ANDERSON, S.C. – Seven former Anderson University student-athletes were inducted into Anderson's coveted Athletics Hall of Fame as part of the school's Homecoming Weekend celebration, Thursday evening at the G. Ross Anderson, Jr. Student Center.
Whitney Bishoff, Blair Carson, Clay Huggins, Deidra Langston, Steve Lytton, Careef Robertson and Lasse Sohrweide were honored at a banquet ceremony, with each inductee being presented with a plaque and a medallion.
Whitney Bishoff
(Women's Cross Country / Track & Field)
Bishoff, whose collegiate career spanned two years in Conference Carolinas and two years in the South Atlantic Conference, wasted no time in making an impact on both the regional and national levels. She was named Conference Carolinas Freshman of the Year in 2008 and was named Conference Runner of the Year on three occasions, while earning First-Team All-Conference honors during each of her four seasons and was an All-American in cross country in 2009.
She was named the AU Female Athlete of the Year in both 2011 and 2012, and remains one of only six student-athletes to claim the honor twice during their career, with three of those athletes being honored this fall.
The native of Winder, Ga., built a stellar resume with impressive outings in both cross country and track & field during her career, including earning the prestigious NCAA Elite 89 Award for the second time at the 2011 NCAA Division II Women's Cross Country Championships, while making her third career appearance in the championships. The Elite 89 is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA's 89 championships.
She was a 12-time conference runner of the week and paced the Trojan cross country squad on 18 consecutive occasions, while posting 12 of the top 15 times in school history in the 5k.
As a member of the AU track & field team, she set the school record in the 5K and was a member of the school record-setting 4x800 relay team. Bishoff was a First-Team Academic All-America and finished 16th in the 10,000m at the 2011 NCAA National Outdoor Track and Field Championships. At one time she held the indoor school record for the 3,000 meters (10:06.07) and still owns the outdoor school record in the 1,500m (4:33.03), 5,000m (16:53.04) and the 10,000m (35:37.97).
Bishoff was just as successful in the classroom – being named the SAC Scholar-Athlete for Cross Country and was twice named to the NCAA DII Individual All-Academic Team. She is a member of the Chi Alpha Sigma Honorary Society and her dedication and work ethic also led to her being named as the 2012 NCAA Post-Graduate Award Winner.
Blair Carson
(Baseball)
Few players with as much talent and versatility as current Crescent High School Head Coach Blair Carson have roamed the field at Anderson Memorial Stadium. The Anderson native was a gifted, all-around standout on the diamond for the Trojans for four seasons (2006-09), while seeing action as a pitcher, first baseman and as an outfielder.
Carson, who hit .309 during the 2007 season, helped lead the team to 29 wins, which marks Anderson's fifth-highest win total of the NCAA DII era and no AU squad has equaled the mark over the past 15 seasons.
Following his junior campaign (2008), Carson was named First-Team All-Conference Carolinas and earned Rawlings/ABCA Second-Team South Atlantic Region recognition after posting a .326 batting average.
Carson capped off his collegiate career in 2009 by capturing All-Conference accolades for the second straight year, being named to the Conference Carolinas All-Tournament Team and again garnering Second-Team All‐Southeast Region honors.
He was named AU's Male Athlete of the Year in 2009 and was later selected as a pitcher by the Cincinnati Reds in the 42nd round of the 2009 MLB Draft.
Carson led the Trojans in total bases during all four seasons and paced AU in home runs, hits and RBI in both 2008 and 2009 and is still at the top of the school record books in career at-bats, hits, home runs, total bases and extra-base hits, while ranking second in triples, RBI and runs scored and standing 10th with a .333 career batting average.
Following his professional career, Carson served as head coach at Hilton Head High School and led the Seahawks to the postseason each year. After his coaching stint in the low country, the Westside High School standout was tabbed to lead the Crescent baseball program in 2017.
After six seasons in Iva, Carson owns a 79-61 record at the helm of the Tiger program and has guided the Tigers to the postseason in two of the last three seasons, while capturing the regional and district championships both times. He was named the South Carolina 3A Coach of the Year after leading Crescent to the 2019 Upper State Championship.
Clay Huggins
(Men's Basketball)
Four-year starter and Anderson native Clay Huggins left as the school's all-time leader in scoring, rebounding, assists, steals and minutes played after leading the Trojans to 18 victories during the 2001-02 campaign, which was a record for the four-year program. The Trojans put together a nine-game win streak and won all 10 of their CVAC home games to earn a tie for the 2002 regular-season championship.
