BURLINGTON, Vt. – A four-time NCAA Nordic ski champion, two record-setting track and field standouts, a pair of record-breaking swimmers, a two-time all-conference and all-region baseball player and a trailblazing former basketball coach make up the former Catamount greats who will be inducted into the University of Vermont Athletic Hall of Fame on Saturday, October 4, 2008. This year’s inductees are Matt Audibert '96 (track and field), Thorodd Bakken '98 (skiing, and cross country), Danielle Lewis Nitsche '98 (track and field), Mike Mora '94 (baseball), Ben Nye '97 (swimming and diving), Laurie Woelful Putnam '97 (swimming and diving) and Cathy Inglese (Special Inductee: women's basketball coach, 1986-93).

The inductees will be lauded at the 40th annual UVM Athletic Hall of Fame Dinner at the Sheraton Burlington Hotel and Conference Center on Saturday, October 4, 2008. Tickets to the dinner may be purchased starting September 2 through the UVM Athletic Ticket Office in Patrick Gym (1-866-4CAT-TIX).

Matt Audibert '96 (Track and Field):
A native of Johnson, Vt., Audibert was a six-time conference champion in the high jump capturing the America East Indoor and Outdoor titles each year from 1994 to 1996. He is the only high jumper in conference history to win three league titles indoors or outdoors and was the first in America East history to clear seven feet. The only Catamount to clear the seven-foot plateau, he shattered 20-year old school records in the high jump during both the indoor and outdoor seasons several times during his career.

Audibert had several top finishes in the New England indoor and outdoor meets including the 1996 outdoor championship, and he twice came in second at the Penn Relays in 1995 and 1996. His indoor record of 7-0, set in 1995, and outdoor mark of 6-10, cleared in 1994, are current Vermont records.

Thorodd Bakken '98 (Skiing, Cross Country):
Arguably the top Nordic ski racer in the illustrious history of the Vermont program, Bakken was the first male Nordic skier in NCAA history to win four individual national titles. In his six career NCAA races, the native of Holmenstrand, Norway finished first four times and second twice. The 1998 J. Edward Donnelly Award winner given to the most outstanding student-athlete of the senior class, he also was the winner of the 1998 ECAC Robbins Division I Scholar-Athlete Award.

Bakken won his first NCAA title in 1996, winning the 10-K freestyle race. In 1997, he won the 20-K freestyle championship and finished second in the 10-K classical event. At his last NCAA meet in 1998, he won both Nordic titles, the 10-K classical and 20-K freestyle. The Catamounts as a team finished no lower than third in the NCAAs in his three seasons highlighted by a runner-up finish in 1997.

Bakken also was the top cross country runner in each of his three seasons at UVM. He finished seventh in the 1997 America East Men's Cross Country Championship and was the Catamounts top finisher at the New England meet that fall.

Danielle Lewis Nitsche '98 (Track and Field):
One of the top javelin throwers in the region during her four-year collegiate career, Danielle Lewis was the 1998 women's winner of UVM's J. Edward Donnelly Award as the most outstanding athlete in her class. A native of Danville, Vt., she won three straight America East individual titles in the javelin after finishing as the runner-up as a freshman, and twice won the event at the prestigious Penn Relays. When she captured the collegiate division javelin title at the Penn Relays as a freshman in 1995, she joined fellow Hall of Famer and Olympic Gold Medalist Albert Gutterson '12 as the only Catamounts to win an event at the Penn Relays.

Lewis won three straight America East javelin titles from 1996 to 1998 and won the New England Championship in 1997 and 1998. Her school and America East record throw of 163-8, set April 26, 1997, is still the longest in UVM and conference history.

Mike Mora '94 (Baseball):
A two-time America East All-Conference First Team outfielder, Mike Mora left UVM as the school's all-time leader in several offensive categories including runs batted in, runs scored, games played, total bases and doubles. A native of Cos Cob, Conn., he was named to the all-conference first team and the All-New England Second Team in 1993 and 1994. Mora anchored the batting order on several of head coach Bill Currier's most successful teams including in 1992 when the Catamounts won a then-school record 28 wins and finished third at the ECAC Baseball Championship.

