ST. PAUL, Minn. - The St. Catherine Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2020 was inducted as the seventh class on Saturday afternoon. The four former student-athletes join the athletics hall of fame bringing the honorees total to 22 overall and span seven decades of St. Catherine Athletics. The honorees include Debra Krengel from the class of 1980 who competed in basketball, track & field, and volleyball; Ana (Fernandez) Geronimo from the class of 2003 was a standout pitcher on the softball team; Mahrya (Honer) Johnson was an inaugural member of the St. Kate's hockey team and graduated in 2004; and the most recent graduate; and Steffanie Jurusik was a four-year record setting swimmer and graduated in 2013. Today's induction included a formal ceremony followed by recognition at the Wildcat basketball and hockey games.
Debra Krengel '80 (Basketball, Track & Field, Volleyball)
Debra Krengel graduated from the College of St. Catherine in 1980 after a busy and successful three-sport career. As a rookie, Krengel was a member of the 1976 varsity volleyball team that won the first St. Catherine varsity sports championship by clinching the Minnesota Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (MAIAW) title and remaining undefeated in that tournament. St. Catherine finished that season at the first annual Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) championships with a 50-5 record, going on a 32-game winning streak to earn a state and regional title and a No. 6 national ranking.
However, Krengel did not rest on that volleyball title as she transitioned immediately to the basketball court and again helped her team to win its first MAIAW state title in 1977 knocking off large university teams like the University of Minnesota-Duluth and Bemidji State on route to the regional tournament. Krengel was always a team leader on the court and dominated the boards. Although there are few statistical records, her former basketball coach touts her strong defensive play and notes that she was always assigned to the toughest player on the opponent's roster, which lead to the team's successes.
Aside from being a three-time MAIAW champion in the sports of volleyball and basketball, Krengel was also a member of the track & field team. Some of her greatest individual success came in the javelin throw where she holds the pre-1992 program record with a mark of 43.59m occurring during the1979 season. Krengel also held two of the program's top-ten marks her sophomore season with a mark of 11.02m in the shot put and a mark of 34.16m in the discus throw. Those marks remained on the leaderboard until the 2017 season. Krengel graduated as one of very few athletes that can claim holding three team titles and as an individual record-holder in the javelin. Krengel was inducted into St. Catherine University Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006 as a member of the 1976 Volleyball Team and receives this honor as an individual again today.
Ana (Fernandez) Geronimo ' 03 (Softball)
Ana (Fernandez) Geronimo graduated from the College of St. Catherine in 2003, pitching four-seasons for the Wildcat softball team. The two-time team captain is one of the most decorated players in program history, setting several program records in the circle.
As a first-year, Geronimo broke three school pitching records, which earned her Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) All-Conference Honorable Mention and she was awarded the St. Kate's Rookie of the Year Award, which is awarded to the most outstanding first-year athlete in the department. That momentum continued through the conclusion of her sophomore season as Geronimo broke four more school records and led the MIAC recording 65 strikeouts in 90 innings pitched. In addition, her .995 fielding average earned her the St. Kate's Defensive Player of the year along with MIAC accolades. Each season Geronimo amassed records and honor both on and off the field. During her junior campaign she lead the MIAC in four categories where she appeared in 21 games, pitching 129.1 innings with 15 complete games while striking out 46 batters looking.
From those four-seasons, Geronimo has nine records that remain on the record board today. She is second overall in career games pitched (106), innings pitched (651.1), (431) strikeouts, and (38) wins. She is also third all-time with an (2.80) ERA and sixteenth with (125) games played for the program. Additionally, Geronimo is sixth for a single-season ERA of 2.07 in the 2001 season, third for single-season pitching with 15 wins during the 2002 season and her 135 strikeouts in 2002 ranked her second all-time.