The durable 6-foot-6 guard started all 108 games for the Trojans from 1998-2002 and currently ranks seventh in the school record books with 1,314 points after averaging nearly a double-double during his career. Huggins recorded 26 double‐doubles and notched three triple‐doubles during his time with the Black and Gold, while pouring in a career-high 28 points against Coker during the 2000-01 season. His 12 assists against Emmanuel earlier that season still stands as one of the three highest totals in school history and he pulled down a career-best 16 rebounds against 10th-ranked Queens later that season.
Huggins was named the 1999 Carolinas Virginia Athletic Conference (CVAC) Freshman of the Year after averaging more than 12 points per contest. Two seasons later, he averaged a career-best 13.9 points per game and captured Second-Team All-CVAC honors after helping lead the Trojans to their first appearance in the CVAC Tournament.
He helped make the 2001-02 campaign even more memorable, as AU went 18-10 overall and tied perennial CVAC powerhouse Belmont Abbey for the regular-season championship with a 16-4 league mark. Huggins averaged more than 12 points per game during the season and earned first-team all-conference honors, while garnering CVAC All-Tournament accolades after second-seeded AU defeated Limestone in the CVAC Tournament Quarterfinals for the Trojans' first-ever CVAC Tournament victory.
Off the court, Huggins was among a league-leading 85 AU student-athletes named to the 2001-2002 CVAC Presidential Honor Roll.
Deidra Langston
(Women's Basketball)
Deidra Langston, who is synonymous with Anderson University women's basketball, helped lead the Trojans to their most successful four-year span in school history (2003-2007). The Trojans posted a 109-23 record during Langston's collegiate career, averaging more than 27 victories a season.
The 5-foot-10 forward from Gainesville, Ga., led AU to a pair of CVAC regular-season titles, three CVAC Tournament Championships and four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, including a run to the Sweet 16 in 2005.
Following a freshman campaign (2003-04) that saw Langston lead AU to its first CVAC Tournament Championship, she garnered Honorable Mention All-Conference and All-CVAC Tournament recognition, with AU claiming its first NCAA Tournament appearance.
As a sophomore, Langston averaged nearly 16 points and eight rebounds, as the Trojans won the first of back-to-back regular season and tournament titles, while losing just three conference games over two seasons. The Trojans advanced to the NCAA's Sweet 16, before wrapping the season up with a 33-3 overall record.
Langston was named AU Female Athlete of the Year after finishing the 2005-06 season ranking 29th nationally in both scoring (18.2) and field-goal percentage (.541) and pacing the Trojans to both the regular-season title and the league's tournament championship.
As an encore, during her senior campaign (2006-07) Langston was named CVAC Female Athlete of the Year, the CVAC Women's Basketball Player of the Year, and brought home First-Team All-CVAC honors for the second straight year after leading the league in scoring at 20.6 points per game. She also averaged eight rebounds, two steals, and one block per game.
She was named to the CVAC All-Tournament Team for the fourth consecutive year and went on to capture First-Team All-Region accolades for the second straight season. Langston gained national attention after being named a Second-Team All-American by the Division II Bulletin and was one of five finalists in Region 2 for Kodak All-American honors.
Beginning in 2007-08, the Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference (CVAC) became Conference Carolinas and in conjunction with the 2007 CVAC Women's Basketball Championships, Langston was one of ten players named to the All-Time CVAC Women's Basketball Team, in honor of the best of the best CVAC-era athletes.
Steve Lytton
(Men's Basketball Coach / Director of Athletics)
A native of Statesville, N.C., Steve Lytton began his coaching career in the Electric City in 1985 and went on to lead Anderson College to six 20-win seasons and several appearances in the top-10 before the Trojans made the conversion from junior college to a four-year school. In March, 1994, Anderson was ranked No. 1 in the country in the junior college poll.
While serving in the dual role of head coach and Athletic Director at Anderson College from 1985 to 1996, Lytton took on the challenge of leading the Anderson basketball program to Division II status in 1995. The highlight of Lytton's final four seasons was a 79-77 victory over Winthrop on Nov. 26, 1998 — marking Anderson's first-ever victory ever over an NCAA Division I school. Lytton had a career record of 366-240 over a 22-year span as a collegiate head coach – at both North Greenville and Anderson.
Lytton attended Surgoinsville (Tenn.) High School before graduating from Lees-McRae Junior College and East Tennessee State in 1968. A four‐sport letterman in basketball, football, baseball, and track, he served as a co-captain in both basketball and baseball and was later inducted into the Lees-McRae Hall of Fame.
