~ Two NFL players and an All-American sprinter are among those in the 2013 class
Southeast Missourian ~ Four individuals, one family and one team have been selected for induction to the Southeast Missouri State Athletics Hall of Fame in January.
Inductees for Southeast's 2013 Hall of Fame class are Eugene Amano, Dan Connolly, Kathleen Hudson, Miles Smith, the Kohlfeld Family and the 1996 volleyball squad.
Amano, a football player from 2000 to 2003, started every game on the offensive line from midway through his freshman year through his senior campaign.
He won the I-AA Rimington Award as a senior, given annually to the top center in college football at each level of competition.
The first-team All-American was a seventh-round draft pick of the Tennessee Titans in 2004. He spent nine seasons and played 124 games for the franchise.
Connolly, a member of the football team from 2001 to 2004 was a four-year starting offensive tackle at Southeast.
After entering the NFL as an undrafted free agent in 2005, he is in his fourth season an an offensive line starter for the Patriots.
He became the first Southeast football player to participate in a Super Bowl when he played for New England against the Giants in Super Bowl XLVI. He set an NFL record for the longest kick return by an offensive lineman when he ran 71 yards in against the Green Bay Packers in 2010.
Hudson, a member of the track and field team from 1979 to 1981 and again in 1983, was a two-time All-American in 1981, when she finished sixth in the 400-meter national finals and anchored the 1600 relay to sixth place.
She ran on, and almost always anchored, relay teams that broke 13 school records.
Smith, a member of the track and field team from 2004 to 2008, is one of the most decorated Southeast athletes in any sport.
He was a five-time All-American, was named the Ohio Valley Conference's male track athlete of the year four times, won seven individual OVC titles and still owns school records in the indoor 200 meters, the indoor and outdoor 400 meters and the indoor and outdoor 1,600 relay.
He won a gold medal as a member of the USA's 1,600-meter relay team at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki, was sixth in the 400 in both the 2005 and 2011 USA Championships and placed eighth in the 2009 national event.
He was 12th in the 2008 Olympic Trials and 13th in the 2012 Olympic Trials.
The Kohlfeld Family, along with their beverage distributing company, has been a supporter of Southeast events for years.
The 1996 volleyball team was the first to go undefeated in conference play in the program's history. The team finished with an overall record of 28-8 and was 18-0 in league play en route to its fourth consecutive OVC title.
Cindy Gannon was named OVC coach of the year and setter Tuba Meto was the league's player of the year.
Leanne Huffman, Theresa Sebacher, Erin Willrich and Angie Ashoff also earned all-OVC honors.
Southeast, which earned its first NCAA tournament berth, set seven team records that have yet to be broken. Susie Thompson, Huffman and Sebacher all finished their careers with more than 1,000 kills, marking the first time in NCAA history that was done.
The induction ceremony will be Jan. 24 at the Show Me Center. This year marks Southeast's 12th hall of fame class. The hall currently includes 76 individuals and 15 teams since it was started in 2002.
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