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Millikin to Induct Four New Members to Athletic Hall of Fame

            DECATUR, Illinois—Millikin University will induct four new members in the Millikin Athletic Hall of Fame during the annual Alumni Awards and Hall of Fame Induction dinner on Friday, October 2 in Decatur, Illinois.  The event is part of Millikin 100th Homecoming Celebration.
          This year's inductees include Nathan Carden '03 for football and wrestling, Corey Jefferson '02 for track and field, Sheri Timmons-Reck '91 for softball and Nathan Wallick '07 for football.
4982            Nathan Carden '03 of Rockford was an award-winning, two-sport athlete at Millikin. A defensive lineman and four-year letter winner for the Big Blue football team, Carden was team co-captain and most valuable player in 2002. He also earned College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) First Team All-Conference honors and was twice named CCIW Player of the Week that season. He was named CCIW Second Team All-Conference in 2001 and was a member of the 2000 playoff team.
          Carden continued to win accolades when he stepped off the gridiron and onto the wrestling mat. A four-year member of the wrestling team, he was the CCIW heavyweight champion in 2000, 2002 and 2003, and finished second in the conference tournament in 2001. A two-time runner up in the regional tournament, Carden was a national qualifier alternate for the NCAA national championship in 2002 and a national qualifier in 2003.
          In recognition of his outstanding athletic career as a student, Carden was recipient of the 2003 Lindsay Medallion, which is presented annually to two exemplary Millikin student-athletes.
          After earning a bachelor's degree in sociology, Carden worked as a mental health specialist with Allendale Association in Lake Villa, Ill. He is now a firefighter and paramedic with the Rockford Fire Department. In his free time, he enjoys fishing, hunting, working out and playing golf. He has three children: son Richard Kerr, 18, daughter Lexie Carden, 10, and daughter Brianna Carden, 7.
         

 4985           Corey Jefferson '02 of Lewisville, Texas, was a four-year letter winner and award-winning sprinter for the Big Blue track and field team. Named the team's MVP in 2002, Jefferson holds several Millikin records and was a member of the 2002 400-meter relay team that set the outdoor record (41.45) that still stands today.
          His name appears three times in Millikin's Track and Field Top 10 Indoor Performance List, including the No. 1 spot in the 60-meter dash (6.91), No. 3 in the 55-meter dash (6.45) and No. 8 in the 200 meters (22.92). He also holds three spots in the Top 10 Outdoor Performance List: No. 1 for the record-setting performance with the 400-meter relay team (41.45), No. 5 in the 100 meters (10.57) and No. 10 in the 200 meters (21.90). He was elected team captain his junior and senior years.
          Jefferson's performance on the track received accolades from the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) as well. He was the CCIW 2002 outdoor champion in both the 100- and 400-meter dashes, and indoor champion that same year in the 55-meter dash. He earned All-Conference indoor honors in 2002 for his first-place finish in the 55-meter dash, and All-Conference outdoor honors in 2001 and 2002 for his performances in the 100- and 200-meter dashes. He also received Academic All-Conference honors.
          After earning berths in both the indoor and outdoor NCAA Division III championships in 2002, Jefferson's fourth-place finish in the 100-meter dash at the outdoor championship earned him All-American honors.
As a student, Jefferson served as membership chair for the Black Student Union and was also an assistant coach for the Staley Striders youth track and field club from 2000-02. He earned a bachelor's degree in business management from Millikin in 2002 and a master's degree in management from Indiana Wesleyan University in 2010.
          In 2003, Jefferson graduated from the Decatur Leadership Institute and was also honored with a Young Alumni Award from the Decatur Public Schools Foundation. Jefferson was a member of Decatur's Fair Housing Committee from 2003-07 and the committee's chair from 2004-06 while working as a loan originator and loan officer at Hickory Point Bank & Trust.
          Now a retail mortgage loan underwriter for Capital One in Plano, Texas, Jefferson was recognized as Capital One's Employee of the Month in 2013. Earlier this year, the firm named him an Underwriting Excellence Home Loans Hero.
          His alumni relatives include his grandfather, Burl Stoner '61 and his uncle, Edgar Reed '74. 
4984          Sheri Timmons Reck '91 of Mt. Zion was an award-winning member of the Big Blue softball team, and a force to be reckoned with on the pitcher's mound. In 1991, she pitched the first perfect game in Big Blue history. Three of the four years Reck was on the mound, the softball team qualified for post-season play, holding season records of 34-8 (1988), 28-10 (1989) and 32-6 (1990), and qualifying for the 1988 and 1990 NCAA tournaments, as well as winning two conference championships.
          In each of her four years with the Big Blue, Reck held the team's best earned run average: 1.94 (20-2) in 1988; 0.85 (15-6) in 1989; 1.42 (14-3) in 1990; and 1.74 (20-7) in 1991. In 1989, Reck was named the team's Most Valuable Player, was a College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) Player of the Week, and was named the CCIW's Most Outstanding Player. She set numerous school records, including most innings pitched in a career (575), fewest hits allowed in season (79), and most victories in a career (69). Her records for most innings pitched in a career and most victories in a career still stand today.
          Reck earned spots on the CCIW All-Conference teams in 1988, 1989 and 1990. A member of the Big Blue's 1988 and 1990 CCIW championship teams, she was named to the NCAA Division III Midwest Regional All-Tournament Team in those same years and to the NCAA Division III All-Region First Team in 1991.
          Reck earned a bachelor's degree in accounting at Millikin. Now the accounting manager at R.V. Evans Co. in Decatur, she enjoys participating in Crossfit in her spare time. Reck and her husband, Curt, live in Mt. Zion, Ill. She has two daughters and two stepchildren: Alexandra, 20, Morgan, 17, Dylan, 16, and Danielle, 15.
         
4983            Nathan Wallick '07 of Washburn has a passion for athletics, highlighted by his successful career as a Big Blue running back from 2003-07. Captain of the football team in 2007, he was named most valuable player during his sophomore, junior and senior years, and cited as most improved player during his freshman season. His record for career rushing yards (4,595) by a Big Blue player still stands. He also owns all the MU records for rush attempts – 940 for his career, 298 for a season (2005) and 47 in a game (2005) – and scored 39 career rushing touchdowns. Wallick holds the second- (1,495 yards) and fourth-place (1,251 yards) spots for best rushing performance in a season, and is No. 8 (217 yards) and No. 10 (213 yards) in rushing performance in a game.
Wallick also made his mark in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) record book, where his career rushing total of 4,595 yards holds fourth place. He was All-CCIW First Team in his sophomore, junior and senior years and was named to the All-Conference Second Team as a freshman. In 2004, he was named to the Football Gazette All-Region First Team, and received honorable mention in both 2005 and 2006. He was also Third Team All-Region and a CCIW Player of the Week in 2004, and D3Football.com All-Region Second Team in 2006.
          Wallick earned a bachelor's degree in exercise science at Millikin and has remained interested in athletics since graduating. His current hobbies include hunting, fishing, skiing and watersports. A Peoria firefighter and EMT, he is also a U.S. Coast Guard certified captain and owner of Peoria Carp Hunters, an aerial bow fishing charter for jumping Asian carp on the Illinois River. He and his wife, Sally, have a son, Gage, 2, and a daughter, Charlee, two months.
 
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