Shantel Twiggs (2005) - Hall of Fame

Shantel Twiggs

Induction:
2005
Class:
1995

Shantel Twiggs arguably was the fastest female Panther of the 1990s. She was the owner or co-owner of 13 school records during her tenure at UNI.

Twiggs started her prep track career at Hazelwood East High in St. Louis, Mo., where she was voted Most Valuable Athlete three years. That streak didn't end when she came to UNI as she was voted Most Valuable Athlete three years as a Panther as well. Twiggs was named to the Gateway/Missouri Valley all-conference team 22 times between 1991 and 1994 in four different events. She qualified for the NCAA Track and Field Championships eight times. In 1993 and 1994, she was an indoor All-American in the 55-meter dash. In 1994, Twiggs received her first outdoor All-America honors with her finish in the 200 meters.

After graduating with a degree in chemistry and marketing in December of 1995, Twiggs kept running for three U.S. National Teams (U.S. vs. Great Britain, 1994; World Cup, 1994; and Pan Am Games, 1995). At the 1994 Olympic Festival, she won a Gold Medal as the anchor leg of the 4x100, and a Bronze Medal in the 200 meters. In the 1995 Pan Am Games, she was the lead runner on the Gold Medal winning 4x100-meter relay team.

Twiggs found her form coaching youngsters as an assistant at Ferguson-Florissant School District in Berkeley, Mo. and for the Blues Track Club in St. Louis, Mo. She couldn't stay away from UNI long, however. She returned in 1997 to assist the men's and women's track and cross country teams. In 2000, she took over as head coach at Northern Illinois University, which hadn't competed in 18 years. In four years at the helm, she coached her athletes to 14 school records, NIU's first all-conference selection, its first regional qualifier and its first junior national qualifier. In 2004, Twiggs took over as head coach of the University of Nevada Wolf Pack women's track team.

At the time of her induction in 2005 Twiggs still held six school records at UNI: the indoor 55 meter-dash (6.85), 200 meters (24.12), outdoor 100-meter (11.20), 200 meters (23.04), and as a member of the record-holding 4x100-meter relay team (45.42), and 4x200-meter relay team (1:37.38).