Heldman secures third GLVC weekly honor

Southern Indiana senior libero Kayla Heldman was named the Baden/Great Lakes Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Week for the third time this season after averaging 6.50 digs per set to lead the Eagles to a sweep of conference wins over the weekend.

Heldman tallied a team-high 24 digs in the Eagles 3-0 win over Maryville on Saturday and followed that performance up on Sunday with 15 more digs in USI’s 3-0 sweep of Missouri-St. Louis.

The Greenwood, Ind. native is the all-time leader in digs at USI, with a career total of 1,749 digs with 491 of those coming from this season. Heldman is averaging a team-high 4.91 digs per set for the season as well.

The Eagles return to action Friday at the Physical Activities Center when they host Indianapolis on at 7 p.m. USI will close out the regular-season portion of the schedule with a match on Saturday against Saint Joseph’s College (Ind.) on Senior Day.

Guy wins regional title, Eagles head to nationals

Southern Indiana sophomore Johnnie Guy placed first at the NCAA II Midwest Region Championships, helping the Eagles advance to their ninth-consecutive appearance at the NCAA II National Championships.

Guy finished the 10-kilometer race in 31:06 and his effort marked the first time since 1997 that a USI men’s runner has captured a regional cross country championship. Overall, it was the fifth time that it has happened with the most recent winner being Elly Rono.

Four other runners on the men’s side finished in the top 25 to earn All-Region honors: junior Tyler Pence (7th, 31:28), sophomore Josh Guy (17th), Noah Lutz (18th), and sophomore Cody Stone (25th).

Juniors Trent Nolan and Hunter Motz rounded out the Eagles participants with finishes of 32nd and 56th, respectively.

USI will now serve as the Midwest Region’s representatives at the NCAA II National Championships along with Grand Valley State. The Championships are Nov. 23 in Spokane, Wash.