decathlon for the United States. -30- Check
out Barton County Athletics Online at www.bartonccc.edu/sports
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Campbell
can make the case as the fastest woman in the world today. She laid
out her credentials for that by capturing the gold medal at this
past Summer Olympics in the 200m dash to go along with a bronze
medal in the 100m. She was the only female to medal in both sprints
at the Games. In addition, she anchored the gold medal winning 4x100m
relay for Jamaica, making her the only track athlete to win 3 medals
at the games with two of them being gold. Campbell won the gold
in the 200m with a time of 22.05. Her bronze medal in the 100m was
in 10.97. That bronze medal was the 1st individual medal a former
Cougar had ever won in Olympic competition. Her gold later in the
200m is still the only individual Olympic gold ever won by a former
Cougar. She added relay gold on the next-to-last day of competition
as she and former Cougar Aleen Bailey teamed to helped Jamaica win
the gold in 41.73.
Brew
was just two days behind Campbell in becoming the first former Cougar
to win an individual medal in Olympic competition. Brew surprised
some by finishing 3rd at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships
last summer and surprised even more by capturing the bronze medal
in the 400m dash to complete an American sweep in the event. With
that, however, Brew became the 1st American and first male athlete
from Barton to win an individual Olympic medal at Barton. The time
of 44.42 was a season-best for Brew as he helped the USA to sweep
of the event for the time since 1988. The quartet of Americans then
captured the 4x400m relay in a time of 2:55.91 to conclude the track
and field portion of the Olympics games.
Williams
has spent his years away from Barton sprinting against some of the
top sprinters in the world before breaking through with his silver
medal in the 200m at the Olympics this past summer. Williams already
had a relay gold medal from the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney running
as a member of the US 4x100m relay team. Williams returned to the
Olympics this past year by placing 3rd at the Olympic Trials. Then
Williams moved a notch to win silver in a time of 20.01 –
a personal best effort for Williams.
Suzie
Fritz has made her mark in the coaching industry the past several
years as a highly successful coach at Kansas State University. In
her 4 years at the helm of the Wildcats, Fritz has led her team
to a 91-33 record. The 2003 edition of the Wildcats was the best
in school history as Kansas State finished 30-5 that season with
an 18-2 Big XII mark and the Big XII Championship. It was the 1st
conference championship in Kansas State volleyball history. That
team was ranked No. 11 and advanced to the Sweet 16 on the NCAA
Tournament.