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Three individuals to enter HOF

General Minot State Comminication & Media Relations

Three individuals, one team to enter Hall of Fame

MINOT, N.D. – The Minot State University Athletics Hall of Fame Committee has selected three individuals and one team to be enshrined Saturday.

The 2016 Hall of Fame class features former student-athletes David Blake (wrestling), Courtney "CoCo" Haley (men's basketball) and Melissa Spelchen (volleyball/softball) along with the 1992 MSU football team.

The Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place during halftime of the Beavers home football game against Minnesota Crookston Saturday with kickoff slated for 1 p.m. A brunch will be held in honor of the 2016 inductees at the Conference Center on the third floor of the Minot State Student Center.

Blake, from Williston, N.D., finished his wrestling career as the school leader in career wins, amassing 82 to set the record. He went an impressive 82-25 from 1977-81, earning three North Dakota Collegiate Athletic Conference individual titles. He had his best season as a senior, going 23-2, capping three straight 20-win seasons.

After finishing at Minot State, Blake continued to be active in athletics as a coach. He coached wrestling in North Dakota and Florida and has also coached football, baseball and fast pitch softball in Florida. He was a part of the coaching staff at Williston High School's 1990 state championship team and helped LaBelle High School (Fla.) to a runner up finish in 3A in football in 1995. In 2005, he coached LaBelle's softball team to a Final Four appearance in 2005.

Blake teaches middle school science in LaBelle, Fla., where he and his wife Robyn have lived since 1990. They have three children, Rachelle, Cory and Danielle.

Haley played two seasons for Minot State, racking up impressive numbers in a short span. The Chicago, Ill., native earned NAIA All-American status in both his junior and senior seasons, capturing third-team honors in 2004-05. He was named the 2004-05 DAC-10 Newcomer of the Year and First-Team All-DAC honors, helping the Beavers to a school-record 22 wins and a trip to the NAIA Division II National Tournament.

He scored 992 points in his two seasons, ranking him 14th all-time at Minot State when he graduated. The Beavers sported a 41-20 record during his two years, winning the DAC-10 regular season and tournament titles in the record-setting 2004-05 season. He was named to the All-DAC First-Team both seasons.

Haley currently lives in his hometown of Chicago, where he runs his own business.

Spelchen, a native of Canora, Saskatchewan, had an outstanding career in both volleyball and softball, coached at MSU and is currently a faculty member at Minot State. She earned All-NDCAC/All-DAC honors in volleyball three times, finishing as the DAC-10 Most Valuable Graduating Senior in 1998. She was a NAIA Academic Scholar All-American in 1997 and 1998. Spelchen was MSU's Most Valuable Player in 1997 and 1998 and earned the team's Defensive Player of the Year award from 1996-98. She left MSU as the team's all-time leader in assists with 3,767 and continues to hold the record for assists in a match with 76.

After her outstanding playing career, she coached at MSU for five seasons. She was hired by the university's Rural Crime and Justice Center in 2003 and began teaching full time for the MSU Criminal Justice department in 2005. Spelchen spent three years as the Minot State CJ coordinator at Bismarck State College before moving back to Minot to teach at MSU in 2011.

Spelchen currently resides in Minot.

The 1992 MSU football team had one of the best postseason runs in school history advancing to the NAIA semifinals before falling to Linfield College (Ore.). MSU defeated Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) in the first round and topped Hardin-Simmons (Texas) in a 21-14 thriller in the quarterfinals.

MSU went 9-3 overall and was 4-1 in NDCAC play, earning a conference championship. The Beavers had two first-team All-Americans, four All-District players, seven All-NDCAC selections with five more earning honorable mention status and one Academic All-American.

The 1992 MSU football team was coached by Dave Hendrickson and his assistants were Ryck Hale, Joel Gullickson, Dean Bachmeier and Bert Leidholt.

Members of the team included: Rob Achs, Gus Anchondo, Warren Anderson, Kelly Auck, Pat Babichuk, Aaron Bayer, Dan Beck, Brian Belanger, Darcy Boos, Taan Borhot, Kevin Boys, Louis Brown, Ken Campbell, Rob Cullen, Rob D'Andrea, Brent Danks, Cameron Deschamp, Scott Dillenburg, Josh Duhamel, Brad Franklin, Mark Fritz, Bill Gackenheimer, Derek Gackle, Joel Huberdeau, Sean Huset, Mike Jezierski, Keith Johnson, Brian Kimble, Ranko Kos, Jay Kotz, Gord Langley, Chuck Lee, Todd Lindstrom, Grant Limke, Billy Lorenz, Lance Makeeff, Eric Malebranche, Steven       Mayer, Rod McQuarrie, Jason Monilaws, Ryan Munson, Jason Obenauer, Jerry Obenauer, Mike Page, Jim Peterson, Mike Picard, Jay Plant, Russ Reder, Dennis Rekedal, Steve Rodriguez, Tony Scheffer, Cory Stevens, Shawn Sundheim, Donovan Swinnerton, Jason Two Crow, Mike Upton, Ray Van Heel, Jody Veroba, James Vollhoffer, Bobby Walter and Sheldon Warawa.

This marks the 37th class to enter the Minot State Athletics Hall of Fame as the school has honored a class each year since 1980.
 
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