Four to be inducted into WWU Athletics Hall of Fame
 
2023 HOF Class: (Coon) Schwind, Gruszecki, Jimenez, and Madison; Induction set for Feb. 11 at WWU PAC Concert Hall
 
BELLINGHAM, Wash. --- Two of the most accomplished female athletes in the history of Western Washington University, one in track and field and the other in rowing, head the Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2023 which will be inducted on Saturday, Feb. 11 (1 p.m.) in the Performing Arts Center (PAC) Concert Hall on campus.
 
They are Monika Gruszecki (pronounced GREW-shek-ski), a two-time National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II national javelin champion and one-time national runner-up; and Audrey (Coon) Schwind, a finalist for NCAA Woman of the Year honors covering all three divisions and a three-time national team rowing champion.
 
Rounding out the four inductees are men's soccer player Oscar Jimenez, who this spring begins his seventh season professionally at the United Soccer League Championship level, and former sports information director and current athletics historian Paul Madison, who has been a part of Western athletics for over a half century and was inducted into the Collegiate Sports Communicators Hall of Fame in 2011.
 
"We are excited to induct these four legendary Vikings into the WWU Athletics Hall of Fame," said WWU Director of Athletics Steve Card. "They have been foundational to one of the elite Division II programs in the country."
 
The mid-February ceremony is open to the public. There is no admission charge and parking is free in the C lots on campus.
 
The hall of fame class of 2023 brings the membership to 159 over the 121-year history of athletics at Western.
 
The inaugural WWU athletics hall of fame ceremony, which had seven inductees, was held in 1968 during halftime of a basketball game at Sam Carver Gymnasium.
 
The 2023 induction ceremony is the 46th for WWU. The school's hall of fame is the second oldest among Pacific Northwest colleges and universities.
 
AUDREY (COON) SCHWIND
 
WOMEN'S ROWING (No. 2/No. 7 seat in Varsity 8)





 

On Oct. 17, 2010, Audrey (Coon) Schwind represented WWU and Division II of the NCAA at the 20th Annual NCAA Woman of the Year Awards Banquet in Indianapolis, Indiana. She was one of 30 finalists out of nearly 500 nominees, 10 coming from each of the NCAA's three divisions of competition.
 
The NCAA Woman of the Year award, one of the most prestigious the NCAA bestows, was established in 1991 to honor female student-athletes who have completed their eligibility and demonstrated excellence in academics and athletics while showing extraordinary community service. No other Western student-athlete besides Schwind has been a finalist.
 
As a rower at Western, Schwind, then known as Audrey Coon, helped the Vikings to three consecutive national team titles from 2007 to 2009 and was a first-team Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association All-American in 2009. During her three years seated in the varsity eight shell, WWU did not lose to a Division II or III school. She was the team captain in 2009 and assistant captain in 2008.
 
"Audrey represented our philosophy at a very high level," said her head coach John Fuchs, who is in his 25th season at Western. "She was an excellent student, formidable athlete, and a great leader. She was an integral part of the program during our stretch of seven straight national titles at the NCAA Championships and more so as a bright energetic young woman."
 
Academically, Schwind maintained a 3.96 (4.0 scale) grade point average at Western, earning a degree in Spanish and Elementary Education and graduating Magna Cum Laude in December of 2009. Among her academic awards, she twice earned College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-America honors and was three times a CoSIDA Academic All-District selection for District 8 (includes Canada and states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington).
 
Schwind was Western's Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2007, 2008 and 2009. And she shared the school's Female Athlete of the Year award in 2009 and was WWU's co-Female Athlete of the Decade for 2000 to 2009.
 
Throughout her Viking career, Schwind was active in numerous community service and campus projects, serving on the WWU Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and working on the WWU Women's Rowing Annual Food Drive.
 
Schwind threw the ceremonial first pitch at a Seattle Mariners game on June 25, 2009, when that year's national title winning team was honored and she received Faces in the Crowd recognition in the August 18, 2008, issue of Sports Illustrated.
 
