ST. LOUIS – The Illinois State women's cross country program earned two of 10 selections on the MVC 25-Year Anniversary team, the conference announced Thursday. Sue Daggett Miller was the number one choice in balloting, and was joined by fellow-Redbird Stacia Beste.
The 2017-18 season is a landmark one for the MVC and for women's sports. To help celebrate the 45th anniversary of Title IX and the 25th anniversary of women's sports in the Missouri Valley Conference, the league will name 25-Year Anniversary Teams for each of the Valley's sponsored women's sports in 2017-18.
Team composition for each sport has been determined by a 25-person committee, including two representatives from each MVC institution and a panel of five voters from the Conference office. The team includes years in which the league teams competed under the MVC umbrella during the past 25 years (1992-2017) and does not include competition from the current season.
The voting panel determined a 'Top 10' from a list of 25 finalists, and Daggett Miller and Beste were among the ten honorees selected.
Daggett Miller ran cross country for Illinois State from 1993-96. A 1996 NCAA All-American, she was the back-to-back MVC Champion in 1995 and 1996. One of the most decorated athletes in Illinois State history, Daggett Miller was also a four-time All-MVC performer and the 1995 NCAA District V Cross Country Champion. She excelled in the classroom as well, being named a 1994 Cross Country Coaches Association Academic All-American and receiving Valley Scholar-Athlete honors three times. Daggett Miller was named to the MVC's All-Centennial team in 2007 and was inducted into the Valley Hall of Fame in 2016.
Beste competed on the cross country circuit for the Redbirds from 1997-01. She was named the MVC Athlete of the Year, after winning the MVC Championship in 2001. That same season, she would go on to place third at the NCAA Midwest Regional and qualify for the NCAA Championships. Beste's 41st place finish at the NCAA Championships is the second-best finish on that stage in ISU cross country history.
Also a member of the MVC's All-Centennial team, Beste was a CoSIDA Academic All-American in 2001 and was named to the U.S. Cross Country Coaches Association Academic All-American Cross Country Team in 1998 and 1999. A two-time Valley Scholar-Athlete, Beste received the Valley's Charlotte West Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award in 2002 and was inducted into the ISU Athletics Percy Family Hall of Fame in 2011.
The full 25-Year Anniversary team can be found here.
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