Propelled by eight Ohio Valley Conference championships, Southeast Missouri claimed the OVC Commissioner's Cup for the second time in three years. Here's a comprehensive look at SEMO's tremendous 2022-23 season both competitively and academically.
Academics
In a title-driven 2022-23 season which saw Southeast Missouri win an unprecedented eight Ohio Valley Conference championships, Redhawk teams complemented their remarkable competitive success with another great year in the classroom.
The spring semester consisted of 12 sports achieving grade point averages over 3.0. SEMO's football team posted its highest mark in program history with a 3.05 GPA and the women's cross country team did the same with its department-high 3.84 GPA.
Women's tennis (3.81), women's soccer (3.74), women's gymnastics (3.72), men's cross country (3.69), women's track & field (3.50), softball (3.50), men's track & field (3.45), volleyball (3.27), women's basketball (3.19) and baseball (3.10) completed the teams with over 3.0 GPAs.
Overall, SEMO's Department of Athletics finished the spring semester with a 3.34 GPA and, for the year, accumulated a 3.35.
A total of 76 student-athletes received their degrees, including 18 in the fall and a record 58 in the spring. Additionally, 121 student-athletes made either the Dean's or President's Lists at SEMO.
The Redhawks began the 2022-23 campaign by registering a 3.36 GPA in the fall, its highest fall semester GPA in seven years. Eleven teams turned in a GPA of 3.1 or better that semester.
SEMO's baseball (3.45), men's cross country (3.68), men's track & field (3.47) and football (2.97) teams all achieved their best fall term GPAs ever.
The women's cross country team led the Department of Athletics with a 3.76 GPA in the fall. Soccer (3.75), men's cross country, gymnastics (3.66) and softball (3.62) rounded out the top five marks. Women's tennis (3.53), women's track & field (3.52), men's track & field (3.47), baseball, women's basketball (3.30) and volleyball (3.18) closed out the teams with GPAs higher than 3.1.
Several student-athletes were presented with distinguished academic honors throughout the year, including Paige Halliwill (Softball, 2022-23 Sport Management Major of the Year winner by Sport Management faculty), Jolie Miller (Gymnastics, 2022-23 Health Sciences Major of the Year winner by Health Sciences faculty), Molly Maxwell (Gymnastics, 2022-23 Dietetics Major of the Year by Nutrition faculty), Tayler Gudde (Track & Field, 1st at the Student Research Conference Competition with Undergraduate Poster Presentation) and Taylor Nelson (Women's Soccer, Lorberg Award for Excellence in Academics). Baseball's Corbin Guthman was the recipient of the Jewel Award and both Maxwell (Gymnastics) and Sundancer Madeline Arledge won the Trombetta Award.
Baseball
The Southeast Missouri baseball team wrapped up its 2023 season with an overall record of 26-30 and took fourth in the Ohio Valley Conference with a 14-10 mark.
SEMO won 10 of its first 12 OVC games and was first in the OVC standings in mid-April. The Redhawks ended up with the #4 seed in the league's postseason tournament and saw their season close during a one-run loss to #5 Eastern Illinois.
Five players were voted to the All-OVC teams. Starting left-handed pitcher Noah Niznik garnered first-team honors. Outfielder Josh Cameron was the Redhawks only position player to get All-OVC accolades as a second-team selection. First-year SEMO pitcher Haden Dow joined Cameron on the second-team, while relief pitchers Gavin Johnston and Eddie White each landed a spot on the league's All-Freshman Team.
Reliever Kyle Miller broke SEMO's all-time career saves record. Miller finished with six saves for the second-straight season and has 17 in three seasons as a Redhawk. He surpassed Brad Smith (13 saves, 2003-05) for the program's new record.
SEMO's pitching staff led the OVC in opposing batting average (.267), innings pitched (478.1), strikeouts (455), strikeouts looking (138), runners picked off (13) and fewest walks allowed (181).
