Kip Kristoff and Mark Kristoff
Kip Kristoff was an NCAA Division II champ for SIU-Edwardsville at 142 pounds in 1987. (SIUE wrestling now competes in Division I.) The Bethalto, Ill. native was a four-time NCAA All-American for the Cougars; in addition to his title, he placed seventh in 1986, and was national runner-up at 142 in 1988 and 1990. Kip Kristoff wrestled under his coach and father Larry Kristoff, himself a SIUE Hall of Fame honoree who was twice an NCAA College Division heavyweight champ at SIU-Carbondale in the early 1960s, and was a five-time World medalist and two-time Olympian.
Mark Kristoff, Kip's older brother, was the NCAA Division II national champion at 167 pounds in 1988. Mark was a four-time All-American at SIUE, placing third at 150 in 1983, and national runner-up at 150 in 1984 and at 167 in 1986, again for his father and coach Larry Kristoff. Mark Kristoff finished his SIUE career with an overall record of 91-28.
In addition to Kip and Mark Kristoff and their father/coach Larry Kristoff, other individual wrestlers who have been welcomed into the SIUE Athletic Hall of Fame include Maurice Brown, Alan Grammer, Tom Reed, August (Gus) Schalkham, Don Stevens, and Tim Wright. In addition, Cougar wrestling teams from 1974-75, 1984, 1985 and 1986 have been welcomed into the Hall as complete teams.
Other members of the Class of 2015 include baseball coach Gary Collins; Terri Evans (women's basketball); Valerie McCoy (softball); Erin Newman (softball); Joe Reiniger (men's soccer), and Tim Tighe (friend of the program). The teams inducted this year are the 1975 men's soccer team and the 1991 baseball team.
The induction ceremony will take place Saturday, Sept. 19 at SIUE's Meridian Ballroom located in the Morris University Center on the school's Edwardsville campus located outside St. Louis. Reservations for the event can be made by contacting SIUE Athletics at 618-650-2428. Tickets are $30 and include a social for the inductees to be held at 5:30 p.m. followed by the induction ceremony at 6:30 p.m.
This is the 11th class to be inducted since the SIUE Athletics Hall of Fame started in 2005. The Hall of Fame seeks to recognize the achievements of former student-athletes, coaches, administrators and teams that have participated in the intercollegiate athletics programs at SIUE as well as to celebrate the history of the institution. A complete listing of Hall of Fame members is available here.
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