"My undergraduate experience at WWU was simply wonderful," said Schwind, who grew up in Kenai, Alaska, and graduated from Kenai Central High School. "I loved my coursework and felt challenged and supported at every step of my academic career. I consider my time on the women's rowing team to be one of the most formative experiences of my life and an opportunity I feel incredibly grateful to have enjoyed. I am so honored to be inducted into the WWU Hall of Fame and wish to thank everyone who has supported and encouraged me on this amazing journey."
 
Following graduation from Western, Schwind was the novice rowing coach at NCAA III Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore., for one year; and a graduate assistant and assistant coach over two seasons at NCAA I University of Portland while taking post-graduate courses. She also worked part-time at the Portland Park & Recreation Department's Adaptive and Inclusive Program, working one-on-one with children having special needs.
 
In 2013 and 2014, Schwind was a finalist for the NCAA Walter Byers Postgraduate Scholarship, receiving a $7,500 postgraduate scholarship in 2014.
 
Schwind then attended Boise State University where she earned a Master of Science degree in kinesiology. She won the 2015-16 Boise State Distinguished Master's Thesis Award for her submission, "Predicting College Women Rowers Motivation and Persistence: A Self-Determination Theory Approach."
 
Schwind also obtained a certificate in college teaching at Boise State and was an adjunct instructor in its kinesiology department, teaching exercise psychology.
 
Schwind's husband, Adam, is a physician at a Boise, Idaho, hospital, completing his family practice residency in 2015. They have two children, daughter Eloise, 3, and son Emile, 1.
 
Now as a stay-at-home mom, Schwind owns a small business, teaching music classes to families with kids aged 1-5, managing to combine her passion for teaching, singing and physical activity into one undertaking (MusicTogetherNorthEnd.com).
 
 
MONIKA GRUSZECKI
 
WOMEN'S TRACK & FIELD (Javelin)






 
Monika Gruszecki was the first WWU female student to win multiple individual NCAA DII national championships, doing so in the javelin as a track & field athlete. She accomplished that feat as a freshman in 2007, then was the national runner-up in 2008, and after attending The Philipps University of Marburg in Germany came back to Bellingham to win a second national title in 2011.
 
A three-time United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches All-American (2007, 2008 and 2011) as a Viking, Gruszecki's personal best throw was 54.68 meters (179-4). She also was a two-time USTFCCCA Academic All-American (2008, 2011).

"I am profoundly honored to be recognized for my time at Western," said Gruszecki. "The University as a whole and the mentorship of my coaches couldn't have been more perfect – rather than forcing me into a mold, I was able to take my unique background and flourish as an individual. I did not fit the archetype of a typical javelin thrower, but I was encouraged to follow my passion and curiosity which, looking back, has led me down a winding path of rare circumstance and unbelievable success."
 
"She's a champion and she's gone on to be a champion in everything she's done," said Pee Wee Halsell, her coach at WWU who recently retired following a 36-year career, the longest coaching tenure in school history in any sport. "What I appreciated most about her was the competitiveness and consistency she demonstrated, and the fun she always had doing it."
 
Following graduation from Western in 2011 with degrees in German and English Literature and certification in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), Gruszecki took a year to concentrate solely on training for the 2012 Olympics with javelin-guru Duncan Atwood. She competed across North America, but in April of 2012 tore her ulnar collateral ligament and had to sit out the trials.
 
Gruszecki then went to the Gonzaga University School of Law, graduating in 2016 with cum laude honors. There she was the comments editor of the Gonzaga Law Review and interned in various legal fields, including the King County Prosecutor's Office in Seattle, Washington. Gruszecki later integrated legal education with sports regulation by working in Gonzaga's athletics department as a compliance intern.
 
While at Gonzaga, Gruszecki took a javelin pilgrimage in 2015 to Jena, Germany, submitting herself to the tutelage of the great Petra Felke. She came home having added five meters to her personal best. Through Felke, Gruszecki was connected with four-time Olympic javelin thrower Karin Smith (USA) and trained under Smith throughout the duration of her career. Gruszecki continued under the tutelage of both powerhouse women which led her to the 2015 USA Nationals and the 2016 Olympic Trials.
 
