MEMBERS OF RUTGERS OLYMPIC SPORTS HALL OF FAME Hall of Fame Class of 2008 JOHN HANLEY ‘69 An outstanding track and field competitor from 1967 through 1969, Hanley co-captained the team during the 1969 season. A standout in multiple events, Hanley earned All-America status at the 1969 NCAA Championships, breaking his own school record in the 400 hurdles. He ran a time of 50.9 seconds which still stands today. Hanley was a Metropolitan champion in both the 400 meter hurdles and 4x400 meter relay in 1968 and 1969. He was a member of the NCAA qualifying 4x400 relay team in 1968 and ran on the 4x200 relay squad which established a school record that lasted 35 years. A finalist in the 400 hurdles at the 1968 IC4A, Hanley won the event a year later in 1969. Hall of Fame Class of 2007 CHRIS SAGNELLA ‘96 A three-time NCAA first-team All-American in the javelin, Chris Sagnella is the school record-holder in the javelin with a Rutgers-best mark of 244’ 10”. An IC4A, Penn Relays and Big East Champion, Sagnella established a one-time meet record at the Big East Championships in the javelin. He was a two-time Metropolitan Conference Champion and competed at the 1996 United States Olympic Trials, securing an eighth-place finish. Sagnella Chris Sagnella was the number nine ranked javelin thrower in the United States by Track and field News in 1996. That included all college and professional javelin throwers in 1996. Hall of Fame Class of 2005 RON SPEIRS ‘75 A 1975 All-American in the mile, finishing fifth at the NCAA Championships, Speirs helped lead Rutgers to the Metropolitan outdoor team title in 1975, finishing second in the mile and 880-yard runs. Still the owner of the indoor (4:05.9) and outdoor (4:00.8) mile records “On the Banks,” Speirs was an all-IC4A honoree in 1975, finishing as the runner-up (4:00.8) to Eamon Coghlan, the future world record holder. Speirs also Ron Speirs helped lead Rutgers to a Metropolitan cross country title in 1974, and was awarded the Robert Collett Award as team MVP in 1973 and 1974. He was an all IC4A cross country honoree in 1974, and a three-time competitor in the NCAA Cross-Country Championships, finishing 31st in 1973, the highest ever by a Scarlet Knight. While obtaining his Master’s Degree at Rutgers and serving as graduate assistant track and field coach, Ron went on to run 3:56.9 in the mile in 1977, the fastest time ever run by a Rutgers graduate. A finalist at the 1976 British Olympic Trials, Speirs went on to found and serve as president of RU FAST (Friends and Alumni of Scarlet Track), and founded the Lester C. Wallack, Jr. Scholarship for men’s track. Hall of Fame Class of 2002 BALAZS KORANYI ‘97 Koranyi was a track and field standout at Rutgers from from 1993 through 1997. He was a four-time All-American and three-time BIG EAST Champion in the 800 meters, while also winning five Metropolitan Championships. He currently holds the school record in both the indoor (1:47.93) and outdoor (1:46.53) 800m run. Koranyi was a First Team Academic All-American in 1996 and earned the 1997 Leslie Coursen Award Balazs Koranyi as Rutgers’ outstanding senior male athlete. Beyond his collegiate competition, Koranyi competed at the 1996 and 2000 Olympics for his native Hungary, reaching the semifinals of the 800m run each year. He is the national record holder in Hungary as well with a time of 1:45.39.
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2010 RUTGERS TRACK & FIELD
Hall of Fame Class of 2000 BORIS PENDERGRASS ‘85 Boris Pendergrass was a standout track and field competitor at Rutgers from1982-85, emerging as the dominant hurdler in the east from 1984-85. Participating in the 55 and 110 hurdles, Pendergrass won the 1984 55m Metropolitan Championship, establishing a meet record that stood for 13 seasons. Pendergrass also captured three IC4A Championships, during the1984 outdoor season and in both the indoor and Boris Pendergrass outdoor seasons in 1985. In addition to qualifying for the NCAA Championships on three occasions, Pendergrass was a national semifinalist in the U.S. Open Champion-ships in 1984 and 1985. He also was a member of the school-record holding hurdle relay team, a team which posted the third fastest time in the world and the fifth-fastest indoor time ever in 1984. Hall of Fame Class of 1998 ELIJAH MILLER ‘67 A 1967 All-American in the high jump, Elijah Miller is the sixth men’s track and field star to be named to the Olympic Sports Hall of Fame. In 1967, Miller finished fourth in the NCAA High Jump Championships, earning his All-America Elijah Miller status. In 1967 and ‘68, he won the indoor and outdoor IC4A Championships in the high jump. He was also the first Rutgers athlete to high jump seven feet. Hall of Fame Class of 1997 Robert Amabile ‘87 Amabile was considered to be one of America’s top javelin throwers in his time at Rutgers. In 1987, he finished fourth at the NCAA Championships, earning AllAmerica status. That effort capped a year in which he was ranked as the top javelin thrower in college. Also in 1987, he won the javelin event at the prestigious IC4A Championships and the Penn Relays Carnival. He was a four-time Metropolitan Champion as well as a threeRobert Amabile time All-East performer. Amabile also won the 1984 Pan American Junior Championships. Amabile, who collected a host of meet championships throughout his career, held the school record in the javelin for nearly a decade. Amabile’s best throws were 246’11” (old javelin) and 238’7” (new javelin). Hall of Fame Class of 1996 Pete Schuder ‘68 Schuder was a two-time team captain in men’s track who was, in 1968, the first Rutgers runner to place at the NCAAs when he finished 7th in the 400 meters. He was a member of the first relay team (4x400) to qualify for the NCAA championships in 1967. Also that year, Schuder was the Metropolitan champion in the 600, and both the indoor and outdoor 440. He went on to defend each of those titles in 1968 when Rutgers won Pete Schuder the team title. The winner of the 1968 Coursen Award, given to the top male graduating senior, Schuder placed second in the IC4A meet in both the 400 meters and 4x400 relay in 1967 and 1968 and was fourth in the 400 in 1968. In both of those seasons, Rutgers finished third as a team at the IC4A meet. A gold medal winner at the 1971 Hapoel Games in Israel in the 400 meters, he was a three-time AAU All-American in the 600-yard run in 1971 and as a member of the silver-medal winning national 4x440 relay team in 1969 and 1970.