By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
The next class of the Elon Sports Hall of Fame includes former athletes across a variety of sports and a longtime coach who also made an impact as a player.
Current baseball coach Mike Kennedy, who’s approaching 30 years on the job, is among those who’ll be inducted during a January ceremony. He played for the school from 1988-90 and became the coach for the 1997 season following a promotion from pitching coach.
Others picked are Chase Austin (baseball, 2007-09), Caitlin Beeler (women’s cross country, track and field, 2006-10), Nicole Dennion (wo-men’s soccer, 2012-13), Clint Irwin (men’s soccer, 2007-10) and Jordan John-ston (women’s tennis, 2010-14).
Kennedy was a first-team choice for All-South Atlantic Conference in 1989 and 1990 as a catcher. He played in the minor leagues in the Oakland Athletics organization.
As a coach, Kennedy has directed Elon to 20 winning records, taking six teams to the NCAA Tournament on the Division I level (and another in Division II). He’s the program’s winningest coach with 882 victories. Fifty-four of his players have been picked in the Major League Baseball draft.
Austin was the 2009 Player of the Year in the Southern Conference in his final season as a three-year starter. He set single-season program records for hits (92), home runs (23), runs batted in (82) and total bases (178). When he was selected in the fifth round of baseball’s amateur draft by the Miami Marlins, he was the highest drafted position player in program history.
Beeler was Elon’s only three-time All-Southern Conference first team runner in cross country. She also set school records in indoor and outdoor track and field.
Dennion was voted the Southern Conference’s Player of the Year. During her time in the women’s soccer program, she was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a form of bone cancer, shortly after her sophomore season. She graduated in 2016 before dying later that year at age 22.
Irwin, a goalkeeper, is the second men’s soccer player picked for the Elon Sports Hall of Fame. He set what was then an Elon record of 22 shutouts. He later played in Major League Soccer with the Colorado Rapids, Toronto FC and Minnesota United. He formally retired from his professional playing career earlier this year.
Johnston held All-Southern Conference status for four years. She was a singles and doubles standout.
The induction is scheduled for 11 a.m. January 31 at Alumni Gym on campus. It’s open to the public, with free registration.
