By Con Marshall
Nine former Chadron State standouts will be inducted into the college’s Athletic Hall of Fame Saturday evening. The class is made up of five All-American wrestlers, two women who were All-Americans in track and field and two football all-stars on conference champion and nationally-ranked teams.
The inductees will be introduced at halftime of the Eagles’ football game against Adams State that will kick off at noon Saturday. More than 100 reservations have been made for the dinner that evening.
The wrestlers being honored include Brett Hunter of Rushville, where he was a two-time state champion and then was a two-time national champion at CSC and is now the Eagles’ wrestling coach. Another is Josh Majerus of Albion, Neb., a three-time All-American, including the 197-pound championship as a junior. They graduated in 2009 after winning 133 and 117 matches, respectively, to rank first and second all-time at Chadron State.
The other wrestlers to be inducted are Matt Weingart, an Alliance native now a Scottsbluff pharmacist, along with Mark Pfeifer, a Californian, and Devlon Webb, a Boys Town graduate who qualified for national tournaments all four years he was at Chadron State
The women going into the Hall of Fame include Stacy Girard, an Alliance native who held six Chadron State track records when she graduated in 2009, highlighted by becoming the first CSC distance runner, male or female, to place at a national meet. Four years after graduating, while working her master’s degree, she joined the CSC cross country team late in the season and earned all-regional honors at the South Central Championships by placing 14th among the 152 entries.
Like Majerus, Mary Wells is from Albion, Neb. She specialized in throwing the shot and discus, placing 18 times at Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Meets and became a two-time All-American.
The football players going into the Hall of Fame are Paul Schweger and John Strand, who were leaders on CSC’s 2006 and 2007 teams, both of which had 12-1 records, were undefeated in conference games and were ranked fifth in the American Football Coaches Association’s final polls.
Originally from Longmont, Colo., Schweger was a four-year starter at safety who made 182 solo tackles and intercepted or broke up 27 passes.
Stand was a 6-foot-8 offensive lineman from Imperial. A three-year starter, he was instrumental in helping Danny Woodhead become college football’s all-time leading rusher with 7,962 yards.
Schweger and Strand each earned conference and regional all-star honors several times.