Hall of Fame
When the McKendree women's indoor track and field program made the trip to Lincoln, Neb., for the 1999 NAIA Indoor Track and Field National Championships, the school had yet to win a national title in any sport. Four years later, the words "McKendree" and "dynasty" were being used in the same sentence to describe the indoor track and field program that Coach Gary White and his staff had assembled.
From 1999-2002, McKendree did what no other institution in NAIA history had accomplished. The Bearcats won four consecutive NAIA national championships in women's indoor track and field. When McKendree's run of titles began, no other NAIA school had even won three national crowns overall. In 1999 and 2000, the Bearcats rolled to the championship in convincing fashion. McKendree claimed its first NAIA national championship by scoring 96 points at the 1999 meet to win the event by 32 points. The Bearcats defended their title in 2000 by rolling up 125 points during competition, which at the time of induction is still the third-highest scoring total in NAIA Women's Indoor Track and Field Championship history.
McKendree then showed a flair for the dramatic in keeping its string of consecutive national championships alive in 2001 and 2002 as the national meet moved to Johnson City, Tenn. In 2001 -- competing with just five team members at the national meet -- the Bearcats trailed entering the final event of the competition, the 4 x 400-meter relay. McKendree needed to secure a third-place finish in the race to collect its third consecutive NAIA championship. The Bearcats did just that, taking third place by .09 seconds to extend its title streak to three.
The fourth and final championship in the run for McKendree came in even more dramatic fashion in 2002. Once again, the NAIA Women's Indoor Track and Field National Championship came down to the 4 x 400-meter relay. This time, the Bearcats needed to win the race to rally for yet another national championship. And McKendree did just that, winning the final race of the day by nearly five seconds to capture its fourth straight NAIA indoor title. McKendree is still the only school to win four consecutive NAJA Women's Indoor Track and Field national championships.
During its four-year run, McKendree won a total of 16 individual NAIA national championships at the women's indoor nationals, along with three relay events. Two Bearcats won three consecutive individual national championships during that span Agne Visockaite in the 200-meter dash and Sarah Korir in the 5,000-meter run. Visockaite was also named the Outstanding Performer of the Meet for NAIA Women's Indoor Track and Field three times - in 1999, 2000 and 2002,
White earned NAIA Women's Indoor Track and Field National Coach of the Year honors in 1999 for leading the Bearcats to the first of their four consecutive national titles. In all, White guided McKendree programs to all seven of the institution's NAIA national championships, In addition to the run of four straight women's indoor crowns, White was also the head coach of teams that won NAJA national championships for the 1999 men's outdoor track and field national meet, the 2001 women's outdoor track and field event and the 2011 NAIA Women's Bowling Invitational.
