KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Washburn athletic department will be well-represented at the 2026 MIAA Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on June 1 as two individuals and a team will be enshrined in the newest class released by the MIAA on Wednesday. The Washburn honorees of Ron McHenry, Jessica Mainz and the 2001 Ichabod men's basketball team will join 12 total members who will be inducted into the MIAA Hall of Fame at the 2026 MIAA Awards Celebration Ceremony on June 1 at the Nelson-Atkins Museum Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri.
Ron McHenry
Ron McHenry led the Washburn Lady Blues to an NCAA Division II National Championship title in 2005, the first NCAA national championship for Washburn athletics in any sport. He won eight MIAA regular season titles and seven MIAA tournament championships during his tenure. He was also a four-time MIAA Coach of the Year and a two-time region Coach of the Year.
McHenry coached nine different players to 21 All-America awards as well as the 2006 WBCA National Player of the Year, Jennifer Harris. He's coached one NCAA South Central Region player of the year, six MIAA most valuable players, five MIAA defensive players of the year, 41 all-conference selections, and 84 MIAA Academic Honor Roll members.
The longtime head coach is among the top coaches in the NCAA as he concluded the 2021-22 campaign ranked 16th all-time in career winning percentage as well as 18th in career wins among active DII coaches. During the 2016-17 season, McHenry reached a personal milestone as he earned his 400th career victory at Northeastern State on Jan. 12 with a 67-48 victory. As result, he became the fastest coach in NCAA Division II women's basketball history to reach the milestone, doing so in just 512 games, while becoming just the 23rd individual to accomplish the feat.
On Dec. 18, 2018 against Embry-Riddle, McHenry captured his 432nd victory to pass Patty Dick as the winningest head coach of the Washburn women's basketball program.
McHenry was named the fifth Washburn head coach in program history on May 8, 2000 and quickly started building a powerhouse. After going 13-14 in his first year, he went a combined 175-23 over the next six seasons with six NCAA tournament appearances, eight combined MIAA titles between regular season and tournament, and a national championship.
He guided his team to an NCAA winning streak record as the 2004-05 team won their final 19 games to claim the national championship and carried their momentum into the following year. The Lady Blues finished the 2005-06 regular season with a perfect 27-0 record and swept through the MIAA postseason tournament and first two rounds of the NCAA South Central Region tournament. They then fell in overtime in the regional final to end the winning streak at 51 games and end the year with a 32-1 record. Although the record was broken by Ashland in the 2017-18 season, Washburn's streak still ranks second in Division II women's basketball.
McHenry has spent nearly four decades at Washburn devoting time as a student-athlete, assistant men's basketball coach, head golf coach, department academic advisor, and the head women's basketball coach.
He started on the Washburn men's basketball team during the 1983-84 season and became a graduate assistant for his former team the following year. After a short stint as the boy's head coach at Perry High School, he returned to his alma mater as an assistant for the men's basketball team under head coach Bob Chipman for 11 seasons.
Jessica Mainz
Jessica Mainz was the first women's soccer player to be enshrined in the Washburn Athletic Hall of Fame. Mainz holds 14 career records and 15 single season records for the soccer program including 47 career goals, 118 points and 16 match-winning goals. Mainz was a second team All-American as a sophomore and a combined six-time all-region selection including five first-team awards. Mainz was a two-time MIAA Most Valuable Player on the pitch and a four-time first team all-MIAA selection.
On the basketball court, she was the MIAA's two-time Defensive Player of the Year and a two-time selection to the all-defensive squad earning second team all-MIAA honors as a senior. Overall, she appeared in 120 games starting 61 scoring 631 points and her 368 assists is fifth all-time at Washburn and her 170 steals is seventh. Mainz was a two-time academic all-district selection as well in soccer and a combined seven-time MIAA Scholar Athlete award.
2000-01 Washburn Ichabod men's basketball team
The 2000-01 Washburn Ichabod men's basketball team was the first NCAA squad to reach the NCAA Championship game after completing a 29-5 season winning both the MIAA regular season (15-3) and the MIAA Tournament Championships. The Ichabods beat Northwest Missouri four times that season including an 81-74 win in the MIAA tournament finals in Topeka and a 67-61 NCAA regional tournament victory in Topeka. At the Elite Eight, Washburn topped Johnson C. Smith 70-64 in the national quarterfinals before topping Western Washington 96-90 in the semifinals, avenging a 72-70 loss to the Vikings in an early season match up in Las Vegas. The Ichabods fell to Kentucky Wesleyan in the national championship game 72-63. The Ichabod squad averaged 80 points per game with four Ichabods averaging double figures including All-American Ewan Auguste and 15.5 ppg with 7.6 rpg. Ryan Murphy averaged 13.2 ppg and 5.6 rpg coming off the bench while Randolph Williams scored 13.2 ppg and 4.3 rpg and Eric Carter averaged 11.1 ppg and 4.4 rpg. Shannon Kruger led the team in 3-point shooting hitting 54 of 128 attempts leading the team with 101 assists. The Ichabods were led by Washburn Hall of Fame coach Bob Chipman, who was inducted into the MIAA Hall of Fame in 2017 and Ewan Auguste who was also enshrined in the MIAA Hall of Fame the same year.
Washburn MIAA of Fame Inductees
Ron McHenry (2026)
Jessica Mainz (2026)
2000-01 Washburn Ichabod Men's Basketball National Finalist team (2026)
Dane Simoneau (2025)
Ewan Auguste (2017)
Bob Chipman (2017)
Shelly (Foster) Duffey (2014)
Jennifer Harris (2024)
Trey Lewis (2018)
Nikki Olberding-Greenawalt (2019)
Cary Williams (2022)
2005 NCAA Women's Basketball Championship team (2013)
