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Issued: October 7, 2005

SEVEN TO BE INDUCTED INTO BLUGOLD HALL OF FAME

Six All-Americans in football, track, cross country, wrestling and swimming along with a long-time athletics trainer will be inducted into the UW-Eau Claire Blugold Hall of Fame in ceremonies October 22.

The 29th class of men's inductees and the 16th class of women's inductees includes two-time NAIA football All-American Lee Weigel, eleven-time NAIA swimming All-American Amy Meisner, three-time NAIA wrestling All-American Bob Wozniak, NCAA national discus champion and two-time All-Conference volleyball player Cheryl Janowitz Dieckman, NAIA cross country All-American and two-time conference cross country champion Dan Stack, two-time NAIA cross country All-American and four-time NCAA track All-American Dan Held and 16-year Athletic Trainer Jeff Oliphant who died August 12, 2005. The inductions will take place October 22 at a banquet at the Holiday Inn Campus Area following the UW-La Crosse football game where the inductees will also be recognized. The banquet will begin with a social hour at 5 p.m., followed by a dinner at 6 p.m. and a program at 7 p.m. The banquet will also include recognition of the Blugold Super Six Salute Award winners.

Reservations for the banquet can be made by calling the UW-Eau Claire Alumni Association at 715 836-3266. Tickets are $20 per person.

The Blugold Hall of Fame was established in 1973 to pay tribute, to give deserved recognition and to enhance school tradition by honoring former athletic letterwinners or coaches who showed distinctive, unique or exceptional ability while on the campus at Eau Claire and have distinguished themselves in their profession or personally since leaving the institution.

For women athletes, there must be a lapse of 10 years before they can be considered and for men 15 years. Since 1973, a total of 87 men and 47 women have been honored prior to this year's class which brings the current number of inductees to 141.

CHERYL JANOWITZ DIECKMAN

Cheryl Janowitz Dieckman highlighted her outstanding two-sport career by winning the 1993 NCAA outdoor discus title with a throw of 145 feet, 10 inches. She had previously placed at the NCAA meet in that event in 1991 (7th, 137-9) and 1990 (4th, 143-8.5). She won the Wisconsin Women's Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WWIAC) discus title as a freshman with a toss of 148 feet, nearly 11 feet beyond her nearest competitor.

She earned seven more conference medals in track including three thirds in the shot put, discus and javelin in 1991. She also placed three times in the shot put at the NCAA indoor and outdoor championships.

As a volleyball player, she earned All-Conference first team honors in 1990 and 1993 and was honorable mention in 1992. She missed the 1991 season when she was pregnant with her first child, a daughter named Kayla who is now 13. She and her husband Mike also have a son named Darian who is seven. She was a versatile volleyball player who ranked among the conference leaders in at least six different categories including service aces, digs and kills.

Dieckman graduated from UW-Eau Claire in 1994 with a degree in corporate exercise management and psychology.

She was a 1993 winner of the Blugold Super Six Salute Award, the institution's highest honor for a student-athlete, and recently was inducted into the Eau Claire Regis High School Hall of Fame.

She has been employed by Luther Midelfort in Eau Claire since 1995 and currently holds the position of Radiology Support Specialist after working in positions as Customer Service Representative, Medicare Biller and Fee Analyst.

She serves the Eau Claire community as a member of the Community Beautification Association and as a volunteer member of the Luther Midelfort Wellness Committee.

DAN HELD

Dan Held was one of the premier distance runners in Blugold history, but like many in that sport may have reached his prime after he left UWEC.

The Mequon Homestead prep earned three varsity letters in cross country and earned All-Conference honors in each of those seasons, finishing fifth in the 1986 conference meet, fourth in the 1987 meet and third in the 1988 race. In 1987 he went on to place 10th at the NAIA Nationals in Kenosha. As a senior, he placed 16th to earn All-American honors for a second straight year.

In track, he set the conference record in the 5,000-meter race at the 1988 indoor meet and won the same event by 21 seconds at the outdoor meet. He came close to a double gold at the outdoor meet, losing the 10,000-meter race by five seconds. During the 1987 and 1988 seasons, he placed first, second or third in seven events at the conference indoor and outdoor meets.

He became the first Blugold NCAA track All-American when he placed fourth in the 5,000-meter race at the 1987 indoor nationals with a school record time of 14:35.56. He broke the school record again with a 14:27.21 clocking when he placed third at the 1988 indoor nationals. That year, he was was the national runnerup at the outdoor meet in the 5K race.

