By Senior Correspondent Marty Ogden, Editing, Photos and Graphics by Ron Knapp
In honor of MySportsResults 25 years of covering Connecticut high school track & field and cross country, we continue our look back at 25 of the best female athletes over the past quarter of a century for the cross country season. If you think we are missing some of your favorite athletes then welcome to our dilemma since trying to select 25 athletes from the last 25 years was nearly an unbelievable task.
We hope you enjoy the second part of our overdue series as we continue with the females who made an impact on our sport since the fall of 2000. Additional segments will feature the remaining group of male athletes as well as the second list of the females who influenced the state’s cross country scene since 2000.
Lisa Stubic, Crosby, Class of 2002
Initially not interested in running, Lisa arrived for cross country and won her first race by over two minutes. Her talent became apparent as she qualified for New Englands all four years in high school. She was Class MM champion in 1999 and was State Open runner-up sophomore and junior years and placed 4th as a senior. At New Englands she was 3rd in 1999, 2nd in 2000 and 4th in 2001. After she graduated from Columbia, she moved to Croatia, her father’s homeland, and established herself as a leading long-distance athlete in the country, having set the Croatian records in 3000m steeplechase, 5000m, half marathon, and marathon. She is the first Croatian marathon runner ever to qualify for the Olympic Games and finished 52nd in the marathon at the 2012 Olympics.
Meghan Owen, Killingly, Class of 2003
Owen broke a nine year gap of CT athletes in qualifying for Foot Locker Cross country Nationals and set the tone for the new century. At Nationals she was 30th as a sophomore and 8th as a senior to earn All American honors. She simply dominated her era in CT, winning three Class MM and State Open titles from 2000-2002 after finishing 3rd as a freshman. Even at the New Englands championships she was 2nd in 1999 and 2002 and won twice in 2000 and 2001.
Amie Schumacher, Holy Cross, Class of 2006
As a young girl in pigtails, Schumacher wanted to follow in the footsteps of her big brother Jeremy and took to running. She dominated the road race circuit and the USATF Junior Olympic meets. She continued her winning ways winning three straight Class titles and three New Englands titles from 2003-2005. At the Open she won her sophomore…
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