[1]UIndy alumna and world-class distance runner Erin Nehus-Vergara talks to WTHR as she boards a flight to Los Angeles with husband Frank and daughter Layla.
She didn’t qualify for the 2016 Olympics in Rio, but Erin Nehus-Vergara is still a winner.
A graduate of UIndy’s Krannert School of Physical Therapy [2], Nehus-Vergara placed 19th out of 250 runners competing Saturday in the women’s Olympic Marathon Trials in Los Angeles. It was her second trip to the trials, but her time of 2:41:10 was not quite enough to make the Top-3 cut.
Considering, however, that she’s a few years older than most of the competition, working full-time for Nightingale Home Health Care, raising a 2-year-old daughter and supporting her Afghanistan-veteran husband in his battle against stage IV cancer, her accomplishments are nothing short of amazing.
Watch this WTHR report [1] from Friday, as Nehus-Vergara was boarding the plane to L.A.
* * *
The Indianapolis Business Journal has released its annual Forty Under 40 [3] list, and once again a UIndy grad is noted among the city’s young movers and shakers.
Joel Zawacki pitched for Greyhound baseball and graduated magna cum laude in 2006 with a bachelor’s degree in Sport Management [4] and a minor in Business Administration [5]. He now serves as director of corporate sales and marketing for the Indianapolis Indians [6], whose game attendance and sponsorship revenue have gone through the roof since Zawacki joined the organization in 2007.
A GLVC All-American as a student-athlete, Zawacki now serves on the board of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Indiana Chapter and remains active with UIndy’s Greyhound Club [7] and Kinesiology [8] Advisory Board. “It certainly becomes more challenging now that I’ve got a little one at home,” he told the IBJ, “but the school has played a huge part in my success. I certainly enjoy giving back to them.”
Read more here [3] about the Forty Under 40 honor, and read IBJ’s previous feature story about Zawacki here [9].
* * *
A graduate of UIndy’s Department of Theatre [10] recently was named a 2015-2016 VIP Woman of the Year by the National Association of Professional Women [11].
Gayle Stahlhuth is an actress, playwright, producer and director who has appeared on television and radio and in off-Broadway and regional theater. She is the artistic director for East Lynne Theater Company [12] in New Jersey, which presents and preserves American theater classics and new works based on American literature and history.
The NAPW boasts 850 members nationwide. Read more about Stahlhuth’s honor here [13].