Individually, Miller tied for first in the conference in saves, while Niznik led the league in innings (85.2), strikeouts looking (27) and starts (15), and ranked third in both opposing batting average (.241) and total strikeouts (85). Niznik picked off an OVC best six runners on the basepaths, as well.
Offensively, Danny Sperling topped the Redhawks with a .312 batting average as one of three players hitting over .300 for the season. Cameron and Jevon Mason followed hitting .304. Cameron was the only Redhawks to start all 56 games. He led the team in home runs (16), RBI (51), doubles (14), hits (66), triples (4), total bases (136), slugging percentage (.627) and stolen bases (13).
SEMO claimed five series sweeps in 2023 with three wins over Western Illinois, Little Rock, Tennessee Tech, Butler and Lindenwood. All of those sweeps were at Capaha Field where the Redhawks were 18-9 for the year.
Men's Basketball
March Madness are the words that sum up Southeast Missouri's magical run to its first Ohio Valley Conference Tournament title and NCAA Tournament appearance in over two decades.
SEMO, after dropping four of its final six regular-season games, bounced back to win four contests in four days and earn its right to hoist the OVC Tournament trophy. The Redhawks won their second OVC Tournament crown in program history and became the first team to punch its ticket in the 2022-23 NCAA Tournament field.
The Redhawks became the first #5 seed in OVC Tournament history to win the event and did so by ousting the top two seeds (#1 Morehead State, #2 Tennessee Tech) along the way.
SEMO entered the NCAA First Four in Dayton, Ohio as a #16 seed and faced #16 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the first game of the 68-team NCAA Tournament on Mar. 4. Chris Harris scored a game-high 23 points and Phillip Russell added a double-double 15 points and 10 assists, but the Redhawks saw their season end with a close 75-71 loss.
The Redhawks finished their 2022-23 campaign at 19-17 overall and 10-8 in OVC play. SEMO snapped a streak of eight-straight losing records by posting both overall and OVC winning records in a season for the first time since 2004-05 (15-14, 9-7 OVC). The 10 conference wins were the Redhawks most in a season since 1999-2000 (14-4).
In just his third year as a head coach, Brad Korn guided the Redhawks to the OVC Tournament title. Now, every active head coach at SEMO can say they have won at least one OVC championship in their career.
Guards Russell and Harris were the Redhawks All-OVC picks. Russell garnered first-team honors, while Harris was a second-team selection. Both went over 1,000 points in their careers bringing the school's 1,000-Point Club to a total of 26 members. Harris scored 1,169 points and Russell had 1,016 in their careers. Harris was voted the year's OVC Tournament Most Valuable Player and Russell joined him on the league's All-Tournament Team.
In conference play alone, SEMO was the league's top scoring team with an average of 81.4 points per game. The Redhawks put up 80 or more points in 11 of their 18 league contests. Overall, the Redhawks were first in the OVC in turnover margin (+1.56) forcing 14.6 per game.
SEMO assisted on 497 of its 958 made field goals at a rate of 51.8 percent during the 2022-23 campaign. The Redhawks' 497 assists were the fifth-most in a season in program history. SEMO's 36 games played stand as the most in a season all-time. The Redhawks also established top-five single-season marks during their program's tenure in OVC wins (t4th, 10), points (3rd, 2,798), field goals attempted (2nd, 2,191), 3-pointers made (2nd, 286), 3-pointers attempted (1st, 875), free throws made (587, 3rd), free throws attempted (4th, 828), assists (5th, 497) and steals (2nd, 251).
Russell (18.1 ppg), Harris (15.6 ppg) and Israel Barnes (10 ppg) each averaged double figures in the scoring column.
Russell ranked second in the OVC in scoring, second in assists (5.1 apg), seventh in free throw percentage (.805), third in steals (1.6 spg), fourth in 3-point field goals made (2.4 per game), assist/turnover ratio (3rd, 1.8) and minutes (3rd, 32.5 mpg). He became just the third OVC player in the last 25 years to lead the conference in both points (615) and assists (174) during the same season. The other two were Murray State's Ja Morant (2018-19) and Cameron Payne (2014-15).