Held still has UWEC's top indoor time in the 5K, the top indoor time in the 3K and the fifth best time in the 1500-meter run.

He graduated from UWEC in 1989 with a business economics degree. He raced professionally from 1990-2001 and competed in the Olympic trials, USA National meets and was a six-time member of the World Track and Field teams that took him to Brussels, Belgium; Oslo, Norway; Mt. Belhard, France; Cape Town, South Africa; Athens, Greece; and Winschoten, Holland.

Held won the USA 50-mile national championship in 2000. He was runnerup in the 1997 USA National 10K Road Championship and the 1996 USA National ½ marathon Championship. He ran the second fastest USA time for 100K (62 miles) with a 6:33:30 clocking in 2000. He placed seventh in the 1996 Olympic marathon trials after placing 13th in 1992. He also placed 13th in the 1996 Olympic 5K trials.

Held is currently employed with St. Paul Travelers Insurance in Brookfield, Wisconsin as a senior claims specialist. He was a senior claims rep with Kemper Insurance for three years, a senior risk management analyst with Waukesha County for three years and a senior claims rep with Liberty Mutual for seven years. He is a volunteer assistant coach with the Hartland Arrowhead High School cross country team.

Held and his wife Janell, a purchasing manager, have three children: Hailey (9), Maggie (6) and Samuel (2).

AMY MEISNER

Amy Meisner was a four-year NAIA All-American as part of the Blugold swimming dynasty from 1987 through 1990.

During her career, the Blugolds won four consecutive WWIAC championships as well as the NAIA national championships in 1987 and 1988. The Blugolds were NAIA runnerup in 1989 and third in 1990.

Meisner, who came to UWEC from Roseville, MN and Kellogg High School, was a backstroke specialist but also did some sprint freestyle. She won the conference 100-yard backstroke twice and the 200-yard backstroke once with four additional runnerup finishes. She was a member of four consecutive conference gold medal winning 200 medley relay teams and four consecutive first-place 400 medley relay squads both of which established conference records. She contributed 234.5 team points at the conference meet during her career and also scored 129.5 points in national competition. She placed among the top eight at nationals in the backstroke four times and was a member of seven 200 and 400 medley relay teams that finished among the top five. The 1989 400 medley relay team was a national runnerup.

While swimming with a large group of talented teammates including current Hall of Famers Stephanie Strzalka, Janice Buron-Osmek, Kersti Nelson, Sara Laun-Cannon and Chris Seyser Kostbade, Meisner was voted team Most Inspirational as a senior.

Meisner graduated from UWEC in 1991 with a degree in nursing, a challenging degree to earn as a swimmer.

She began her medical career as a staff RN at St. Mary's Hospital in Milwaukee. She served as staff RN and Operating Room Educator at St. Francis Hospital in Milwaukee from 1993-96.

She helped open a new surgery center in Madison in 1996 (Physicians Plus Surgery Center).

She was promoted to Charge Nurse and became the orthopedic coordinator. While working full time as an RN in Madison, she also owned and operated the Wild Rose Guest House bed and breakfast in Stoughton.

She began her current employment at the Prescott Outpatient Surgical Center in Prescott, Arizona in 2002. She started as Staff RN and was promoted to Clinical Director of the entire surgery center within eight months.

She also owns and operates a quilting business called Dragonfly Designs which she started in Stoughton and now runs from a studio at home.

Meisner began competing in triathlons four months after a large tumor was removed from her spinal cord in 2000. She has continued to compete in triathlons ever since and has now completed about 20 sprint triathlons. She placed first overall once, first in her age group multiple times and usually finishes in the top 10.

JEFF OLIPHANT

Jeff Oliphant came to UW-Eau Claire as the Head Athletic Trainer in August, 1989 and took athletic training to new heights at the university.

In May, 2002, the UW System Board of Regents granted approval for UWEC to offer a bachelor of science degree in athletic training. In the fall of 2004, the athletic training program was granted accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs.

At the time of his death on Aug. 12, 2005 at the age of 45, he was an assistant professor of kinesiology and the director of the athletic training education program at UWEC and had built the athletic training staff to four certified Athletic Trainers from the one-person staff that existed when he arrived on campus.

He was the recipient of two major awards this year. In April, he became the youngest person ever inducted into the Wisconsin Athletic Trainers' Association Hall of Fame, the highest honor a WATA member can receive from the organization. In June, he received an Over and Above Award from the National Athletic Trainers' Association's College/University Athletic Training Committee at NATA's annual meeting and clinical symposium in Indianapolis. That award recognizes outstanding service to the athletic training profession and NATA at the college and university Division III level.

