ST. LOUIS – Illinois State all-time great Sade Sealy was among 10 student-athletes named to the Missouri Valley Conference Women's Track 25-Year Team, announced the league office Thursday.
The 2017-18 season is a landmark one for the MVC and women's sports. To help celebrate the 45th anniversary of Title IX and the 25th anniversary of women's sports in the Valley, the league is naming 25th anniversary teams for each of the conference's sponsored women's sports.                      Â
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.
Sealy is joined on the 25-year anniversary team by: Holli Hyche (Indiana State), Omegia Keeys (Indiana State), Erica Moore (Indiana State), Katie Wise (Indiana State), Augustina Charles Frederikson (Missouri State), Cheasa Gibson (Missouri State), Verneta Lesforis (Missouri State), Nikki Larch-Miller (Wichita State), and Desiraye Osburn (Wichita State).
Sealy was a member of the Redbird track & field team from 2010-13 and is arguably the best 400-meter runner in Illinois State history. She is one of only two MVC women's student-athletes to be crowned an eight-time Valley champion in the 400-meter, sweeping the event at the indoor and outdoor championships over the course of her career. The only other person to accomplish this feat is fellow 25-year honoree Cheasa Gibson.
Of her eight 400-meter championship-winning performances, she posted her most impressive race during her senior campaign at the 2013 MVC Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Sealy captured her eighth 400-meter title after clocking in at 52.01. Not only was this mark the second-fastest time in the nation, but it also broke the MVC all-time and championship records. Both of these records still stand to this day.
Following this performance, Sealy was crowned the Valley's Most Outstanding Track Athlete for the third time of her career, having previously won the award following the 2011 and 2013 indoor conference meets.
Sealy's impressive mark also set a new ISU school record, which has yet to be broken. In addition to holding the outdoor 400-meter program record, Sealy owns the indoor 400-meter (53.61) and outdoor distance medley relay (11:19.14) school records as well.
Sealy's name covers the Redbirds' top-10 list, appearing 22 times between the indoor and outdoor top-10 charts. She holds the second-fastest outdoor 200-meter mark (23.80), fifth-fastest indoor 200-meter time (24.33), fifth-fastest 400-meter hurdles mark (1:01.07), sixth-fastest indoor 600-meter time (1:33.85), and ninth-fastest indoor 800-meter mark (2:12.19) in Illinois State track & field history. This extensive list does not even account for the multiple ISU all-time top-10 relays in which Sealy played a vital role.
Over the course of her career, Sealy earned All-Valley honors a total of 22 times and was an 11-time conference champion. She qualified for the NCAA Preliminary round seven times, four of which were in the 400-meter dash.
Sealy closed out her career on a high note after posting the highest NCAA Preliminary round finish of her career in 2013, finishing ninth in the 400-meter dash and qualifying for the NCAA Championships. She would ultimately finish 21st at the NCAA Championships, helping to put Illinois State on the map on the national stage.
The 2018 Redbird men's and women's track and field teams will compete in their final meet of the regular season Friday when they travel to Madison, Wisconsin, to compete in the Wisconsin Twilight.
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