Gruszecki then worked as a postgraduate intern in Enforcement at the NCAA National Office where she processed Secondary/Level III cases for all three divisions. During her time there, Gruszecki provided direct legislative guidance and educational resources to over 1,200 member institutions on self-reporting violations, including additional support for legislative relief waivers, rule interpretations, and student-athlete reinstatement.
 
In August of 2018, Gruszecki was named Director of Compliance at the University of Arizona. There she was responsible for providing rules education and interpretations to all UA sports programs.
 
Gruszecki stayed at Arizona until 2021 and is currently based in Seattle as a state attorney for the Washington State Division of Child Support. 
 
In 1987, Gruszecki's parents immigrated from Poland to Germany when it was a divided country following World War II. They arrived in Hameln, West Germany in the summer, and Monika was born there the following December. In the spring of 1989, the family left everything they knew for a second time and came to the United States, specifically Seattle, when Monika was 1-1/2 years old.
 
Gruszecki first threw the javelin as a freshman at Meadowdale High School. She also competed in other sports for the Mavericks, including soccer and wrestling.
 
"Originally, I was a long jumper and short sprinter," said Gruszecki of her prep track career. "Then the coaches organized a practice day where the whole team rotated through all the events, just to try out the new events now offered in high school that weren't previously available in middle school (i.e. high jump, javelin, discus). My first throw I launched the javelin with total ease, and the coaches turned to me and said, 'You have a knack for this.' I practiced javelin from that day forward."
 
"Throwing for me was an act of curiosity … and I would spend endless hours practicing," recalled Gruszecki. "What's more, I loved competing … When I competed in track meets I would come alive with energy. After a short while, that energy evolved from competing against others to a fascination with beating the tape measure, constantly challenging the tape to read bigger and bigger numbers. And that was the hook." 

"Whatever you dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now." – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

 
OSCAR JIMENEZ
 
MEN'S SOCCER (Midfielder)






 
Last fall, Oscar Jimenez completed his sixth professional season as a midfielder for Louisville City FC of the United Soccer League Championship (USLC), America's second tier of professional soccer.
 
A first-team all-league pick in 2019, Jimenez is LouCity's career assist leader with 32.
 
Playing for LouCity, Jimenez helped The Boys in Purple to three Eastern Conference titles (2017-18, 2019), one regular season EC crown and back-to-back USL Championship crowns (2017-18).
 
Prior to LouCity, Jimenez played one USL Championship season (2015) with the Tulsa Roughnecks prior to a season (2016) with the Mississippi Brilla of the Premier Development League (PDL) where he tied for team scoring honors.
 
"I am very proud of Oscar and this latest achievement," said current Western head men's soccer coach Greg Brisbon, who coached Jimenez in club soccer and was Western's top assistant during his time in Bellingham.
 
"I had the pleasure of coaching him for many years and working alongside him. Oscar meant a lot to this program as a player and coach, and he still means a lot to the program as an alumnus. Oscar has worked very hard to get where he is and I am looking forward to seeing him inducted into Western's Hall of Fame."
 
The 33-year-old Jimenez lettered four years in men's soccer at Western between 2008 and 2011. He left as the program co-leader in assists with 22, leading the team three straight seasons, as well as being among the top 10 school career leaders in points (56), games started (57) and minutes played (5811).
 
"First and foremost, I am incredibly honored to have even been considered for the HOF - but to be inducted, this will be one of my most special memories to look back on as I grow older," Jimenez said. "… I quickly learned how challenging but joyful my time was going to be there. Becoming a part of the men's soccer team really kickstarted my growth as a person and as a student.
 
"I would say my time at WWU was memorable but also immensely formative. I wish to thank all the wonderful people I met throughout my time there, without them, my experience would not have been the same. And a very special thank-you to my coaches and teammates who made my WWU Soccer experience one I will always cherish."
 