SEMO's storybook season garnered unprecedented media attention. Korn and Harris were featured in a live interview with Inside College Basketball studio hosts Clark Kellogg, Seth Davis, Greg Gumbel and Jay Wright on Selection Sunday prior to the Atlantic 10 Championship game. Several national media outlets latched on to the Redhawks historic run.
Women's Basketball
Southeast Missouri enjoyed a +10 increase in the win column during its strong 2022-23 season. After going 6-23 overall the previous season, SEMO improved to put together a winning season at 16-15 and 10-8 in Ohio Valley Conference play.
SEMO won its final six regular-season games to claim the #4 seed in the OVC Tournament. The Redhawks opened the postseason with a 77-38 drubbing of #8 Morehead State to advance to the OVC Tournament semfinals. SEMO posted its largest win in an OVC Tournament game in program history as the 39-point victory surpassed the Redhawks' 80-49 win over Murray State during the league's 2006 tournament.
The Redhawks and top-seeded Little Rock headed into their semifinal as the two hottest teams at the time and SEMO came up short in a 49-35 season-ending defeat. SEMO's seven-game winning streak was its longest of the year.
SEMO held its opponents to 63.2 points per game and under 40 percent from the field (.396), both good for fourth-best in the OVC. The Redhawks also led the conference with 10.5 steals and ranked third with 2.9 blocks per contest.
As a team, the Redhawks ranked 17th in the nation in bench points per game (25.2 ppg) and steals per game (10.5), and 15th in turnovers forced (20.3 tpg).
Jaliyah Green (18th, 10.5 ppg), Rahmena Henderson (21st, 9.4 ppg) and Kennedi Watkins (23rd, 9.0 ppg) were all among the league's top 25 scorers. Kiyley Flowers ranked fifth in the OVC in assists (3.4 apg) to go along with her OVC best 3.1 steals per game average.
Nationally, Flowers was 10th in steals per game and 15th in total assists (87).
Green was SEMO's lone All-OVC pick as a member of the first-team. She averaged 10.5 points per game as the Redhawks leading scorer. Green led the team with 87 free throws made, as well.
SEMO made the OVC Tournament for the seventh time in eight years with Rekha Patterson as its head coach.
Cross Country
Southeast Missouri's women's cross country team placed fourth and the men's team took sixth at the 2022 Ohio Valley Conference Cross Country Championships.
Hannah Eastman and Katie Wegmann each earned First-Team All-OVC honors, while Noah Little secured All-OVC accolades on the men's side.
SEMO's women's team won both the Redhawks Invitational (Sept. 2) and McKendree Bearcat Classic (Sept. 23). The men's team claimed first place at the McKendree Bearcat Classic to complete a sweep for the Redhawks in that event.
Eastman later recorded SEMO's best finish (90th) at the 2022 NCAA Midwest Regional, where the men placed 26th and the women finished 31st.
Football
It was yet another historic year for Southeast Missouri's football team which won its third Ohio Valley Conference title in 2022. SEMO posted an overall record of 9-3 and went undefeated in the OVC at 5-0, marking the first time in program history where the Redhawks went unbeaten in league play.
SEMO was ranked in either the Football Championship Subdivision Coaches or Stats Perform Media Top-25 polls a total of 10 weeks and finished the 2022 campaign ranked 13th in the FCS Coaches Poll and 15th in the Stats Perform Media Poll.
Following the Redhawks 52-22 win over Murray State (Nov. 19), a coin flip was administered to determine if SEMO or UT Martin would receive the automatic berth to the NCAA FCS Playoffs. The Redhawks won the coin toss on the final day of the regular-season and the Skyhawks were left out of the playoff field.
SEMO traveled to #17 Montana for a first round FCS Playoff matchup which resulted in a season-ending 34-24 loss for the Redhawks.
