MSHSAA Assistant Executive Director Fred Binggeli, who coached the Southeast Missouri State University men's cross country team to the 1984 NCAA Division II national title, was inducted with his team into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame at ceremonies in Springfield on February 10.

Binggeli, a Fulton native, is a past U.S. Olympic Trials distance runner and member of the Missouri Track & Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame. In 1984, he was barely four years into a college coaching career when he catapulted the Indians into the national spotlight.

The team's roster was full of Missouri runners, including Art Waddle of Poplar Bluff, Joe Leuchtmann from Ritenour, Joe Lackner from St. Mary’s (St. Louis), Mike Bryne from Fox, Scott Laneman and Norm Kellar from Pattonville, Jay Townsend from Neosho, and Larry Hennier from Truman High. Mike Vanatta, a Colorado native, was the individual NCAA cross country champion for Binggeli's 1984 squad.

On November 17, 1984, the Southeast team capped a fairy tale season in Clinton, Miss. by placing three runners in the Division II top 10 and scoring 87 points to outrun runner-up Edinboro University’s 129 total and win the national championship at the Mississippi College course.

The team dominated Division II foes at the SEMO and SIU-Edwardsville Invitationals earlier in the season, placing five runners in the top 10 in both events, while posting wins over Division I foes throughout the regular season. Perhaps the team's most impressive performance came at the Notre Dame Invitational when the Indians placed second in the 19-team University Division, only seven points behind winner and host Notre Dame. In this meet Southeast defeated schools such as Ohio State and Michigan from the Big Ten Conference as well as fellow Division I squads from Bowling Green, Illinois State and Western Illinois.

Binggeli has been with MSHSAA since 1997 and currently handles the activities of cross country, track and field, and speech and debate as well as duties in sports medicine, coaches education and school membership.