STEPHENVILLE – Tarleton State’s storied programs have featured elite student-athletes span the decades, but only a select few can call themselves Hall of Famers.
Eight more Texans can do just that, as Tarleton Athletics announced its Hall of Fame class of 2024 on Tuesday. Four individuals and one team have been voted into the prestigious Tarleton Athletics Hall of Fame; Texan Football’s Kyle Masters, Texan Softball’s Alicia Petersma (now Alicia Mathney), Texan Track and Field’s Lane McNamara, Texan Women’s Basketball’s JoAnne Jones, plus Texan Track and Field’s 1992 Women’s 2-Mile Relay Team, consisting of Audra Bierman, Carmen Colon, Linda Garcia (now Linda McAfee) and Michelle Musgrave (now Michelle Heavyside).
The Hall of Fame induction ceremony is scheduled for Saturday, May 4, in Stephenville.
“It is my honor to announce these prestigious student-athletes, whose time here that spans from 1975 to 2010 among them, will be inducted into the exclusive Tarleton Athletics Hall of Fame this coming May,” Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Lonn Reisman said. “This group includes All-Americans, conference winners, and former student-athletes who raised their programs and our national profile. All of these individuals should be very proud, and we’re excited to honor them soon.”
The individuals inducted become the 180th, 181st, 182nd and 183rd members of the Hall of Fame, and the women’s 2-mile relay team will serve as the 184th member.
Masters becomes the 180th member of the Tarleton Athletics Hall of Fame, one the best tight ends in Texan Football history. He is the 73rd football player to enter the Hall of Fame as an individual, and the 76th football member.
Masters played for the Purple and White from 2000-04, accumulating 76 receptions for 1,087 yards and seven touchdowns while helping Tarleton to its first two NCAA playoff appearances. He was an NCAA All-American honorable mention in 2003 after tallying 20 receptions for 259 yards and a pair of touchdowns. The Wheeler, Texas, native, was a four-time All-Lone Star Conference selection, including back-to-back first-team honors in 2003 and 2004, and was named LSC Freshman of the Year in 2001. As a freshman that year, he caught the second NCAA playoff touchdown pass in program history against No. 3 Chadron State on Nov. 17, en route to Tarleton’s first NCAA playoff victory 28-24.
Masters came to Tarleton State as part of the 2000 recruiting class in head coach Todd Whitten’s return and played for the all-time winningest head coach for five seasons. The Texans won the LSC three straight years during Masters’ tenure from 2001-03.
Petersma enters as the 181st member of the Tarleton Athletics Hall of Fame, one of the best hitters in Texan Softball history. She played four seasons for the Purple and White from 1999-2002, serving as a designated player her first two years, a third baseman in 2001 and a utility player in 2002. She is the fifth player from the Texan Softball program to earn Hall of Fame honors.
Petersma still is in the top-five in most of Tarleton’s all-time hitting categories from her time on the team nearly 25 years ago. She is tied-second in career walks (83), third in doubles (49), tied-third in home runs (31), fourth in RBI (129), tied-fourth in runs scored (128), fifth in total bases (342) and fifth in hits (192). She’s played in the fifth most career games (203) and logged the fifth most career at-bats (607).
Petersma made All-LSC four times in four seasons, including twice as First Team All-LSC in 2000 and 2002. Her freshman year she was also named Second Team NFCA All-South Central Region, and was named the LSC Hitter of the Week three separate times.
McNamara will be inducted as the 182nd member of the Tarleton Athletics Hall of Fame, one of the top student-athletes from Texan Track and Field. He will become the 29th track and field individual to enter the Hall of Fame, and the 31st overall.
McNamara competed in Stephenville from 1975-78, cementing his Tarleton career by making the finals in the NAIA Nationals Decathlon. He also ran in the NAIA National Track and Field Meet in Mile Relays three separate times, in 1975, 1976 and 1977.
The Plano, Texas, native, was named Tarleton’s most valuable in field events by head coach Joe Gillespie in 1978 as he helped the Texans become TIAA champions in both 1977 and 1978.
The 183rd member of the Tarleton Athletics Hall of Fame will be Texan Women’s Basketball’s JoAnne Jones. She will be the 17th women’s basketball student-athlete to enter as an individual, and the 18th overall member.
Jones is one of 22 Texans in the program’s 1,000-point club, finishing with 1,148 points (10.2 PPG) and 636 rebounds (5.7 RPG) across 111 career games played from 2006-10. Across Tarleton’s all-time career records, she’s second in blocks (158), fourth in offensive rebounds (266), ninth in field goal percentage (.532, minimum 350 attempts), 11th in rebounds, 12th in free throw makes (252) and 15th in points.
Jones was twice named All-Conference, including First Team All-LSC honors in 2009-10 and Second Team All-LSC in 2008-09. That season she led the team in both scoring (13.6 PPG) and rebounding (7.1 RPG). She also led the Texans in rebounding in 2006-07 at 6.0 RPG, the same season she became one of three players in Tarleton’s NCAA era to secure 20-plus rebounds in a game, recording 18 points and 21 rebounds in the Texans’ 58-46 win at Midwestern State on Jan. 2, 2007. The Arlington, Texas, native, helped the Texans to a 23-7 overall record in 2009-10, where they won their first Lone Star Conference tournament game and advanced to the NCAA Division II Tournament.
The final inductee of the Tarleton Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2024 is the 1992 Texan Track and Field Women’s 2-Mile Relay Team. This will be the seventh team of student-athletes and the third Tarleton Track and Field team to be inducted, serving as the 184th member. The other six teams in are the 1959 Track and Field Sprint Relay team, the 1977 Football team, the 1978 Football team, the 1986 Football team, the 1991 Track and Field Mile Relay team, and the 1992 Women’s Basketball team.
This team of women consisting of Bierman, Colon, Garcia and Musgrave became All-Americans in the 2-Mile Relay. They were the only Tarleton State All-American Indoor Women’s Track and Field members for a 23-year period until 2015.
They competed in the NAIA Indoor Track and Field Championships in March 1992 in Kansas City, where they took fifth place with a time of 9:37, then a school record.
For more information on the Tarleton Athletics Hall of Fame, visit TarletonSports.com/HallOfFame.
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