Lytton began his coaching career at Madison Junior High School in Titusville, Fla, before serving a one-year stint at Franklin, (N.C.) High School in 1972. He then built a winning program at North Greenville College (1978-85) in Tigerville, before taking the job at Anderson in 1985. He also served as the athletic director at North Greenville College during that time.
Following the 1998-99 campaign, Lytton accepted an assistant coaching position at Virginia Tech and was on the Hokies' staff during the years they transitioned from the Atlantic 10 to the Big East to the ACC.
Careef (Robertson) Chayil
(Wrestling)
Careef Chayil, who won the first nine matches of his collegiate career, went on to post a stellar 24-12 record at the (174-pound weight class) during his freshman season and qualified for the NCAA National Championships during his first winter in the Electric City. Chayil captured three awards as a freshman in 2003 - he was named AU's top male athlete, while taking home AU's Most Outstanding Wrestler honors for the first of three consecutive seasons. The Irmo native was also honored with the Thom Hoppler Memorial Award, which was given in honor of former Anderson wrestler, Thom Hoppler, who was tragically killed in an automobile accident during the summer of 1999.
Chayil began his sophomore campaign on another strong note – winning his first seven outings, then lost just one decision over his next 14 matches while finishing the season with a 23-4 mark and qualifying for the NCAA National Championships for the second time in as many years.
Perhaps saving his best for last, Chayil started his junior season with six consecutive victories and later wrapped up the campaign with 15 straight wins, while winning the National Championship at 174 pounds – Anderson's first title as a member of NCAA Division II – and finished his career with 70 wins and just 24 losses, while taking home his second AU Male Athlete of the Year honor.
During his NCAA Championship bout with Minnesota State-Mankato's Travis Krinkie – who went on to become a four-time All-American – Chayil separated his shoulder with two minutes remaining in regulation with the score tied at 4-4, before winning the match on a takedown 45 seconds into overtime.
Lasse Sohrweide
(Men's Soccer)
Lasse Sohrweide is another inductee whose collegiate career spanned both Conference Carolinas and the South Atlantic Conference. During Sohrweide's career, he led the Trojans to ever-increasing win totals, culminating in a school-record 17 victories in 2011, while AU accumulated 57 wins over his four seasons – the most successful four-year span in school history.
After being named First-Team All-Conference Carolinas and the league's Freshman of the Year in 2008, he helped lead the soccer team to the Conference Carolinas Tournament title game for the first time in the history of the program. He went on to earn First-Team All-Conference honors three more times.
As a sophomore during Anderson's final year in Conference Carolinas (2009-10), the native of Flensburg, Germany led the Trojans to a No. 11 national ranking and the best start in school history (6-0), with the Black and Gold earning their first trip to the NCAA Tournament. Sohrweide was named to the NCAA Southeast Region All-Tournament Team.
Following his junior campaign, Sohrweide was named AU's Male Athlete of the Year after being named the SAC Player of the Year and earning a spot on the SAC All-Tournament Team. He claimed SAC Tournament MVP honors after notching a hat trick to lead the team to the conference tournament title and helped lead the Trojans to their second consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament, where they reached the NCAA's Sweet 16.
He capped off the season by being Region Player of the Year and brought home First-Team Daktronics All-America honors.
Sohrweide wrapped up an incredible collegiate career by leading the Trojans to a school-record 17-4 overall record, including a program-record 11-match win streak, and the South Atlantic Conference Regular Season Championship with a perfect 9-0 mark.
The Trojans went on to win the South Atlantic Conference Tournament Championship and climb as high as sixth in the national rankings, with Sohrweide being named SAC Player of the Year and to the SAC All-Tournament Team, while capturing First Team Daktronics All-America honors for the second straight year.
He earned All-America accolades twice, was a four-time All-Region honoree and was named the Southeast Region Player of the Year following his final two seasons.
The Hall of Fame was established in 1999 to recognize and preserve the outstanding achievements of selected Anderson athletes and coaches in intercollegiate sports. Eligibility is limited to former athletes and coaches who have brought acclaim to the University with consideration given to integrity, reputation and character.
Members of the Anderson Athletics Hall of Fame
Class of 2022: Whitney Bishoff, Blair Carson, Clay Huggins, Deidra Langston, Steve Lytton, Careef Robertson and Lasse Sohrweide.
Class of 2010: Katrina Anderson Sacoco, Glenn Corbit, Terry Poore, Frankie Porter, and Robbie Stanifer.
Class of 2000: Jim Boykin, David Buffamoyer and Donna Forester Reed.
Class of 1999: Al Daniel, Max Grubbs, Janie Ruth Lee, Dhiren Rathod, Annie Tribble and Jim Wiles.
