2023 TLU Athletics Hall of Fame, Wall of Honor Class Announced
SEGUIN, Texas -- The Texas Lutheran Athletic Hall of Fame will feature three new Bulldog legends inducted this October representing three different sports, along with an addition to the Leadership Wall of Honor. The TLU Athletics Hall of Fame is an elite group of alumni and coaches who demonstrated outstanding performance and achievement in athletic competition while representing Texas Lutheran University.
All three members of the 2023 Class are 2013 graduates that hail from women's track and field, football, and baseball. For the third time in four seasons, Texas Lutheran Baseball will have an inductee.
The newest members of the Texas Lutheran Athletics Hall of Fame are former TLU pole vaulter Ligia Bolivar '13, former TLU kicker Allen Cain '13, and former TLU baseball player Sean Kistler '13. They will be joined in the class by former TLU women's basketball coach Lana Urbanek - who will be enshrined in the TLU Athletics Leadership Wall of Honor.
The Class of 2023 will be honored in a ceremony on campus Saturday, October 21, 2023, and will be honored at halftime of the Homecoming football game between the Bulldogs and East Texas Baptist University. Kickoff is set for 4 PM.
Ligia Bolivar, a two-time All-American and three-time American Southwest Conference champion in the pole vault at TLU, qualified for six total NCAA Division III National Championship meets – all in the pole vault. Bolivar competed in three indoor national championships and three outdoor national championships in her career earning NCAA Division III All-American status at the 2010 and 2011 NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships. She finished sixth overall at the 2011 championships with a clearance of 11 feet, 11.25 inches and eighth at the 2010 NCAA Outdoor Championships, with a clearance of 12 feet, 2.75 inches. She also finished ninth at the 2011 NCAA DIII Indoor Championship and 10th at the 2012 NCAA DIII Outdoor Championships while finishing in the top 15 in 2010 and 2012's NCAA Indoor Championships. Over the course of her career, Bolivar accumulated 14 meet wins in the pole vault during her career.
In addition to her four conference title wins, she won meets at Texas Tech, Incarnate Word, Central Missouri, and Trinity. The lone year (her freshman year) in which she did not win the conference title, she was the conference runner-up. In addition to her 14 career pole vault wins, she finished second 13 times at meets. She finished in the top three at a meet on 33 occasions. She was a member of four American Southwest Conference women's team championships at TLU, was a three-time All-ASC award winner, and was a three-time ASC Academic All-Conference honoree.
Allen Cain, a four-year starter at place-kicker for TLU, received seven different All-America playing awards in his career with the Bulldogs. Cain was named a D3football.com First Team All-American his junior and senior seasons, while also earning All-America honors from The Associated Press (AP Little All-America) and Beyond Sports College Network as a senior. In 2011, Cain earned All-America honors from the American Football Coaches Association, The Associated Press, D3football.com and Beyond Sports College Network. The 2012-13 TLU Co-Male Student-Athlete of the Year, Cain is the all-time leader in field goals made for TLU and ended his career as the leader for the American Southwest Conference, now ranking second all-time. Cain kicked 17 field goals in 2012 - bringing his career field goal total to 43. Cain made 34 field goals in his junior and senior seasons alone. Cain still holds the American Southwest Conference and TLU records for most points scored by kicking in a game (19), most field goals in a game (5, twice), highest made field goal percentage in a game with at least four attempts (1.000, twice, 5-for-5 twice). Cain held the ASC career field goal record for 10 seasons.
Cain was also a two-time First Team Academic All-American, holding the honor as the first TLU student-athlete to be named a First Team Academic All-American twice. Cain concluded his career by kicking in the D3 Senior Classic in Salem, Virgina, kicking an extra-point and a 46-yard field goal in the South's 37-21 win over the North. Cain was a two-time finalist for the Fred Mitchell Award - awarded to the Football Championship Subdivision, Division II, Division III, NAIA or NJCAA place-kicker that best excels on the football field and in the community - and was named the 2012 ASC Special Teams Player of the Year and was named to the 2012 ASC Outstanding Sportsmen Team of the Year.
Sean Kistler, was a two-time All-American and one of the top closers in all of NCAA Division III in his last two seasons for the Bulldogs. Kistler set the TLU and ASC records for career saves (22) and is still the current record-holder for TLU for career (22) and single-season saves (14) while still holding the ASC record for career saves.
Kistler dominated on the mound - not allowing a run (earned or unearned) in 2013 and did not allow a run in the final 39 innings of his career with a scoreless inning streak that stretched from April 6, 2012 to the final game of his career, May 16, 2013 – in which he pitched two scoreless innings against No. 8 California Lutheran in the NCAA West Regional Tournament. Kistler pitched 29-1/3 innings in 2013 with an ERA of 0.00, recording 14 saves with 33 strikeouts and only 14 hits allowed in an ASC leading 21 appearances. Kistler was an integral part of a 2013 pitching staff that led the ASC in ERA (3.05) and in strikeouts (317) and a 2013 TLU squad that made a run to the 2013 NCAA Division-III West Regional Tournament. His 2013 performance saw him finish in the top three in the 2012-13 American Southwest Conference Male Athlete of the Year voting that season.
Kistler was named ABCA All-West Region First Team, the ABCA All-America Third Team, and the D3baseball.com All-West Region Second Team honoree while also earning All-America honors for his 2012 and 2013 seasons respectively. Kistler was also a three-time All-ASC Academic All-Conference selection.
TEXAS LUTHERAN ATHLETICS LEADERSHIP WALL OF HONOR CLASS OF 2023
Lana Urbanek, has been a pillar of strength, support, and knowledge at Texas Lutheran for decades. She implemented a system of excellence in her tenure as head women's basketball coach, producing All-American athletes, leading the Bulldogs to the program's first conference championship, and guiding the team to multiple NAIA playoff appearances. She had an outstanding record on the court. She was the winningest coach in program history until just recently when her record was broken by Mel Dixon. She also was dedicated to her role as bookstore manager - a position that allowed her to employ student-athletes so that they could maintain steady employment. As bookstore manager, she also implemented several athletics and student-focused promotions, like Touchdown Mondays, that drove interest in TLU Athletics among the general student population. In her days after her coaching retirement, she was ever-present at Memorial Gymnasium for basketball games and was a frequent fan of every other TLU sport. She also dutifully served in several other TLU volunteer capacities (like as an assistant golf coach and as a member of the TLU Athletics Hall of Fame/Wall of Honor Committee).
To this day, the student-athletes she coached keep in touch with her because she touched their lives in so many positive and meaningful ways.
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