The Redhawks ignited a season-long six-game winning streak when they knocked off then-#17 Southern Illinois, 34-31, to win the War for the Wheel on Sept. 10. SEMO had lots of momentum heading into the postseason after winning its final three regular-season contests by a combined score of 125-29.
SEMO had the best scoring defense (22.6 ppg allowed), total defense (361.1 ypg allowed), rushing offense (225.6 ypg), rushing defense (106.8 ypg allowed), kick return average (23.3 ypr), PAT kicking percentage (53-of-53, 1.000), first down average (23.2 per game), fourth down conversion percentage (11-of-17, 64.7 pct.) and total offense (468.2 ypg) in the OVC. Additionally, the Redhawks were first in fewest fumbles lost (3) and fewest turnovers lost (10).
Nationally, the Redhawks led the FCS in tackles for loss allowed (3.7 per game) and ranked among the top 10 in fourth down conversion percentage (8th), fumbles lost (6th), sacks allowed (0.92), total offense (8th) and turnovers lost.
Running back Geno Hess put together a massive season. Hess became just the third player in program history to win the coveted OVC Offensive Player of the Year award. A First-Team All-OVC selection, Hess was named to the Associated Press, Stats Perform, American Football Coaches Association and Phil Steele All-America teams. In addition, he became only the fourth player in SEMO history to win the OVC Male Athlete of the Year award.
Along the way, Hess broke SEMO records in career rushing yards (4,112), single-game rushing yards (317, vs. Murray State, Nov. 19), career rushing attempts (689), career rushing touchdowns (53), single-season rushing touchdowns (21), season rushing yards per carry (7.2), most 100-yard games (17), most career 200-yard games (4), career points scored (330), single-season points scored (138), career total touchdowns (55) and single-season total touchdowns (23). He finished fifth in the overall voting for the Stats Perform Walter Payton Award. His fifth-place finish in the voting was the highest for an OVC Player since Eastern Illinois' Jimmy Garoppolo won the award in 2013. Hess broke the OVC single-game record in rushing yards and the league's career record in scoring, where he led the FCS.
Other award-winners for the Redhawks included Ryan Flournoy (First-Team All-OVC), Johnny King (First-Team All-OVC), Zack Gieg (First-Team All-OVC, Stats Perform All-American, Phil Steele All-American, Rimington Award), Nate Korte (First-Team All-OVC), Shyron Rodgers (First-Team All-OVC), Bryce Norman (First-Team All-OVC, Buck Buchanan Finalist, Phil Steele All-American, HERO Sports Sophomore All-American), Lawrence Johnson (First-Team All-OVC, Stats Perform All-American, American Football Coaches Association All-American, Phil Steele All-American), Dalyn McDonald (First-Team All-OVC), Paxton DeLaurent (OVC All-Newcomer, HERO Sports Sophomore All-American), Will Weidemann (Second-Team All-OVC), Keandre Booker (Second-Team All-OVC) and Ty Leonard (Second-Team All-OVC). Gieg became just the third player in program history to win the Rimington Award which honors the top center in the FCS.
Tom Matukewicz was named the 2022 Roy Kidd OVC Coach of the Year for the second time in his tenure with the Redhawks. Matukewicz was also one of 16 finalists for the Eddie Robinson Award which is presented to the national coach of the year in college football's Division I subdivision.
The 2022 OVC title marked SEMO's third in program history and the FCS Playoff appearance was the program's fourth all-time.
Gymnastics
Southeast Missouri's women's gymnastics team placed third at both the Midwest Independent Conference and USA Gymnastics Collegiate National Championships in 2023.
Ashley Lawson was named both the MIC and USAG Ken Anderson Coach of the Year after leading the Redhawks to a nice turnaround. Lawson's Redhawks finished with a total of 10 wins for a +8 improvement in the win column from the previous season. Along the way, SEMO broke program record team (196.175) and bars (49.325) scores against Texas Woman's on Jan. 27. Prior to 2023, the Redhawks record of 196.025 (vs. Iowa) stood for 26 years.