In 1997, Oliphant received WATA's Athletic Training Distinguished Service Award. That award is given to a member of WATA in recognition of his/her service to WATA and/or outstanding contribution to the profession of athletic training. When Oliphant received the award, it had not been presented since 1993.

Oliphant mentored numerous UWEC students who are in athletic training or medical facilities around the country. He worked with Dr. John Drawbert of the Chippewa Valley Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Clinic to place athletic training interns in a number of local high schools.

A native of Little Falls, Minnesota, Oliphant attended Crosby-Ironton High School, Brainerd Community College and the University of Minnesota-Duluth from which he received his bachelor's degree in 1983. He received his master's degree from the University of Arizona in 1984 and his doctorate, posthumously, from the University of Iowa in August.

Before coming to UWEC, Oliphant spent five years as the head athletic trainer and physical education instructor at Central Arizona College.

In the summer of 1989, he was a trainer at the US Olympic Sports Festival in Oklahoma City. In the summer of 1986, he served as an athletic trainer for a US basketball team that traveled to China and Hong Kong. He was also a regular volunteer at the Badger State Games in Madison, working the wrestling venue from 1990-2002.

Oliphant is survived by his wife Ruth, office manager at Chippewa Valley Orthopedics and Sports Medicine in Eau Claire, and two children: Zachary (19) and Jessica (17).

DAN STACK

Dan Stack is the only person in school history to win the Wisconsin State University Conference (WSUC) cross country championship and he did it in back-to-back seasons. The Superior native won the 5-mile race by 15 seconds in 1980 and repeated with an 11-second win in 1981. He had been the team's fifth finisher and 24th overall as a sophomore before making the drastic improvement. His win in 1980 vaulted the Blugolds to the WSUC championship, the only title they have ever won in that sport. Stack went on to earn All-American honors that year, finishing 22nd at the nationals in Salinas, Kansas.

As a track athlete, he won the 2-mile race at the 1981 and 1982 WSUC indoor track championships and the 5,000-meter run at the 1980 outdoor meet. His 1980 5K run and 1982 victory both broke conference records. In the 1981 conference indoor meet, he almost won double gold, losing the 3-mile race by 5/100ths of a second. At the 1981 outdoor meet, he doubled in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and the 5,000-meter run, finishing second by a few seconds in each race.

His 3-mile time of 14:13.18 in 1981 and his 3,000-meter time of 8:28.9 in 1982 still rank among the top four times in school history at those distances.

Stack was the team cross country MVP in both his junior and senior seasons and the track MVP in 1982. He left the university as the school record holder in the 2-mile, 3-mile, 5,000-meter run, 10,000-meter run and 3,000-meter steeplechase.

Stack graduated from UWEC in 1982 with a degree in management information systems. He is currently a District Account Exec for Applied Computer Solutions in Kirkland, Washington. Since leaving Eau Claire, he has held positions at six different software companies. He was Regional Sales Director for the Midwest at Micro, Inc. (1983-85), Manager for Sales at PC Express (1985-87), owner of Staco, Inc. (1987-94), Regional Account Executive at Andataco (1995-97), Regional Account Exec at IAS (1997-02) and Channel Sales at Legato Software (2002-03). He was a charter member of the Bellevue, Washington Chamber of Commerce high technology committee.

One of his recreational accomplishments was the climbing of Africa's Mt. Kilimanjaro, the tallest free standing mountain in the world. He did that in September of 2000. He and his wife Angela, an attorney, have two children: Madison (9) and Isabel (7).

LEE WEIGEL

Lee Weigel rates as one of the greatest running backs to ever don a Blugold football jersey. He played in 36 games for head coach Link Walker from 1982 through 1985 during which time the Blugolds produced a 27-13-1 overall record and a 21-10-1 conference record with a league championship in 1983.

The Marshfield native toted the ball a school record 944 times, a mark that is still the second all-time best figure in league history. While carrying the ball that many times, he lost only six fumbles. He is the only Blugold running back to achieve three 1,000-yard seasons and one of only two running backs to hit the 200-yard mark in a game on three different occasions. When he left the university, he held the school records for career TDs and points, career rushing yards with 4,105, career rushing attempts and single game rushing with 279 yards. Twenty-one times he rushed for over 100 yards in a game and four times carried 40 or more times in a game.

A three-year All-WSUC pick and two-year NAIA First Team All-American, Weigel was the conference rushing leader in 1983 and 1985 as well as the conference kickoff return leader in 1985.

