For MarshfieldAreaSports.com
STEVENS POINT – Former Stevens Point Area Senior High School standout Suzy Favor-Hamilton, along with four other outstanding former high school athletes headline the 2010 class of the National Federation of State High School Associations Hall of Fame.
Favor-Hamilton becomes the first female athlete from the state to enter the Hall. She is one of the greatest distance runners in U.S. history – from her 11 WIAA State titles to her nine NCAA individual championships at the University of Wisconsin and finally to her three Olympic appearances. At SPASH, Favor-Hamilton won four WIAA State Cross Country championships and holds the state record for fastest time on a 3,200-meter course. In track, she won the 1,600 run at the State meet four consecutive years, and she also claimed titles in the 800 run, 1,600 relay and 3,200 relay. She still holds the State 800-meter record set 24 years ago.
At the University of Wisconsin, in addition to the nine NCAA titles, Favor-Hamilton won 23 Big Ten Conference titles and 14 All-American honors. She was named Big Ten Athlete of the Decade for the 1990s.
Since her graduation from Wisconsin in 1991, Favor-Hamilton has competed extensively around the world. She made three Olympic teams (1992, 1996 and 2000) and was ranked No. 1 in the United States five times. In 2000, she was ranked No. 1 in the world with a 1,500-meter time of 3:57.40 and was named USA Track and Field Distance Runner of the Year. Since her retirement from competitive running, Favor-Hamilton has been a motivational speaker and works with women in Madison, through her running/walking club.
She is the third Wisconsin athlete overall to be enshrined into the NFHS Hall of Fame. The two previous inductees were Alan Ameche in 1986 and Elroy Hirsch in 1988.
The other former athletes to be inducted into the Hall are Michael Carter, football and track and field athlete, Dallas Thomas Jefferson High School in Texas; Janet Evans, swimmer, Placentia El Dorado High School in California; John Godina, football and track and field athlete, Cheyenne Central High School in Wyoming; and Katrina McClain, basketball player, Charleston St. Andrews Parrish High School in South Carolina.
These five athletes are among 12 individuals who will be inducted in the NFHS National High School Hall of Fame July 10 at the San Diego Marriott and Marina in San Diego, Calif. The 28th Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will be the closing event of the 91st annual NFHS Summer Meeting.
(Story courtesy of the WIAA).