SEMO hosted this year's MIC Championships at Houck Field House and scored a 195.525 for its third-place showing. The Redhawks ended their season with a 194.850 mark at the USAG National Championships in Denton, Texas.
Jolie Miller, Madison Greene, Lindsay Ockler and Lydia Webb were tabbed USAG All-Americans. Meanwhile, Ockler (First-Team), Taylor Ingle (First-Team & Second-Team), Nyah Reader (First-Team & Second-Team), Webb (First-Team & Second-Team), Greene (Second-Team) and Lindsey Moffitt (Second-Team) were the Redhawks All-MIC performers.
SEMO collected a total of 22 individual event titles over the course of the season. After winning the MIC bars title, Ockler won the bars and took the vault crown at the USAG National Championships. She led the team with seven event titles, including five on bars and two on vault.
As a team, the Redhawks won their meets against Centenary (Jan. 14), Texas Woman's (Jan. 27), Lindenwood/Fisk (Feb. 10) and Greenville (Feb. 25).
Soccer
Southeast Missouri, picked fifth in the Ohio Valley Conference Preseason Poll, claimed the #4 seed in the 2022 OVC Tournament. SEMO accumulated an 8-6-3 record and went 4-2-2 against league foes. The Redhawks went unbeaten in six of their final seven games of the regular-season to get to the fourth-place spot.
After battling to a 1-1 draw with #5 Lindenwood in the OVC Tournament quarterfinals, the Lions edged the Redhawks, 2-0, in penalty kicks to end SEMO's season.
Rookie Cayla Koerner was tabbed OVC Forward and Freshman of the Year, while earning First-Team All-OVC and OVC All-Newcomer accolades. Koerner
was the first Redhawk to win the league's Forward of the Year, an award that started in 2020-21. She, too, became the fifth SEMO student-athlete to win Freshman of the Year and the first-ever OVC player to sweep both awards in a season.
Koerner led the OVC with six goals, 12 points and had two game-winners in league games. Her team-high 21 shots rated fourth in the conference. Koerner scored six of her goals in SEMO's final eight games of the season.
Faith Liljegren was a Second-Team All-OVC pick after leading the OVC with three assists in league contests. She was also named First-Team Academic All-District by College Sports Communicators.
Softball
Southeast Missouri's softball team won the Ohio Valley Conference regular-season title and grabbed the #1 seed in the 2023 OVC Softball Championship with another strong season.
The OVC regular-season title marked the program's eighth all-time and third since the 2019 campaign. SEMO went undefeated at home for the second-straight season and, for the first time in program history, posted undefeated records in Cape Girardeau in back-to-back years. The Redhawks are on a 30-game winning streak at the Southeast Softball Complex dating back to the end of the 2021 season.
SEMO finished with an overall record of 29-14 and 20-2 in OVC play. The Redhawks completed series sweeps against six of its eight league opponents. SEMO's conference record was its second-best in program history.
The Redhawks ripped through the conference portion of their schedule outscoring OVC foes by a staggering +107 margin (149-42). SEMO led the conference in batting average (.358), on-base percentage (.441), slugging percentage (.547), runs (149), hits (209), triples (12), doubles (41), RBI (138) and total bases in OVC games only. Additionally, the Redhawks had a 16-game conference winning streak from Mar. 18-Apr. 30.
Overall, SEMO topped the OVC with a .311 batting average, 2.70 ERA, 13 triples and a .230 opposing batting average. Redhawk pitchers also had the fewest hits (244), runs (128), earned runs (107) and walks (82) allowed in the league.
First baseman Aubrie Shore shared this year's OVC Player of the Year honor with Southern Indiana's Allie Goodin. Shore, also a First-Team All-OVC pick, became the sixth SEMO player to win the coveted award.
