TROY, N.Y. – The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Athletics Hall of Fame Selection Committee has chosen six individuals for induction into Rensselaer’s Athletics Hall of Fame. The Class of 2010 is made up of Cindy Acropolis ‘00 (ice hockey), Katie Coleman ’03 (field hockey), Benjamin Fell ’03 (swimming), Allison Geer ’03 (swimming), Warren Lutes (coach/administrator) and Bill Monette ’01 (track & field).
A forward from Brick, N.J., Acropolis holds nearly every single season and career offensive record in school history. In 98 games over four years, she had 128 goals and 84 assists for 212 points. A three-time National All-America Second Team selection, she produced one of her best seasons as a freshman, tallying 43 goals and 27 assists for 70 points in only 23 games. She garnered both All-ECAC First Team and ECAC Rookie of the Year honors. Her junior season was also a memorable one as she helped the Engineers – then a Division III program – to it’s first-ever ECAC Tournament berth and a number two ranking. Individually she had 32 goals with 19 assists for 51 points. A four-time team Most Valuable Player, Acropolis graduated in 2000 with a management degree. Prior to attending RPI she competed with the Princeton Tiger Lillies and on the Brick High School boys’ team.
Coleman, a midfielder out of Hopewell Junction, N.Y., became the first RPI field hockey player to garner National All-America recognition in 2000. She went on to earn three All-America honors in her career, which saw her play 71 games, scoring 21 goals with 13 assists for 55 points. Coleman was a three-time All-UCAA selection, including twice to the First Team, and also garnered All-North Atlantic Regional First Team recognition in each of her final three seasons. Among the highlights of her career came in her junior season when she helped RPI set the school record for wins (13-5) on its way to winning its first-ever New York State Tournament. In addition to being named the NYS Tournament MVP, she was also named a National All-American and All-League, All-State and All-North Atlantic Region First Team. Coleman graduated in 2003 with a degree in mechanical engineering.
A native of Waverly, N.Y., Fell was a three-time National Academic All-American. A National All-America in the pool three times, he remains the school record holder in five events (3 individual, 2 relay). Fell, a two-time captain, was the team’s Most Valuable Swimmer in each of his four seasons. Among his top seasons was 2002-03, when he earned Swimmer of the Meet at the New York State Championships and was an All-American, finishing seventh in the 200-freestyle. A Rhodes Scholar candidate and a member of numerous Engineering Honor Societies, Fell was named one of the top four undergraduate civil engineering seniors in the country by CENews. He graduated in 2003 with his degree in civil engineering.
Geer, from Menands, N.Y., garnered National All-America swimming honors four times. She earned 17 state or conference titles in her four-year tenure, including nine at the UCAA Championships and eight at the NYSWCAA Championships. The current school record holder in three events, Geer had one of her best seasons in 2001-02, claiming three victories at the conference meet and earning All-America recognition twice with seventh-place finishes in both the 100 and 200-freestyle events. A former standout at Shaker High School, she was the recipient of the prestigious RPI Livingston W. Houston Citizenship Award, the RPI Athletics Female Athlete of the Year and an inductee into Phalanx Honor Society as a senior. Geer, who earned her degree in management in 2003, joins her sister, Julia ’00, in the Hall of Fame.
A native of Moncton, New Brunswick, Lutes started his career at Rensselaer in 1961 as the head coach of the men’s cross country and track & field teams. His track & field teams saw extraordinary achievement during his first eight seasons, posting a 43-17 record, including two undefeated seasons. He served athletics as a coach and administrator until resigning in 1971. After returning to Rensselaer in 1988, Lutes led his squads to eight league titles, including three indoor and seven outdoor as well as one in women’s cross country. One of his most successful stints as the head coach came from 1998 to 2001, when he was a two-time UCAA Coach of the Year and the NCAA Atlantic Regional Indoor Coach of the Year (2000). Lutes mentored a number of individuals who earned league and state Performer of the Year awards, including five-time National All-American Krishaun Gilmore, who won the NCAA National Championship in the 55-meter dash at the 1997 NCAA Indoor Championships. Lutes retired as head coach from both teams in 2001 but remains involved in the athletic department, including as an assistant coach for the track programs.
Monette, who hails from Hastings, N.Y., was a three-time NCAA National All-American in a number of field events. Among his top seasons was 2001, when he became the only athlete of all NCAA Divisions to qualify for NCAA Championships in the shot put, discus and hammer throw, garnering All-America in the hammer. He was also the UCAA Most Outstanding Field Performer, the New York State Field Event Athlete of the Year, the NCAA Atlantic Region Outdoor Male Athlete of the Year and RPI’s Male Athlete of the Year. Monette, a graduate of Central Square High School, also excelled at the conference championship that season, claiming victory in the discus and the shot put. He won eight titles during his career, including four in league, two at states and one at the ECAC Championship Meet. The current school record holder in the discus, Monette earned a degree in environmental engineering.
Acropolis, Coleman, Fell, Geer, Lutes and Monette will be inducted at Rensselaer’s Annual Hall of Fame Banquet, which will be held during Homecoming/Reunion Weekend on October 15-17. Anyone interested in attending the ceremonies, including former teammates, should contact Leslie DeLano in Rensselaer’s main athletics office by calling (518) 276-6182 or via e-mail at khachl@rpi.edu.