Saint Louis University's student-athletes win Atlantic 10 Conference championships, attain regional athletic and academic awards and claim All-America honors. What you don't always hear about are the countless hours of community service put in by the Billikens, or the fact that SLU student-athletes are leaders in their fields of study. Check back periodically for more notes highlighting the Billikens off the playing field.
Casey Miller and Sarah Septien of the Billiken women's tennis team have been working with the Jewish Community Center each week this summer, teaching kids the basics of tennis. |
Christine Steinmetz, a nutrition and dietetics major and member of the Billiken women's soccer team, took part in the St. Louis Area Undergraduate Research Symposium. Christine submitted research regarding the use of artificial sweetener in place of sugar in gooey butter cake. The symposium is an annual event that allows undergraduate science and engineering students from seven St. Louis-area universities to present their research results in a professional setting. It provides an excellent opportunity for students to learn about the research of their peers, speak to attending university faculty, interact with industry representatives and receive wisdom and inspiration from invited speakers. Members of the larger St. Louis and Midwest scientific research communities are invited to attend. |
Former Billiken track and field student-athlete Austin Critchlow joined a group of doctors through the Hackett Hemwall Foundation and traveled to Honduras for a week. Their mission was to treat incompetent veins, specifically the Great Saphenous Vein. These bad veins cause horrendous ulcers on the bottom of some people's legs and causes significant pain in others. Austin and his group treated 127 patients with six doctors on the first day and had the clinic open for five days. Said Austin following the trip, "It was an absolutely amazing experience and cemented my desire to go into medical school, which I start in July." |
Assistant coach
Tim Bradley (cross country/track and field) won the Interstate 64 5K run Dec. 6, 2009, with a time of . The run, sponsored by the St. Louis Track Club, took place on a renovated section of Interstate 64 a day prior to its grand re-opening.
Kerri Dockins (softball), Dahmar Smiles (track and field) and Brandon Morris (academic coordinator) recently attended the NCAA Division I Regional Leadership Conference in Atlanta. The theme of the conference was "Leadership through Service." According to Kerri, "The most important thing I learned about myself is how important values are to me. My most important value is family. I also learned that I really value service but I want it to be higher on my list. Therefore I want to improve this by trying to bring more service onto campus." Here is what Dahmar took from the conference: "To be an effective leader I must be able to be more open to ideas and to support the group rather than just the individual. I am committed to bringing back that very idea to campus. I am committed to bringing back leadership qualities that will help me interact with my fellow student-athletes as well as help build a strong community. I am also committed to passing along this information to our incoming freshmen to build better leaders for tomorrow." To learn more about SAAC and to view SLU's sport representatives, click here.
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The Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) walked in the Homecoming Parade around campus with SLU director of athletics Chris May. SAAC is designed to enhance communication between the Department of Athletics and SLU's student-athletes. The group is comprised of one representative from each of the program's 18 varsity sports. Bi-monthly meetings provide a forum for the department to share news with its student-athletes such as NCAA legislation, upcoming student-athlete seminars and athletic department plans. To learn more about SAAC and to view SLU's sport representatives, click here.
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Kyle Patterson (men's soccer) made a recent visit to St. Louis and visited a youth club team through St. Louis Soccer United. The SLU graduate and current Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder signed autographs, posed for pictures and distributed LA Galaxy T-shirts to the kids. |
Kristyn Gawin (left) and Christina Brown were among several Billiken women's soccer players who visited cancer patients at St. Louis Children's Hospital Sept. 10. The Billikens were joined by members of the U.S. Military Academy (Army) women's soccer team, who are in town for a game against SLU Sept. 11.
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The men's basketball team assisted SLU alum Troy Robertson and scrimmaged against disabled athletes participating in the National Junior Disability Championships 3-on-3 wheelchair basketball tournament. Willie Reed and Kwamain Mitchell practice while sitting in their wheelchairs. The event was held in St. Charles.
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Congratulations to head swimming and diving coach
Jim Halliburton for capturing gold medals in all five events he participated in at the Show-Me State Games July 17-19 in Columbia. He touched first in the 50 back, 100 fly, 100 free, 1000 free and 100 IM.
| Former Billiken men's soccer player Kyle Patterson, who is now playing professionally for the Los Angeles Galaxy in MLS, recently touched base with the kids at St. Louis United, a soccer club in south city. You can view his inspiring message on the club's website by clicking here.
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The women's basketball team participated in the Spring Rally at St. Louis Charter School. Among the topics they shared with the kids was diversity and how important it is to accept people's differences. Everyone had a blast! CLICK HERE TO VIEW A PHOTO GALLERY OF THE EVENT
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Congrats swimming and diving coach
Jim Halliburton on earning NINE gold medals at the St. Louis Senior Olympics. Click
here to view a story by KSDK/NBC on Jim's accomplishment.