Currently the head baseball coach at Greenwich (Conn.) High School, Mora was the conference batting champion as a senior in 1994 with a .383 average and was a co-winner of the team's Larry Gardner Most Valuable Player Award that season. He also was the 1993 co-winner of UVM's Ralph Lapointe Award for leadership, dedication and loyalty.

Ben Nye '97 (Swimming and Diving):
A native of Essex Junction, Vt., Ben Nye finished his career with three individual school records in the freestyle and butterfly. He had several top individual finishes at the America East Swimming and Diving Championships. Nye was second in the 1650 freestyle in 1996 and came in third in that event as a senior in a school record 16:20.17. Also at the 1997 conference meet, he came in fourth in the 500 free with a UVM record 4:43.21, set a Vermont mark in the 1000 free with a time of 9:50.06 and came in third in the 200 butterfly in a personal best time of 1:57.31.

Well known on the team for his hard work and dedication in and out of the pool, Nye swam on many of the Catamounts relay teams at each meet. He was named the team’s Peter Gross Athlete of the Year in 1996 and 1997, and was the team's most improved swimmer in 1994.

Laurie Woelful Putnam '97 (Swimming and Diving):
An America East Champion swimmer, Laurie Woelfel was twice named the women’s team's Peter Gross Athlete of the Year and finished her standout four-year career as the program’s best-ever in the breaststroke. She was the first and only Catamount to win the conference individual title in the breaststroke capturing the 200 championship as a junior in 1996. One of the first three UVM women’s swimmers to win an America East individual title, she was the only Catamount to win of an individual event at the America East Championship from 1996 to 2008.

When Woelfel graduated in 1997, she held the school-record in both breaststroke events, the 100 and 200, with times that still stand today. Several times throughout her career she bettered each record. A native of Haverhill, Mass., she established both breaststroke records at the 1997 America East Championship coming in second in the 200 with a time of 2:25:64 and finishing fourth in the 100 swimming the event in 1:07.85. In each of her four conference championship meets, she also had top finishes in the breaststroke and several other events to score points for the Cats including the 200 and 300 IM.

Cathy Inglese (Special Inductee- women's basketball head coach, 1986-93):
In just seven seasons at the helm of the Catamounts from 1986 to 1993, Cathy Inglese was the architect of the remarkable turnaround and growth of the Vermont women's basketball program. She led UVM to unprecedented success with its first two conference titles, in 1992 and 1993, and its first two trips to the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship.

While at UVM, Inglese was named America East Coach of the Year three times, 1990, 1991 and 1992. She also earned WBCA District I (New England) Coach of the Year three times, 1991, 1992 and 1993 to appear as a finalist for WBCA National Coach of the Year. Her overall record at Vermont was 120-74 in seven seasons with an 8-2 mark in the conference tournament.

Success did not happen right away for Inglese's teams. Her first four UVM teams each had losing records and totaled only 41 victories. The team went an amazing 79-9 over her last three campaigns including a combined 57-2 mark in 1991-92 and 1992-93. In those two years Vermont was the winningest team in the nation and became the first teams to go unbeaten in the regular season in back-to-back seasons.

Her final two Vermont teams won a NCAA record 52 straight regular season games and put the program on the regional and national radar screen. UVM was a regular in the national polls and her Catamounts were featured nationally in CNN, ESPN, Sports Illustrated and USA Today as well as in many major newspapers such as the New York Times and the Boston Globe. Her first teams played before sparse crowds of friends and family and in her last two campaigns, sellout crowds of 3,228 were the norm at Patrick Gymnasium.

Inglese left Vermont following the 1992-93 season to become the head coach at Boston College. She spent 12 seasons at the helm of the Eagles before resigning after the 2007-08 campaign. The Big East Coach of the Year in 1998-99, she led BC to the postseason eight times including seven NCAA Tournament appearances with two runs to the Sweet 16. Like at Vermont, she led BC to its first national rankings.

Ironically the last of her 273 wins at Boston College was over Vermont in the second round of the 2008 Women's National Invitational Tournament.