KLAMATH FALLS – The first NAIA National Championship team, along with four standout student-athletes from the 2000s, comprise the sixth induction class to the Howard Morris Oregon Tech Athletic Hall of Fame.
 
Levell Hesia and the 2004 Men's Basketball Team, women's basketball player Nikki (McElligott) O'Connell, volleyball player Megan (Albertson) Jones and 2-sport athlete Michelle (Klaja) Sentman will be honored in the Hall of Fame Brunch, presented by Quail Mountain, Inc. and Pepsi, on Sunday, Nov. 8, in the Oregon Tech Campus Union.
 
The Howard Morris Oregon Tech Athletic Hall of Fame was established in 2021 and is named in honor of Howard Morris, the architect of Hustlin' Owl sports – a longtime baseball, football and wrestling coach, athletic director and chair of the physical education department, all part of a career at Tech that spanned 30 years. Currently 19 individuals and four teams have been inducted into the Hall of Fame.
 
The championship team brought home Tech's first national title after 57 years as an NAIA member. The squad finished the year 30-9 and entered the NAIA Division II national tournament as the No. 16 seed after finishing as the Cascade Conference regular-season and tournament runners-up. The Hustlin' Owls went on a run for the ages – becoming the lowest seed to claim the championship in the 27-year history of the tourney. Tournament MVP, Kevin Baker, hit a game-winning 3-pointer in the waning moments to top Dominican (Calif.), 71-69, in the opener, with the Owls dispatching No. 1 seed Jamestown (N.D.), No. 2 seed Bellevue (Neb.), No. 5 seed St. Ambrose (Iowa) and No. 8 seed Cedarville (Ohio) on the way to the title.
 
Hesia was a freshman on that championship team, the beginning of a remarkable career that finished as one of two players in program history to earn three NAIA All-America honors (first-team in 2005, second-team in 2006 and 2007). The 3-time All-CCC pick from Mazama High averaged 15 points per game during his career, including an 18.6 points per game clip as a junior. He held the career scoring record (2,109) for 13 years and is one of only two players to score over 2,000 points in a career. Hesia still ranks among the Top-5 all-time in free throws made (424), field goals made (722), 3-pointers made (241), steals (184) and assists (588).
 
O'Connell had a banner two seasons (2003-04, 2004-05) with the Lady Owls, putting OIT women's basketball on the map. The 2-time CCC Player of the Year and 2-time third-team NAIA All-American led the 2005 team to the only CCC regular-season title in program history and the first-ever trip to the NAIA Division II national tournament. O'Connell holds two of the Top-3 single-season rebound totals and two of the Top-10 single-season scoring totals in program history. The forward is one of two players to average a double-double for a career (16.5 points, 11.4 rebounds) and ended her two seasons having scored 1,006 points with 697 rebounds – still the No. 4 rebound total in OIT history.
 
Jones was a dominant player on the court, helping the volleyball team to 75 wins during her four seasons as the starting setter. From 2003-06, Jones led the Lady Owls qualified for 4-straight CCC Tournaments, while reaching the NAIA Region I Tournament in 2004 and 2005 – earning three All-CCC and two All-Region I awards. Over 20 years later, Jones is the only player in program history to record 900-or-more assists four times (including three seasons with over 1,000 assists), continuing to hold the school record for assists in a career (4,178) – while ranking in the Top-10 in career hitting percentage (.261), aces (116), blocks (304) and digs (1,045).
 
Sentman had a phenomenal run at Tech, competing for four seasons in track and field and three seasons in volleyball. She was a 13-time All-CCC selection in track, winning the 2005 high jump title and the 2005, 2006 and 2008 heptathlon crowns, while earning NAIA All-America honors in the javelin (2005, 2007, 2008) and heptathlon (2008). Sentman still holds the school record in the high jump (5 feet, 6 inches) and ranks in the Top-5 in the javelin and 100-meter hurdles. In volleyball, posted 938 kills and 785 digs in her career, earning All-CCC and All-NAIA Region I honors in 2007 after recording 442 kills – still the No. 2 single-season mark in program history.
 
Tickets for the November event will go on sale at a later date.