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Lauren Woods (women's basketball), pictured at left, is attending the 2009 NCAA National Student-Athlete Development Conference, which runs from May 24 to May 27 in Orlando, Florida, at the Walt Disney World Coronado Spring Resort. Lauren is one of 600 student-athletes representing all NCAA Divisions and NCAA sports. The annual NCAA National Student-Athlete Development Conference provides NCAA student-athletes with a forum to openly discuss issues that may affect them on their campuses and in their communities, while also providing them with the opportunity to enhance their leadership, communication, decision-making and problem-solving skills. The National Student-Athlete Development Conference also promotes better communication among student-athletes, coaches, administrators, faculty and communities. The four-day conference consists of daily color team sessions, exercises, speakers and activities to help the student-athletes develop as individuals and as contributing members to society. SLU academic coordinator Brandon Morris is a facilitator at the conference. |
The women's basketball team spent a day volunteering with the local Special Olympics group April. They assisted with events on the track and in the swimming pool.
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A number of Billiken student-athletes from the women's soccer and swimming and diving squads participated in the annual "Relay for Life" event at Robert R. Hermann Stadium on the SLU campus. More than 1,500 people participated, and the event raised more than $120,000 for the American Cancer Society. |
Congratulations to the following student athletes who will represent their respective programs on the 2009-2010 Student-Athlete Advisory Council. SAAC is designed to enhance communication between the Department of Athletics and SLU's student-athletes. The group is comprised of one representative from each of the program's 18 varsity sports. Bi-monthly meetings provide a forum for the department to share news with its student-athletes such as NCAA legislation, upcoming student-athlete seminars and athletic department plans.
Jerry Mancuso (Baseball)
Paul Eckerle (Men's Basketball)
Lauren Woods (Women's Basketball)
Amanda Labuz (Women's Cross Country/Track and Field)
Greg Orf (Men's Cross Country/Track and Field)
Kelsey Traynor (Field Hockey)
Mark Pais (Men's Soccer)
Emily Kryzer (Women's Soccer)
Kerri Dockins (Softball)
BJ Sayre (Men's Swimming and Diving)
Julia Pearson (Women's Swimming and Diving)
James McArthur (Men's Tennis)
Hailee Elmore (Women's Tennis)
Megan Boken (Volleyball)
The athletic training education program at Saint Louis University, headed by Dr. Tony Breitbach, has been granted a charter in Iota Tau Alpha. The Alpha Iota chapter of Iota Tau Alpha conducted its first initiation ceremony at SLU on Thursday, April 30, 2009. Student-athletes
J.J. Hannigan (track and field), Caitlin Werkmeister (women's soccer) and
Emily Monahan (Saintsations) are members of the society, and
Keri O'Keefe (softball) is vice president.
The softball team participated in a Training Table, which was organized by SLU athletics dietician Jessica Janik, RD, LD. The training table was a success, as the squad went on to top Fordham in a key Atlantic 10 Conference softball game that night! Click here for more information.
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Theresa Lisch (Communication Sciences and Disorders) and
Lauren Olson (Communication) - Theresa (women's basketball) and Lauren (women's soccer) were awarded Outstanding Senior Awards in The College of Arts and Sciences. The College of Arts and Sciences annually presents outstanding senior awards to encourage scholastic and creative achievements among undergraduate students and to celebrate excellence in the senior class. Since departments provide the means and atmosphere for students to excel in the various disciplines, faculty members in each department offering a major choose a student to receive this award.
Chaz Salembier, Communications - Chaz, a junior pitcher on SLU's baseball team, presented a paper at the 35th Annual Undergraduate Honors
Conference in Communication at Depauw University on April 3. The paper was titled,
"Bill Maher's Religulous and Religion in America," an analysis of the persuasive claims in the film
Religulous.
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Molly Burke and Matt Alexander, Chemistry - Molly and Matt, both runners on SLU's track and field squads, offered a presentation at the American Chemical Society meeting in Salt Lake City. Their research was designed around developing models that will predict the three-dimensional structure of an RNA sequence using the known thermodynamic characteristics of that sequence. Molly and Matt's research focused on inosine, which is a biologically modified base, so that the developed models can be expanded to predict sequences containing inosine as well. |
Lauren Bruce, Asst. Field Hockey Coach - Lauren and her competitive adult women's ice hockey team, the
Missouri Hericanes, won the national championship in
USA Hockey's Senior C Division.
Congratulations to the following student-athletes and staffers who competed in the Go! St. Louis Half-Marathon and Marathon on April 19:
• Josh Aranda (Men's Soccer)
• Tim Bradley (Asst. Track and Field/Cross Country Coach)
• Lauren Christman (Volleyball)
• Kelly Ferguson (Asst. Women's Soccer Coach)
• Kim Hemmig (Women's Soccer)
• Theresa Hummell (Athletic Trainer)
• Brandon Morris (Academic Coordinator)
• Janet Oberle (Assistant Athletics Director)
• Lauren Olson (Women's Soccer)
• Declan O'Neill (Assistant Athletics Director)
• Sarah Schweitzer (Women's Soccer Graduate Assistant)
• Jillian Smith (Women's Swimming and Diving)
• Allison Sole (Women's Soccer)
• Emily Walter (Women's Swimming and Diving)
• Chuck Yahng (Sports Information Director)
The baseball team participated in a Fresh Gatherings Training Table, which was organized by Leslie Fialia, Liz Fox, Jamie Bommarito, RD, LD and Jessica Janik, RD, LD. Click here for more information.
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