Off the field, Geronimo was a standout in the classroom earning the St. Catherine's Abigail Quigley McCarthy Center for Women's Studies Scholarly Work Award, the St. Catherine's Thomas More Award for Service, was a two-time MIAC Academic All-Conference selection, and a three-time National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Scholar-Athlete honoree. Geronimo was inducted into the prestigious St. Catherine Phi Beta Kappa Chapter, which is the nation's oldest academic honor society; she earned the Arthur Ashe Junior Sports Scholar honor and was a recipient of the St. Catherine Wildcat Award. Geronimo was also a founding member of the Wildcat Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
Mahrya (Honer) Johnson ' 04 (Hockey)
Mahrya (Honer) Johnson graduated from the College of St. Catherine as an inaugural member of the Wildcat hockey team. Johnson played three seasons for St. Catherine coming to the college as a first-year in 1998-1999 for the first season of women's ice hockey at the institution and in the MIAC and earned MIAC All-Conference Honorable Mention as a rookie.
During her sophomore season, she made an impressive impact ranking first amongst MIAC opponents in goals with 20 and was the leader in points against conference teams tallying 33 that season. Additionally that season, Johnson tallied 80 points with 47 goals and 35 assists while recording seven game-winners, a shorthanded goal and numerous power play goals, all of which are single-season program records. Following her record-setting season Johnson earned MIAC All-Conference honors and was awarded the prestigious St. Kate's McCahill Athlete of the Year award recognizing athletic and academic excellence.
In her third and final season at St. Kate's, Johnson recorded 14 goals and 12 assists, for 26 points overall, finishing 13th in the MIAC and achieving MIAC All-Conference for the second-straight season. She currently remains on the Wildcat ice hockey leaderboard ranking first all-time for goals with (82); second all-time for career-points with (139) and (57) assists. She ranks third in program history in game-winning goals, grabbing 11 total in her career and holds the program record of seven career hat tricks. To go along with her record-setting career, the three-time team captain and team MVP holds six of the programs individual single-game records scoring seven-goals against opponents twice. Johnson also holds the record for the fastest back-to-back goals happening in a short span of six seconds and the fastest program hat trick occurring in 4 minutes and 56 seconds. Johnson graduated as a member of the university's Tri-Beta Honor Society.
Steffanie Jurusik '13 (Swimming & Diving)
Steffanie Jurusik was a member of the St. Catherine University swimming and diving team from 2009-2013. In her four-years, she set ten program records, one of which remained up through last weekend. In her debut season, Jurusik broke two individual program records in the 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke placing top-five in both events at the MIAC Championships. That season, Jurusik was also a member of four team relay records in the 200-yard and 400-yard medley relay and the 200-yard and 400-yard freestyle relay events.
As a sophomore, Jurusik earned All-Conference honors with program-record times in the 200-yard individual medley, and the 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke and all three of those finishes were National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) "B" Standard qualifying times. Jurusik's times of (58.07) in the 100-yard and (2:04.76) in the 200-yard backstroke remained untouched at the beginning of the 2019-20 season as the two longest-standing program records. Additionally, Jurusik was the leadoff backstroker in the program setting 200-yard medley relay and a member of the program record-setting 200-yard and 400-yard freestyle relays that year.
Jurusik was the MIAC Champion in the 400-yard individual medley her junior year and runner-up in the 200-yard individual medley, earning All-Conference recognition for both. Her time in the 400-yard individual medley was an NCAA "B" Standard qualifying time and set a new program record in the event.
In her final year in purple and gold, Jurusik was the MIAC Champion in the 200-yard individual medley setting a new MIAC record and finished third in the 400-yard individual medley. After her tenure, Jurusik held five individual program-records and was a member of five relay records on the Wildcat leaderboard, resetting a record in the 200-yard butterfly that had been in place for 20-years prior. Jurusik was a seven-time MIAC All-Conference honoree and had five NCAA "B" Standard qualifying times. Jurusik was recognized with the department's most prestigious honor as the 2013 McCahill Athlete of the Year.