Shore hit .424 with 11 runs, six doubles, six home runs and 26 RBI in 22 league starts. She led SEMO with seven round-trippers for the year.
Pitcher Delaney Kell, outfielder Paige Halliwill and catcher Kat Sackett joined Shore as First-Team All-OVC selections.
Kell emerged as the Redhawks top pitcher in 2023. She went 14-3 in a team-high 26 appearances and 16 starts. Kell led th eteam with 73 strikeouts and 109.2 innings. She was undefeated at 9-0 inside the circle against OVC foes.
Halliwill garnered first-team accolades for the first time in her career. She was SEMO's second-leading hitter with a .352 average. Halliwill led the team with 31 runs scored and 44 hits in 43 starts as the Redhawks center fielder.
Sackett, who also made the OVC All-Tournament Team, hit .308 with 36 hits, 17 runs scored, a team-high 14 doubles and two home runs. She ranked 19th in the nation in doubles per game (0.33).
Shortstop Alyson Tucker and second baseman Sydney Dennis were SEMO's Second-Team All-OVC selections.
Tucker came back from a season-ending knee injury in 2022 to hit .320 with 33 hits, 15 runs scored, nine doubles, four home runs and 33 RBI. She struck out only eight times in 103 at-bats in 43 starts.
Dennis, like Tucker, hit .320 for the season. She scored 15 runs, tallied 32 hits and led the OVC with five triples.
Outfielder Zoe Schulte, who transferred to SEMO from Iowa, landed a spot on the league's 12-member All-Newcomer Team in her first year as a Redhawk. Schulte had a team-high .371 batting average in 41 games and 22 starts.
Mark Redburn was tabbed OVC Coach of the Year in his ninth year at the SEMO helm. For Redburn, the OVC Coach of the Year honor is the third in his career. All of those awards came in a four-year span.
SEMO officially clinched the OVC crown when it swept UT Martin (Apr. 29-30) during the second-to-last weekend of the regular-season. The Redhawks later went 1-2 at the league's eight-team tournament in Oxford, Alabama, where they ended their sixth consecutive winning season.
Tennis
For the second-straight season, Southeast Missouri won the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament title and punched its ticket to the NCAA Tournament. SEMO, which also won the league's regular-season crown, swept the OVC championships for the first time in program history.
The Redhawks simply dominated throughout their spring campaign putting together an overall record of 17-3 and undefeated 5-0 mark in OVC action. SEMO had eight shutout victories with three of those coming against conference foes. The Redhawks tied a single-season program record in victories and put together a program record 16-match winning streak.
SEMO had its most All-OVC honorees in a season in program history. Daniela Hlacikova was named OVC Player of the Year and earned first-team accolades. Romana Tarajova and Ksenia Shikanova joined Hlacikova as first-team selections, while Vivian Lai and Teona Velkoska picked up second-team laurels.
The Redhawks faced #15 Tennessee in the first round of the NCAA Women's Tennis Championship on May 5 in Knoxville, Tennessee. It was the second-straight year where SEMO played a #15 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
The 2023 season was the best since SEMO's women's tennis program began in 1991-92.
Track & Field
The indoor season saw Southeast Missouri's women's team win its first OVC title in 10 years and eighth all-time in program history. SEMO scored 183.5 points to blow by the rest of the field. The next closest team to the Redhawks was Little Rock, which finished 80 points behind.
SEMO's men's team took third at the OVC Indoor Championships with 128 points behind Little Rock (160) and Eastern Illinois (177.5).
Eric Crumpecker was named Women's OVC Indoor Coach of the Year for the second time in his career. Taylor Fox was named both OVC Female Track Athlete of the Year and Athlete of the Championship.
Luke Hatfield-Jackson and Tanner Koontz claimed OVC specialty awards on the men's side. Hatfield-Jackson was OVC Male Field Athlete of the Year and Koontz was tabbed OVC Freshman of the Year.
