This year’s inductees into the Bluffton University Athletics Hall of Fame represent six sports over a recent 20-year span.

Entering the hall of fame on Saturday, Feb. 7, in Marbeck Center will be:
• Jennifer (Etzler ’95) Fledderjohann, a volleyball and basketball player who was an all-conference performer in both sports;
• Tyson Goings ’01, a running back who holds Bluffton’s single-season football rushing record;
• Eric Worthington ’86, a track and cross country athlete who held the school record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase for 31 years;
• and the 2004 softball team, which won the outright Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference regular-season title and compiled a 26-8 record.

The induction banquet, beginning with a reception at 5:30 p.m. and dinner at 6:30 p.m., is open to the public. Cost is $20; tickets may be purchased at http://tickets.bluffton.edu through Jan. 26.

Alumni who are hall of fame members are entitled to two complimentary tickets, which may be reserved by contacting Julia Szabo, director of alumni engagement, at [email protected] or 419-358-3245.

Jennifer Fledderjohann
Fledderjohann was named all-Association of Mideast Colleges in volleyball in 1993 and 1994—when Bluffton won the AMC title and qualified for the NCAA regional tournament—and in basketball in 1994-95. She remains in the top 20 in several statistical categories in both sports, including, in basketball, tied for first in games played (102) and fifth in career assists (281) and, in volleyball, fourth in career assists (2,214).

Earning her bachelor’s degree in elementary education in 1995, the Fort Recovery, Ohio, native taught at New Knoxville School until 1997, then in Anna Local Schools from 1997-2004. She has been back at New Knoxville since 2007. Along the way, she has added a master’s degree in technology from the University of Dayton, and is currently pursuing her principal’s license through Concordia University in Chicago.

Fledderjohann was also a varsity volleyball coach for nine years, compiling an 83-20 record at Anna from 1997-2000 and an 83-39 mark at New Knoxville from 2004-08. Her 1998 and 1999 Anna teams reached the regional tournament. At New Knoxville, she was the Midwest Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 2005, and the Rangers were state runners-up in 2006, when Fledderjohann received an achievement award from the Ohio High School Volleyball Coaches Association.

She and her husband, Kort, live near New Knoxville with their three children.

Goings
Goings set the Bluffton single-season rushing record with 1,487 yards in 2000. Also that year, he established the still-standing school mark for carries in a season (295) and scored 108 points, which ranks third on the single-season scoring list.

He was the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) on offense in 2000, when he was named first-team all-conference for the third straight year.

For his career, from 1997-2000, the Wayne Trace High School graduate holds the school record for carries (853); is third in rushing yardage (4,291 yards, which also included 1,100-plus-yard seasons in 1998 and ‘99), points scored (286) and touchdowns (47); and fifth in pass receptions (105). He ran for at least 200 yards in four games in his career, and twice scored four touchdowns in one game.

Goings holds a Bluffton bachelor’s degree in recreation management and a master’s degree in professional counseling from Liberty University. A Licensed Professional Counselor in Ohio, he now works as a social service specialist and school counselor for Lima City Schools. He is also running backs coach for the Lima Senior High School football team.

Goings resides in Bluffton with his wife, Andrea, and their two children.

Worthington
Worthington was the first freshman to earn Bluffton cross country MVP honors, in 1982, and in track the following spring, he ran the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 10:07.24—a school record until Martin Russ broke it in 2014.

He was a four-year letterman in cross country and an all-league selection twice. He also earned two letters in outdoor track and one in indoor track, and was a Varsity “B” member.

Continuing to run after college, Worthington has finished 13 marathons, including the 2000 Boston Marathon. For three years, he was assistant varsity cross country coach at Warsaw (Ohio) River View High School—where he graduated in 1982—and he has helped organize road races in the area.

Worthington, who graduated from Bluffton with a bachelor’s degree in recreation management, is a chemical process specialist at Organic Technologies, Coshocton, where he has worked for 15 years. He and his wife, Susan, are residents of nearby Conesville, where he served on the village council for 10 years. They have two grown children.

2004 sotball team
The 2004 softball team produced the largest turnaround in program history, improving to 26-8 from a 15-21 record the previous year. The 26 wins were the most by a Bluffton softball team in a season up to that time—and remain tied for the second-most—and the .764 winning percentage is still the single-season best. Coached by Holly Spann, the team was also ranked in the top 10 nationally in NCAA Division III for most of the year.

In addition to throwing three no-hitters, Bluffton’s 2004 pitchers set school records for lowest earned run average (0.98), most strikeouts (283), most shutouts (11) and lowest opponents’ batting average (.158).

Sarah Betts ’06 was the conference’s Most Valuable Player, and Allison (Lange ’05) Bentley and Mandy (Snider ’05) Cutnaw joined her on the All-HCAC first team. Betts and Bentley were also named first-team all-region by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association/Louisville Slugger.

Bentley added second-team All-America honors, while Betts was a third-team All-America selection. She was a second-team Academic All-American as well, as chosen by the College Sports Information Directors of America.