Four Inducted Into The USTFCCCA NCAA Division III Track & Field Athlete Hall of Fame

NEW ORLEANS – The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) is pleased to announce the NCAA Division III Track & Field Athlete Hall of Fame Class of 2022!

SEE MORE: USTFCCCA NCAA Division III Track & Field Athlete Hall of Fame

Terry Anders of UW-Stout, Peter Kosgei of Hamilton College, Christina Scherwin of Moravian and Marcia Taddy of UW-Platteville will all be inducted today prior to the start of the 2022 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships, which are set to begin tomorrow in Geneva, Ohio.

Learn more about each of these inductees by scrolling below.

Terry Anders is the only athlete in NCAA Division III history with outdoor national titles in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 400 meters.

Would you believe that Anders won all three of those in the same year?

Well, back in 1996, Anders did just that – and if it wasn’t for an appeal by UW-Stout’s coaches, Anders wouldn’t have been able to compete on Friday and Saturday at all. That’s because Anders was disqualified in the triple jump – one of six events in which he was scheduled to compete – due to not reporting on time. An NCAA rule states that if an athlete doesn’t compete in an event they have qualified for, they can’t compete in the remainder of the national meet in any event. Common sense prevailed, though, allowing Anders his chance to shine.

“Terry loves the pressure,” UW-Stout coach Chris Hall unironically told Mark Andrew Trapani of the Eau-Claire (Wis.) Ledger-Telegram before the meet. “It motivates him.”

Anders relished – and took full advantage of – his second chance.

Just hours after being reinstated, Anders sprinted away from the pack to win the 200. Then, Anders defended his 400-meter crown from the previous year on Saturday and doubled back nearly one hour later to capture the 100. He won each race by an average of 0.30 seconds.

Those 30 points – and the seven he helped the Blue Devils amass in the 4×100 (sixth) and 4×400 relays (fifth) – propelled them to their best team finish in program history to that point (fifth). UW-Stout eventually reached the podium in 2012, 15 years after Anders graduated.

All told, Anders won six NCAA titles and was a 13-time All-American during his legendary career. Anders found most of his success in the 400, an event in which he topped podiums in both 1995 and 1996, both indoors and outdoors. In fact, Anders was the first man in divisional history to place first in the 400 at the NCAA DIII Indoor Championships in consecutive years.

Anders is the first athlete from UW-Stout to be inducted into the USTFCCCA NCAA Division III Track & Field Athlete Hall of Fame.

Peter Kosgei already made a name for himself before he stepped on the track for the steeplechase at the 2008 Penn Relays. After all, Kosgei completed a Triple Crown (of sorts) in the previous three seasons with consecutive individual national titles in outdoor track & field (2007, steeplechase), cross country (2007) and indoor track & field (2008, 800 and mile).

But the former Hamilton College standout forever cemented his name into the annals of NCAA Division III history inside the friendly confines of Pennsylvania’s historic Franklin Field.

Kosgei, competing under the lights in the College Men’s Steeplechase Championship, broke a 22-year-old divisional record when he finished runner-up in 8:43.78. The previous all-time best of 8:43.93 was held by 2019 Hall of Fame inductee Jim Gathje since 1986. Kosgei and Gathje are still No. 1 and No. 2, with the next-closest athlete in the past 14 years at 8:44.01.

It’s safe to say Kosgei hit his stride after the Penn Relays. He won five more national titles over the next four seasons with back-to-back steeplechase-5000 doubles at the NCAA DIII Outdoor Championships in 2008 and 2009, as well as an indoor mile crown. Kosgei is only one of two men in NCAA history who have completed the steeplechase-5000 double more than once in a career (Nicodemus Naimadu of Abilene Christian did so in NCAA DII in 2005 and 2006).

By the time Kosgei graduated in 2009, he had a treasure chest of accolades. He was a nine-time national champion, 11-time All-American, four-time USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Year and a three-time USTFCCCA Regional Athlete of the Year, among other accomplishments.

Kosgei is the first athlete from Hamilton College to be inducted into the USTFCCCA NCAA Division III Track & Field Athlete Hall of Fame.

Christina Scherwin truly left her mark.

That’s easy to do with a javelin, but tougher in the record book and beyond.

Scherwin was up for the challenge: nobody has been on the same echelon since.

Before Scherwin took the runway at the 2002 Quaker Invitational, only one female athlete had thrown the javelin farther than 48.00m (157-5) in NCAA Division III history (Sylke Knuppel of Johns Hopkins). After Scherwin wrapped up her field series, the former Moravian star would hit such a distance that nobody has come within nine feet since. Read that again: nine feet.

Scherwin staked the NCAA DIII record to an unfathomable 55.99m (183-9).

The ensuing NCAA DIII Outdoor Championships served as a coronation for Scherwin, as she easily won her first national title with a meet-record heave of 51.69m (169-7) and extended that to 55.34m (181-7) the following year to capture back-to-back national titles.

A three-peat eluded Scherwin, but not because of a setback: Scherwin opted to sit out the 2004 season in order to train for the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. She would compete in back-to-back Olympic Games (2004 and 2008), and between those years, placed as high as fourth on the world stage, which came at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki.

Scherwin is the first athlete from Moravian to be inducted into the USTFCCCA NCAA Division III Track & Field Athlete Hall of Fame.

UW-Platteville has 11 combined national event titles at the NCAA Division III Track & Field Championships – counting indoors and outdoors – in program history: Marcia Taddy had eight of them during her legendary career for the Pioneers.

Taddy made an immediate impact at UW-Platteville, earning four All-America honors in her first year on the team. After an indoor season that saw her finish third in the 800 meters and sixth in the mile, Taddy topped her first NCAA podium with a victory in the outdoor 800. That wasn’t just an ordinary win: Taddy, a native of Two Rivers, Wisconsin, captured the program’s first NCAA title and broke a three-year-old stadium record set by the legendary Missy Buttry.

“I set my goals before the meet with (assistant coach Tom Antczak) and I was hoping to finish in the top-three in each event (she also competed in the 1500),” Taddy told the Manitowoc (Wis.) Herald-Times in 2005. “After nationals, my coach asked me if I would rather have two thirds, or a first and a sixth (from the 1500). I think I’m a lot happier this way.”

Taddy’s thirst for success only grew stronger once she got a taste.

By the time she graduated in 2008, Taddy added seven more NCAA titles, 11 more All-America medals and two USTFCCCA National Women’s Track Athlete of the Year honors to her trophy case. Six of those national crowns came between 2007 and 2008, years in which she became the first woman in NCAA DIII history to complete the 800-mile sweep indoors (2007) and just the second to sweep the 800 and 1500 outdoors (2008, joining Liz Woodworth).

After graduating, Taddy served as a volunteer cross country and track & field coach at UW-Platteville from 2008 to 2017, was an assistant coach for the UW-La Crosse men’s and women’s cross country and track & field teams from 2018 to 2020, among other roles. Taddy is the first female athlete from UW-Platteville to be inducted into the USTFCCCA NCAA Division III Track & Field Athlete Hall of Fame (Paul Conlin went in as a member of the Class of 2021).