Not possessing the speed of other great Blugold running backs like Roger Vann and Darrell Souhrada, Weigel ran through and over people. His longest run from scrimmage was 56 yards in his first start as a freshman when he gained 204 yards against UW-Oshkosh. He totaled 1,263 yards during the Blugolds' championship season of 1983 when the team finished 8-2 overall. He earned team MVP honors in 1985.

Weigel was selected as the Leader-Telegram's Male Athlete of the Year in 1985. He signed as a free agent with the Dallas Cowboys in 1986 although he did not make their squad. He played for the Green Bay Packers along with Blugold teammate Kevin Fitzgerald as part of the replacement team during the NFL strike season of 1987.

Weigel was also a member of the Blugold track team in 1983, 1986 and 1989. He placed in the javelin (sixth, outdoor, 1986), the 35-pound weight throw (fourth, indoor, 1989) and the hammer throw (second, outdoor, 1989).

He graduated from UWEC in 1989 with a degree in geography and coaching. He has continued to give back to athletics in a variety of coaching positions although his full-time employment has been in construction and he currently operates his own business-- Tiger Paw Concrete out of Eau Claire. He had been with Gust Construction out of Marshfield and Aero Masonry & Contracting of Eau Claire.

He served as Blugold running backs coach for Jim Lind from 1987-89 during the careers of Cary Osborn and Chris Herzog who set numerous school offensive records. He also worked with the Blugold throwers in track, most notable among them being All-Americans Dan Schmidt and Cheryl Janowitz Dieckman.

He joined the football staff of Blugold Hall of Famer Len Luedtke at Marshfield Senior High in 1995 and since that time the Tigers have won three state championships and been runnerup twice. Even with his current position in Eau Claire, he has maintained contact with Luedtke's Marshfield team. He also has been the hurdles and jumps coach at Marshfield since 1995 and had state qualifiers every year he coached the hurdles for head coach Jon Minor.

Weigel and his wife Julie, who runs her own cleaning service, are the parents of one daughter, Jessica Lee who is 17 months old.

BOB WOZNIAK

Bob Wozniak ranks as one of the most successful wrestlers in school history despite wrestling just three seasons under Don Parker's tutelage as a pre-engineering student who had to transfer to UW-Madison to complete his degree.

When he left UWEC, Wozniak had won more matches than any other Blugold, finishing with a career record of 109-23-2. The Stanley-Boyd prep won the WSUC 190-pound championship in both his sophomore and junior seasons after placing third as a freshman. He went on to place fourth at the NAIA championships in both 1988 and 1989 and was the national runnerup in 1990 when he produced a 38-3 overall record. He was 35-14-1 as a freshman and 36-6-1 as a sophomore.

Wozniak was also named an NAIA Wrestling Scholar Athlete in 1990 and earned the Blugold Super Six Salute Award that same year.

Wozniak received his bachelor's degree in mechnical engineering from UW-Madison in 1992 and his master's degree in 1998.

He worked for Safety Engineering Associates, Inc. from 1992 through 2001 as an engineering assistant and consulting mechnical engineer. Since 2002, he has been part owner of Skogen Engineering Group, Inc. of Madison and serves as Vice President-Engineering and consulting engineer. His areas of consulting activities include motor vehicle accident reconstruction, industrial and agricultural accident investigation and analysis and design analysis.

After many years of going for the gold in wrestling at the Badger State Games, he has quit competitive wrestling, but still volunteers at the event to help young children and old timers experience the thrill of wrestling.

For the past 10 years, he has been working with the Verona wrestling community, initially as a volunteer at the youth level and currently as the head coach for the high school. In six years as the head coach, he has had one state champion, two runnersup and two each third, fifth and sixth-place finishers. He has had 22 wrestlers with more than 30 wins and six with over 40 wins in a single season.

His 13-year coaching career also includes three years as an assistant at Madison LaFollette and with the wrestling clubs at Madison LaFollette and Verona.

He and his wife Annita, also an engineer of the domestic variety, are the parents of three children, daughters Jaedyn (7) and Jacobi (6) and son Cael (2).

Acronym Summary

WWIAC = Wisconsin Women's Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (women's conference name)

WSUC = Wisconsin State University Conference (men's conference name)

(WWIAC & WSUC were merged into what is now known as the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference)

NAIA = National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics

NCAA = National Collegiate Athletics Association

(UW-Eau Claire was a member of the NAIA, then held dual membership in both the NAIA and NCAA before dropping NAIA membership and maintaining NCAA membership only).

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