Sports Association Honors Bellevue College Teams, Athletes
Jul 3, 2025The Northwest Athletic Conference, a regional sports association, honored two Bellevue College teams and two student athletes at its annual Hall of Fame event in June.
The Northwest Athletic Conference, a regional sports association, honored two Bellevue College teams and two student athletes at its annual Hall of Fame event in June.
Bellevue College’s four inductees made up half of the eight total, which included six individuals and two teams. Bellevue College’s inductees included Rhonda Bell, a women’s Track and Field student athlete from 1980-81; Lisa Kindelan, a women’s Cross Country and Track and Field student athlete from 1980-82; the 1981 women’s Cross Country Team; and the 1983 women’s Track and Field Team.
“This was a great way to honor the rich sports history at Bellevue College,” Jeremy Eggers, Bellevue College’s athletics director, said of the 2025 Hall of Fame recognition. “There’s a lot of history here that is, for lack of a better term, undocumented on our side.”
Eggers, who has been the athletics director at Bellevue College since 2017, said this was the first time the college has been honored in eight years in part due to the pandemic. During the nomination process, Eggers said his strategy was to identify the best athletes and teams from decades prior with the knowledge that younger alumni athletes and teams could be honored in future years. Also, he noted, representation mattered.
“Bellevue College didn’t have any females or female teams inducted prior, so I thought that was an important thing to acknowledge,” he said. “These were the best of the best at the time in the NWAC, and we still have records that stand from some of these participants.”
Bell, who was honored posthumously, still holds the fastest two times for the 400-meter race in the NWAC, while Kindelan was the only woman to compete in three Olympic Trials. The 1981 women’s Cross-Country team still ranks as the best in the NWAC, and the 1983 women’s Track and Field team set four conference records, three of which are still standing 41 years later with the 1600-meter relay and mile records as national community college records.
“These are very good representations of our athletic department,” Eggers said. “And what they did back then is what we’re continuing to strive to do in the sports that we do currently have.”
Bellevue College’s Inductees
In 1980, Bell won the 400 meters, 200 meters (meet record times), and the long jump (the second-best jump in NWAC history). She also anchored the winning Bellevue College 1600-meter relay team in a then-meet record. She was also the high scorer at the year-end NWAC Track and Field Championships with 32.5 points. At the end of the year, Rhonda was named the Bellevue College Female Athlete of the Year.
The following season in 1981, Bell defended both her titles in the 400 and 200-meter races, beating her previous year’s meet records. Her times of 53.69 seconds and 54.21 seconds for the 400-meter race remain the fastest two times in the NWAC. Bell added the 400-meter relay championship and anchored the 1600-meter relay, leading to consecutive championships in both races. She finished second in the long jump and, for the second consecutive year, was the championship high scorer with 33 points.
After competing for Bellevue College, Rhonda went onto compete at Oregon State University where she still ranks eighth all-time in the 400 meters. Her top time at Bellevue College went on to be the school record at OSU at the time. During her time at OSU, Bell was named “All-Pac 10” twice. Bell passed away in 2015.
As a freshman, in 1980, Kindelan finished runner-up at the NWAC Cross Country Championships, helping lead Bellevue College’s Women’s Cross-Country team to its first NWAC Cross Country Championship and the first overall championship in women’s sports at Bellevue College.
Building on her previous season’s success, in 1981 Kindelan became the first Bellevue College Women’s Cross Country individual champion, winning the championship race in 17 minutes, 53 seconds. Her winning time was the fastest in the NWAC for 30 years and remains the second fastest in NWAC history. At the 1981 championships, she led her teammates to a 1-2-3 finish, securing the NWAC Cross Country Championship for the second year in a row. At the conclusion of the cross-country season, Bellevue College’s Cross Country team finished with a No. 1 ranking in the country, led by Kindelan.
Turning to track and field in 1981, Kindelan was the NWAC champion in both 3K (10:20) and 5K (17:54) races. In 1982, she was runner up in both races to one of her Bellevue College teammates. Kindelan’s efforts in Track and Field helped secure championships in both 1981 and 1982 for the Bellevue College Women’s Track and Field teams.
She transferred to the University of Idaho where she was all conference in cross country and track and field in both her junior and senior seasons. From there she participated in three Olympic trials marathons, finishing 10th, 19th, and 29th. Kindelan is the only NWAC woman to compete in three Olympic Trials. In 1995, she ranked eighth in the U.S. Marathon with a time of 2:35.00. In 1996, Kindelan finished ninth at the USA 5K championships. Kindelan was a member of the U.S. Track and Field team at the 1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle as she competed in the marathon and was the top American finishing fourth. Kindelan has also finished three times in the top five in the USA Marathon Women’s Championship.
The 1981 Bellevue College Women’s Cross-Country team was the No. 1 ranked team in the entire country for community colleges. The team set a low point total of 19 in the 1981 NWAC Women’s Cross-Country Championship by finishing first, second, third, seventh, eighth, and ninth place, respectively. The first, second, and third place finishes by the team ranks as three of the four fastest times ever run at any NWAC Cross Country Championship in history. As a team, the ’81 Bellevue College Women’s Cross-Country team is the best ever in the NWAC.
The 1983 Bellevue College Women’s Track and Field Team is the most dominant team in NWAC history. These women won 13 of 17 total events at the NWAACC Track and Field Championships in 1983. They won all 12 running and relay events, while scoring in all 17 events. In five events, Bellevue College finished either first or second while collecting the most wins by one team in NWAC Track and Field history. They set four conference records and three of those are still standing 41 years later. The 1600-meter relay and mile records are still national community college records, according to the NWAC.
