The University of Missouri–St. Louis Department of Athletics recently honored its 42 graduating seniors at the Fourth Annual Senior Student-Athlete Banquet, held at the Hilton St. Louis Airport in Woodson Terrace, Mo. 

Each senior was individually honored, while two members of the class were also recognized for being selected as Senior Student-Athletes of the Year. The female recipient was women’s golf’s Shweta Galande, while the male recipient was baseball’s Kyle Renaud.

Additionally, Kelsie Rankin of volleyball was honored with the inaugural Inspirational Award.

Galande has left her mark on the women’s golf program, having nearly rewritten the record book single-handedly during her four-year standout career.

During her time as a UMSL Tritons athlete, she has put the program in the national spotlight, guiding UMSL to four straight NCAA Super Regional appearances and twice qualifying for the NCAA Championships as an individual.

She earned All-Great Lakes Valley Conference accolades for the fourth straight year by finishing fifth in the annual league tournament.

Galande is the program’s all-time scoring average leader and shot 77.9 for her career. She has earned medalist honors four times, including winning the individual title as a junior at the GLVC Championship.

This season, she led the team with a scoring average of 77.5, which broke her own single season record, and has finished in the top 10 in eight tournaments, including placing in the top five in seven of those.

A three-time GLVC Pitcher of the Week this season, Renaud has established himself as one of the best relief pitchers in the country this season.

Renaud broke a 20-year-old UMSL single season saves record by recording two saves against the UnIllinois-Springfield. He currently has 16 saves, which ranks as the fifth best single season total in NCAA Division II history.

He also ranked second on the career charts with 17 career saves, one shy of the record of 18 set by Bob Simpson from 1985-87.

This season, Renaud boasted a team-best 1.69 ERA and owns a 3-1 record in 26 appearances. He allowed just nine earned runs in 49.2 innings of work.

Rankin was a five-year member of the volleyball program who had her share of ups and downs on the court. After starting her first three years and helping the 2010 team to the NCAA Tournament as a junior, she suffered a torn ACL that spring. Rankin had a successful surgery and redshirted her fourth year – what would have been her senior season.

Following surgery and rehab, Rankin was ready to come back for her fifth year. However, on the Sunday before the 2012 season was to start, she once again tore her ACL during an open gym. Following another successful surgery, she spent August, September and October, rehabbing intensively with the trainers and through her dedication and hard work, was cleared to play in October.

On October 13th at the GLVC-GLIAC Crossover Tournament, Rankin stepped foot on the court for the first time in nearly two years. She finished out the season as a key defensive player for the Tritons. 

Congratulations and best of luck to all of the following UMSL seniors:

Volleyball: Corinne Hoekstra, Liz Jaeger, Jennie Manis, Kelsie Rankin and Haley Woods.

Men’s Soccer: Jordan Bruce, Ajdin Dedic, Peter Hyde, Thomas Mihalczo, Dan Olwig, Patrick Ream, Gino Valenti and Luc Wells.

Women’s Soccer: Kelly Goehring and Jamie Morton.

Women’s Basketball: Molly Barnes, Angie Johnson and Deaven Omohundro.

Men’s Basketball: Justin Jones, Joshua McCoy, Isiah Nunn and Vinnie Raimondo.

Women’s Golf: Shweta Galande, Chelsea Kellogg and Samantha Pelc.

Men’s Golf: John Neis and Chase Smith.

Softball: Haleigh Jenkins.

Baseball: Nolan Craig, Andy Flett, Tim Hassett, Taylor Holman, Lucas Matecki, Charlie Mohr, Trevor Nathanson, John Pilackas, Kyle Renaud, Drew Standefer and Brett Wolf.

Cheerleading: Danielle Smith, Jennifer Green and Jason Little.