Club Sports’ ninth Hall of Fame inductees left championship legacy
4/14/2023 7:23:31 PM | Equestrian, Men's D1 Hockey, Women's D1 Hockey, Men's D2 Hockey, Women's D2 Hockey, Varsity Club
The three members of the ninth class of Liberty University’s Club Sports Hall of Fame, inducted Friday afternoon at The Virginian in downtown Lynchburg, each left a legacy for their respective teams and the program as a whole.
“The vision that (co-founder) Jerry Falwell (Sr.) gave to Liberty University, of Training Champions for Christ, you have all proven that,” said Angie Witt, Club Sports associate athletic director for sports medicine and performance and senior women's administrator. “We thank you for your contributions to Club Sports, and we view you as champions.”
For the first time, the class included a majority of women, with Hunt Seat equestrian rider Elizabeth Chenelle (’17, B.Ed. in Elementary Education) and ACHA Division I women’s hockey forward Carrie Jickling (’16, B.S. in Human Resource Management; ’18, MBA) joining ACHA DI men’s hockey forward Zac Bauman (’10, B.S. in Business Finance; ’13, MBA in Marketing).
Both Jickling, who finished her career as the Lady Flames’ and the ACHA’s all-time leading scorer with 137 goals and 104 assists for 241 points, and Bauman, who ranks first in program history in penalty minutes (532) as well as seventh in goals scored (82), and eighth in points (166), served as three-year head captains for their respective teams.
Jickling led the Lady Flames to three ACHA DI National Championship finals in her five seasons, including their first national title in 2015. She was the first Liberty representative and first female player to be inducted into the ACHA Hall of Fame in the Class of 2021, officially enshrined in 2022 in Naples, Fla.
Paul Bloomfield, Liberty’s founding ACHA DI women’s hockey head coach who recruited Jickling out of Alberta, Canada, presented her for Hall of Fame honors for the second time.
Jickling thanked Bloomfield as well as Justin Forth, who is stepping down after 11 seasons as DI assistant coach after winning a fifth consecutive national title under Head Coach Chris Lowes this season.
“It was truly an honor to play under Coach Bloomfield for five years there,” she said. “He built that program from the ground up and made a lot of personal sacrifice on his own dime throughout some of the years to make sure that we all had what we needed to be as successful as possible.
“Coach Justin Forth and I had a good player-coach relationship,” she added. “He had a way of pushing me and we related a lot to each other so he was able to push me in ways that other people couldn’t. He got me to be my best, or at least try to be my best every day, both on and off the ice, so I definitely looked up to him a lot as a role model and a mentor.”
Bauman, who brought his wife, Melissa (’12) who is expecting their third child along with daughter, Blake, 3, and son, Brooks, 2, was presented by former teammate Dave Semenyna, Liberty’s first men’s hockey player inducted into the Club Sports Hall of Fame in 2015 and one of his best friends to this day.
“I’m kind of full-throttle all of the time,” Bauman said, addressing Semenyna. “You’re always keeping it light, keeping everybody included, and making me laugh all of the time was a huge piece of my development as a leader.”
He also expressed his appreciation to Head Coach Kirk Handy, who also serves as Club Sports Athletic Director, and Associate Head Coach Jeff Boettger, for building him up as a player and guiding him through the process of becoming the founding head coach of the DII women’s hockey team from 2010-12.
“Reflecting back on the amount of stuff you fit into a four-year time period here and the relationships you build speaks to the environment you guys have created here for teams to thrive,” he said. “It’s pretty evident in terms of the overall Club Sports program and growth how much you guys have put into it. It’s amazing to see what God has done with this place.”
Chenelle, the first member of the equestrian program to be inducted into the Club Sports Hall of Fame, guided Liberty’s Hunt Seat riding team to its first regular-season high-point team honors title in Zone 4, Region 4. She became the Lady Flames’ first rider to compete in the 50th annual Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association (IHSA) National Championships in May 2017 at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Ky., finishing 10th out of 41 riders in the prestigious Cacchione Cup.
According to Hunt Seat Assistant Coach Kimi Counts, Chenelle’s presenter, she was instrumental in the building of both the Liberty Mountain Equestrian Center, which added an indoor arena before her senior season in 2016-17, and the equestrian teams themselves.
“Prior to my arrival at Liberty, Liz played a huge role of establishing the equestrian team as a legitimate program,” Counts said. “We would not be as competitive as we are now if it had not been for her.”
Chenelle overcame a fracture in her back after a fall in practice during her junior season to return to national championship form.
“Through the ups and downs during the 2016-17 season, Liz remained competitive, determined, and grounded,” Counts said. “She was a constant advocate for her teammates and did not hesitate to drop everything she was doing and help her peers.”
By Ted Allen/Staff Writer