Eastern Illinois Athletics has added two new athletic trainers to the Panthers sports medicine staff as several teams have opened fall camp in preparation for the 2025-26 academic year.
 
Ben McNeilly and Haley Singer both joined the EIU staff in late July.
 
McNeilly will provide primary sport coverage for EIU men's basketball and men's soccer.  McNeilly comes to EIU after attending Grand Valley State University where he earned his bachelor's (Clinical Exercise Science) and master's (Athletic Training) degrees.  He recently completed working for the past academic year at Calvin University as part of an Immersive & Internship experience.  His primary focus was assisting with the men's and women's basketball programs.  McNeilly has additional experience working with I'Move Physical Therapy and as a nursing technician with Corwell Health, Butterworth and Blodgett Hospitals in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  He has additional athletic training experiences working at both Rockford (Mich.) and Kenowa Hills High Schools.
 
Singer will provide primary sport coverage for women's basketball and provide additional home event coverage.  Singer comes to EIU after serving as a graduate assistant athletic trainer the last two years at St. John's University in New York.  In that roll she was the primary athletic trainer for softball and track & field.   She attended the University of Alabama as an undergraduate working as a student assistant athletic trainer with the Crimson Tide Athletic Department.   She had undergraduate clinical experience with both the Alabama football and men's basketball teams while working a summer clinical experience with the University of Florida football program.  She holds memberships and certifications as a Certified Athletic Trainer, National Athletic Trainers Association and American Heart Association Basic Life Support.  Singer earned her undergraduate degree from Alabama (2023) and master's degree from St. John's (2025).