Here are the 6 athletes inducted into the University of South Dakota Coyote Sports Hall of Fame

University of South Dakota will have six members inducted into the Henry Heider Coyote Sports Hall of Fame.

The class will be inducted in a ceremony Sept. 16 ahead of the Coyotes' home opener against Cal Poly on Sept. 17.

Here is the class, with bios courtesy of a release from USD Athletics.

Amber (Hegge) Cunningham, women's basketball

Cunningham was a two-sport standout for the Coyote women’s basketball and track and field programs through the Division I transition. She played for the 2008 NCAA Division II Championship as a freshman before going on to become the first women’s basketball player to garner all-Summit League honors in 2012. She led the Coyotes in scoring and rebounding for three consecutive seasons from 2009-12.

Cunningham graduated as the program’s second all-time leading scorer with 1,759 points, second in blocks with 176 and fifth in rebounds with 841. She is also ranked in USD’s top-10 for indoor and outdoor high jump and competed in the long and triple jumps. Cunningham averaged 19.2 points and 8.4 rebounds per game as a senior, leading the Coyotes to their first Women’s National Invitation Tournament.

Following her collegiate career, Cunningham played professionally for five seasons. She spent four seasons in Australia between the Ringwood Hawks and Melbourne Boomers, and was a member of the Herne Turn Club in Germany.

Cunningham and her husband, Michael, have a son, Noah, and a daughter, Olivia. Cunningham enters her seventh season with Colorado State women’s basketball under the tutelage of former USD coach Ryun Williams.

Louie Krogman, men's basketball

Krogman was part of the first class to play all four years at the Division I level. He won a Great West regular season and tournament title as a sophomore, earned all-Great West honors as a junior, and turned in his best statistical performance as a senior. It was that 2011-12 campaign, the team’s first inside the Summit League, that he averaged a career-best 16.8 points per game on 44% shooting. He led the Coyotes and ranked in the top-10 of the Summit with 80 three-pointers, 107 assists and also had 41 steals.

Krogman graduated and remains the sixth-leading scorer in program history with 1,644 points. He is certainly one of the greatest three-point shooters in program history. His 10 3-pointers against Houston Baptist in 2011 remain a single-game record and his 292 career triples are second to Josh Mueller’s 307. Krogman played in 122 games and started 100. He logged 392 rebounds, 324 assists and 120 steals.

Krogman grew up in White River, South Dakota, and remains South Dakota boys basketball’s all-time leading scorer with 3,521 points. He has been named the superintendent of the White River School District starting July 1. He and his wife, Ethanie, have three daughters, Stevie, Avery and Carter.

Tim Seevers, football

Seevers remains the leading tackler in Coyote history, and for those who have played in the 30 years since no one has come within 100 tackles of his 437 career mark. It started with 50 stops as a redshirt freshman in 1988 followed by years with 132, 141 and 114 tackles. Included in those numbers are four sacks and seven other tackles-for-loss. Seevers also compiled four interceptions and nine pass breakups.

For his efforts, Seevers was rewarded with all-America honors in 1991. He is one of six all-American linebackers in program history. Seevers also earned all-NCC honors and was a two-time academic all-NCC honoree.

Seevers grew up in Blair, Nebraska. He began his professional career as a teacher within the York School District in Nebraska. He worked briefly for Gateway and then spent seven years at State Farm. He currently serves as a consultant for Stryker Spine in the Minneapolis area.

Seevers’ wife, Shannon, passed away unexpectedly in 2019. They have two children, Marin and Will.

Tonya (Kneifl) Gordon, track and field

Gordon was a nine-time all-American for the Coyote track and field program, finishing as the Division II runner-up in the high jump three times. She capped off her collegiate career with a personal best jump of 5 feet, 9 ¼ inches (1.76m), at the 2001 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. She was also a four-time NCC Champion, taking home three high jump titles and one in the long jump.

Gordon held South Dakota’s school record in the high jump for 14 seasons after graduation. She remains ranked fourth in the indoor and outdoor high jump, seventh in the heptathlon, eighth in the pentathlon, eighth in the javelin and 10th in the outdoor long jump. She placed eighth in the heptathlon at the NCAA championship meet as a junior in 2000.

Gordon resides in Omaha, Nebraska, and has served as an elementary teacher for 20 years. Her husband, Steve, is a fellow member of the Henry Heider Coyote Sports Hall of Fame and a two-time NCAA champion in the triple jump. They have a daughter, Ad’astra.

Becky (Olson) Meline, volleyball

Meline is the 2003 NCC Player of the Year and a two-time all-NCC performer who graduated as the Coyotes’ career leader in kills with 1,450. She remains one of the top all-rotation players in program history and is one of just five members of the team’s 1,000 kill/1,000 dig club. In addition to her kills record, Meline was second in career digs (1,305), fourth in aces (130) and fifth in blocks (261).

Meline was a multi-sport athlete at Norfolk High School in Nebraska before arriving in Vermillion. She became the first Coyote volleyball player to be awarded first-team all-conference honors twice and she was an honorable mention honoree as a sophomore. She led South Dakota to 18 wins as a senior in 2003, which were the third-most in the program’s 32 seasons.

Meline continued her schooling at Nebraska-Omaha and then began working as a clinician. She is the founder and owner of Focus Therapy & Performance Coaching where she focuses on sports psychology with individual athletes and teams. Meline and her husband, Aaron, have three children.

Dave Gottsleben, head coach, track and field

Gottsleben led the South Dakota track and field program for 33 seasons. One of the most accomplished Coyote coaches, he led the Coyotes to 20 conference championships – more than any coach in USD history. Gottsleben was twice named the NCAA Division II Coach of the Year by the U.S. Track and Field/Cross Country Coaches Association (1997, 2006). He was NCAA Regional Coach of the Year eight times and conference coach of the year 17 times and in three different conferences.

Under Gottsleben, the Coyote men accumulate 125 All-America awards with seven NCAA titles and 13 NCAA runner-up finishes. In team scoring, his programs tallied 13 top-10 team finishes at the NCAA Division II Championships. Those numbers include a third-place finish indoors in 1997 and a third-place finish outdoors in 2000. Gottsleben retired from coaching following the 2017 season.

Gottsleben served as meet director for five NCAA indoor national track and field championships which brought the best Division II athletes to Vermillion and the DakotaDome in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Several of those athletes would go on to earn Olympic medals.

Numerous other Hall of Fames have honored Gottsleben including the Sioux City Relays, Howard Wood Dakota Relays and Drake Relays. He was inducted into the South Dakota Spots Hall of Fame in 2015.

Gottsleben and his wife, Helen, reside in Yankton. They have a daughter, Kendra.

Follow Sioux Falls Argus Leader reporter Michael McCleary on Twitter @mikejmccleary.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: 6 inducted into University of South Dakota Coyote Sports Hall of Fame