Eight Blue Devils to be Inducted into Hall of Fame on Oct. 26

Competing for UW-Stout from 2008-11, Naomi DeLara earned five All-American honors and captured four National Collegiate Gymnastics Association (NCGA) titles, capturing the balance beam and the vault titles during her senior year, and earning the NCGA West Region gymnast of the year award. 

As a freshman, DeLara took top honors on the balance beam, becoming Stout’s first women’s gymnastics national champion, and the following year won the floor exercise. DeLara won four WIAC titles, claiming the balance beam and floor exercise as a senior and the vault and floor exercise during her junior year. 

The native of Hawai’i added all-conference honors in 2009 on the balance beam and in 2009 on the vault and the floor exercise. She was selected to the WIAC All-Time gymnastics team in 2012.

Daniel Drewek dominated the WIAC pole vault event between 2008-12, winning seven conference pole vault titles, vaulting to the indoor titles in 2009, 2011 and 2012 and the outdoor titles in 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012. 

Drewek was a five-time NCAA Division III pole vault All-America, taking home indoor hardware in 2009 (7th), 2011 (3rd) and 2012 (2nd) and outdoor medals in 2009 (2nd) and 2011 (3rd). In total, Drewek earned seven All-America honors, finishing second in the heptathlon in 2012 and as a member of the third place 4x100-relay team. Drewek was the WIAC decathlon champion in 2011 and heptathlon champion in 2012. At the 2011 WIAC outdoor championship, Drewek earned conference field performer of the meet honors after winning the pole vault and the decathlon. 

An eight-time WIAC athlete of the week, Drewek held the school records in the indoor (17-2.75) and outdoor pole vault (17-2), the heptathlon (5113 points) and the decathlon (6379 points) upon graduation. A psychology major, Drewek earned the 2012 WIAC Max Sparger Scholar-Athlete Award.

Derek Hanson centered one of the most prolific lines in UW-Stout hockey history, holding the school record for most points with 140 and is tied with linemate Scott Motz for career assists with 80. 

Hanson, who earned All-America first team honors during the 2008-09 season, finished his career with 60 goals, a mark second on Stout’s all-time list. Hanson was also a terror on the power play, scoring 26 power play goals throughout his career. Hanson was a three-time All-WIAC selection (2008-09, 2007-08, 2009-10) and three-time All-NCHA pick (2008-09, 2009-10, 2007-08).   

Hanson played a pivotal role as Stout made their first appearances in the NCAA Division III Hockey Championship, making their first appearance in 2007-08 and advancing to the Frozen Four the following year. During his sophomore year, Hanson scored 22 goals and added 20 assists, while the following year in 2008-09, Hanson scored 17 goals and dished off 28 assists.

Pat Mengelkoch did not miss a football game from 2007-10, leading UW-Stout in receiving for three years and is the Blue Devils’ all-time receiving tight end, finishing his career with 126 receptions for 1517 yards and 17 touchdowns.

He was a three-time All-WIAC selection, earning first team honors in 2010, second team in 2009 and honorable mention in 2008, Mengelkoch captured first team All-America honors by the AFCA and D3football.com in 2010, and was a third team selection on the AP Little America team

Mengelkoch’s most prestigious honor came when he was selected to the 2010 All-State/AFCA Good Works Team, an award that goes beyond the football field. In addition to being a team captain and a student government senator, Mengelkoch met twice weekly at Oaklawn Elementary with a Menomonie second grader diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, working alongside the youth in both physical and classroom activities.

Tim Nelson is a seven-time United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-American. In 2012, Nelson was the NCAA Division III men’s cross country individual champion and Division III Men’s Athlete of the Year for both outdoor track and field and cross country, winning individual national titles in the indoor and outdoor 5000-meter, outdoor 10,000-meter and cross country.

Nelson holds UW-Stout school records in the indoor 3000- and 5000-meter, and outdoor 5000- and 10,000-meters. He was named the WIAC athlete of the year in 2011 and 2012 and won five WIAC Championships. Nelson is a two-time Academic All-America of the Year for men’s track and field and cross country.

Nelson was the WIAC Max Sparger Scholar-Athlete of the Year in both cross country and outdoor track and field. Nelson, a member of the UW-Stout ROTC, received the UW-Stout Outstanding Student Leadership Award and was a recipient of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War Award, an award given to student leaders in the ROTC program. In 2014, Nelson received the NCAA Today’s Top 10 Award, one the NCAA’s most prestigious awards.

Erin O’Connell earned softball All-America honors after leading the NCAA Division III in home runs in 2003, smashing out 15 round-trippers, a mark that is both still a school and WIAC single season record.

O’Connell earned Great Lakes All-Region first team honors in 2003 and 2004 and third team honors in 2005. O’Connell was a four-year starter and three-time All-WIAC selection. O’Connell finished her career with 31 home runs, a Stout record and a top-10 conference mark.  A first baseman who played in 150 games over her career, O’Connell holds the school record for fielding percentage and is currently in the top 10 in slugging percentage, hits, runs batted in and at-bats.

 O’Connell played a key role when Stout won the 2005 WIAC tournament, earning the program’s first trip to the NCAA Division III Softball Championship.

In a 2003 double header against UW-Superior, O’Connell recorded four home runs, three in the second game.

John Miller was a busy man during his time in Menomonie from 1983-89. Brought in to restart the UW-Stout men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs, Miller also served as the Stout women’s head track and field coach, was an assistant with the men’s track and field program, was the head coach for the Menomonie High School girls swimming team for four seasons and founded the Menomonie Age Group Swim Team.

Along the way, Miller was a three-time NAIA District 14 swimming coach of the year, coaching four-time national champion Wendy Heineke. Miller coached 11 women to 41 total All-America honors; 17 men to 43 total All-America honors; seven individual men’s conference swimming champions, 13 individual women’s swimming conference champions and nine individual women’s track and field conference champions.

Miller was the meet director for two NAIA national championship meets and served as the president, vice-president and secretary of the NAIA swimming and diving association.

Layne Pitt has been involved in covering Blue Devil athletics ever since stepping onto the UW-Stout campus as a student in 1978. First through the student newspaper, The Stoutonia; the local newspaper, The Dunn County News; UW-Stout Photographic Services; as The Stoutonia faculty adviser, and as the longest serving sports information director at UW-Stout. 

During his 28 years as SID, Pitt built the school’s first athletic website; added live stats and video streaming; introduced social media; produced statistics, stories, game notes, player bios and photographs of thousands of games and events and publicized thousands of student-athletes.

Pitt managed publicity for two national gymnastics championships and numerous NCAA Division III and WIAC championship events. He received the University’s Chancellor’s Academic Staff Award for Excellence; a Lifetime Achievement Award from the College Sports Communicators and the Tom Butler Award from the WIAC.