Hatfield-Jackson won gold in the men's high jump (6'11.5"), Fox finished first in the mile (4:55.14) and 800-meter (2:12.99), Marshall Swadley too first in the shot put (57' 0.75"), Clara Billing won the pole vault (12' 9.5"), Katie Wegmann placed first in the 3000-meter (9:45.79) and Isaac Readnour won gold in the long jump (6.78m).
Breanna Miles initially broke SEMO's indoor record in the 200-meter with a time of 24.28 at the PNC Bellarmine Classic. Miles then set a new record in that event with a 24.27 to win the prelims at the OVC Indoor Championships.
SEMO swept the men's and women's OVC Outdoor Championship titles for the fifth time in program history and first since 2014.
The Redhawk men's team entered the final day of competition with a 70-point (124-54) lead over Little Rock. With the Trojans within points and the 4x400 remaining, SEMO's relay team of Connor Moore, Markeith Crawford, Brenden Parham and Terrico Garrett ran a first-place time of 3:13 to clinch the title. The final event of the day gave the Redhawks a 216-214 win. It was the second-straight year SEMO won the OVC Outdoor crown.
Meanwhile, SEMO's women's team dominated the competition. The Redhawks accumulated 225 points over Little Rock, who finished with a score of 139.5. It was SEMO's 11th OVC women's outdoor championship and second in three years.
SEMO posted seven first-place finishes, 25 top-three showings and set 12 new personal records during its outdoor title run.
Crumpecker won both the OVC men's and women's Outdoor Coach of the Year honors, while Clara Billing was voted the league's Female Freshman of the Year, Miles won Female Track Athlete of the Year and Dylan Clark earned OVC Male Field Athlete of the Year.
Wegmann broke her own school record in the 1,500-meter at the Georgia Tech Invitational and Billing broke SEMO's record in the pole vault during the same meet.
Between the indoor and outdoor seasons combined, the Redhawks had a total of 155 first-place finishes, 180 second-place showings and 168 third-place finishes.
SEMO had eight athletes qualify for the NCAA West Preliminary in Sacramento, California, including Hatfield-Jackson (High Jump, Triple Jump, Long Jump), Clark (Hammer Throw, Shot Put), Parker Feuerborn (Hammer Throw), Swadley (Hammer Throw), Justin Breault (Javelin), Justin Kilgore (Javelin), Laila Hardin (400m Hurdles) and Billing (Pole Vault). Of that group, Feuerborn advanced to the NCAA Outdoor Championships after placing ninth in the hammer throw with a personal record throw of 225' 4". Additionally, Terrico Garrett was invited to the Music City Track Carnival in Nashville, Tennessee.
Volleyball
After sweeping both the Ohio Valley Conference regular-season and tournament titles the year before, Southeast Missouri's volleyball team entered its 2022 campaign picked second behind Morehead State in the league's predicted order of finish.
SEMO, at the time 11-14 on the season, heated up to win six of its final eight matches down the stretch. The Redhawks entered the OVC Tournament as the #5 seed and won back-to-back five-set thrillers to reach the championship. SEMO again went five sets, but fell just one set shy of beating #6 Tennessee State for the title.
The Redhawks finished the year with an overall record of 17-16 and 10-8 in conference action.
Libero Tara Beilsmith and outside hitter Zoey Beasley represented SEMO on the All-OVC Team. Beilsmith and Beasley were both first-team selections.
Beilsmith became SEMO's first-ever OVC Defensive Player of the Year after topping the league with 437 digs in conference matches.
Nationally, Beilsmith led the nation with 773 digs and broke her own school record for digs in a single season with 5.90 digs per set to go along with 200 assists. She was third nationally in digs per set.
Meanwhile, Beasley placed third in the OVC with 439 total kills and fourth with 481 points. She posted double-digit attacks in each of the Redhawks final six matches.
SEMO won seven of its matches by 3-0 scores. In addition, Beilsmith and Colby Greene landed on the 2022 College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team for the first time in their respective careers.