As a junior in 2010, Jimenez enjoyed his best season for the Vikings. Playing in all 18 of Western's matches, he led the team with seven assists and scored four goals. That earned him unanimous first-team all-Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) recognition as well as first-team Daktronics all-West Region honors.
 
As a senior for WWU, Jimenez appeared in 17 of 18 contests, scoring two goals and having a team-leading five assists. He was named a second-team GNAC all-star.

As a freshman, Jimenez helped Western win the GNAC regular season championship for just the second time in school history. He competed in 18 of the Vikings' 19 matches, scoring five goals and having five assists.
 
The next season, Jimenez saw action in all 20 of WWU's matches, scoring six goals with a team-leading five assists and was a first-team all-GNAC selection and second-team Daktronics all-West Region pick.
 
Jimenez, a 2013 Western graduate, was a volunteer coach for the Vikings in 2013 and 2014. He spent the 2013 season with Bellingham United, being named Most Valuable Player.
 
Jimenez played soccer and was a cross country runner at Mount Vernon High School. Three times he was named Skagit Valley Herald Boys' Soccer Player of the year and as a senior he added Northwest League co-MVP honors.
 
As team captain as a senior, Jimenez scored 10 goals in leading Mount Vernon to both league and district titles and the quarterfinals of the Class 3A state playoffs.
 
Also during his senior prep campaign, Jimenez finished eighth individually at the Northwest District cross country championships.



PAUL MADISON
 
SPORTS INFORMATION DIRECTOR/ATHLETICS HISTORIAN




 
Paul Madison has been a part of Western Athletics since entering the school as a freshman in the fall of 1966. He was the director of sports information for 48 years (five as student, three on part-time basis and 40 full-time), and since retiring in the fall of 2015 has served in a volunteer role as the school's athletics historian.
 
"Paul Madison is synonymous with Western Athletics," said Card. "For more than half a century, Paul has served our student-athletes, coaches, staff, and the university as a whole. He is the bridge to our past, and continues to serve our program and institution to this day.
 
I can't think of a more deserving person to be inducted into the WWU Athletics Hall of Fame."
 
Madison, 73, was a 2011 inductee into the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) (now College Sports Communicators) Hall of Fame, one of only two members from the state of Washington.
 
Madison also received the CoSIDA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016, the WWU Lynda Goodrich Legacy Award in 2015, the WWU President's Exceptional Effort Award in 2010, and in 1993 the Ike Pearson Award, given annually by the NAIA-Sports Information Directors Association to honor outstanding contributions to the profession.
 
"It is a great privilege and an absolute joy to be a part of Western Athletics," said Madison. "To be around the student-athletes and staff is totally energizing and makes every day a blessing."
 
Two of Madison's top projects as Athletics Historian at Western are overseeing its Athletics Hall of Fame as well as the Carver Memories section of its athletics website. The school's Hall of Fame ceremony has become a nearly annual event with inductions in 44 of the past 49 years. Carver Memories is a compilation of stories about the school's athletics history as seen through recollections of various teams, student-athletes, coaches, staff and administrators.
 
During his sports information career at Western, Madison received 43 CoSIDA and NAIA publications awards; including eight Best in the Nation. He also served five years as publicity director for the Evergreen Conference, three as publicist for the Northwest Women's Basketball League, and one as communications director for the Washington Intercollegiate Basketball Association.

Madison served as chair of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Sports Information Directors Committee for nine years (2001-10). He also served one year (2000-01) as College Division Representative (West Region) on the CoSIDA Board of Directors Association and two terms as Area I Representative on the Executive Committee of the NAIA-SIDA.
 
Madison obtained his bachelor's degree in journalism at Western in 1971, graduating with the school's first class in that discipline.
 
A 1966 graduate of Ferndale High School, Madison received the Rodstrom Scholarship from the Puget Sound Sportswriters and Broadcasters Association in 1969.
 
Madison and his wife Geri Forsberg, who has a doctorate in media ecology from New York University and is a senior instructor in the English department at WWU, have one grown son Aaron, who graduated from Western in June 2019. Aaron and his wife Honoka, also a WWU graduate, live in Tokyo.