Liz Natale, a 1982 graduate of Newton North and perhaps the most accomplished female distance runner in Newton history, will be inducted into the Newton North/Newton High Athletic Hall of Fame in ceremonies this Friday, Nov. 27, at 6:30 p.m. at the Sheraton Needham Hotel in Needham.
Thanks to Josh Seeherman for the following summary of Ms. Natale's H.S. and post-H.S. accomplishments:
Prior to her senior year at NNHS, Natale was several times a runner-up in Class A and State mile and two-mile races. As a sophomore, she ran 10:59 to take second in the outdoor state two-mile.
As a senior, Natale won the indoor and outdoor Class A titles in the mile, running 4:56.8 and 4:55.3, respectively. After her H.S. indoor season, Natale won the open New England championship, running 4:52, and then ran a 10:31.8 in the Eastern States Championship at Harvard, still a Newton record.
After graduation from NNHS, Natale ran first at Tennessee and then at Texas. At Texas, she was a six-time All-American in indoor track, outdoor track, and cross-country. In cross-country, she finished as high as 5th in the NCAA championship meet. In indoor track, she finished 3rd and 4th in the 3000m indoors, and was NCAA runner-up in the 3000 outdoors. At her indoor conference meet in 1986, she won both the mile (4:50.94) and two-mile (10:05.31). Her all-time bests include times of 4:15.68 for 1500 (still a Texas record), 9:01.34 for 3000, and 15:55.9 for 5000m. She also ran on the 4x800 relay team that ran 8:27.90, a record that still stands 23 years later.
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5 comments:
Wow, I had no idea that she was that fast, very very impressive!
- Tom
Liz was a great runner, of course, who lived in the NS district when I was the girl's coach at South. She decided to go to North(choice allowed)because her brother before her had some problems at South. She lived near me and I used to run with her in the summer many days. She always wanted to go 10 miles and I would keep up with her while pretending it wasn't killing me.
Liz was a contemporary of mine in HS and my father coached her at NN. She went for soccer then transfered to XC after a couple of weeks. Her team that year went on to finish 2nd at All States. the trophy is still in the Glennon homestead. Our senior years we had a bet who would run faster at EMASS - I think ran 17:15.I still owe her a dinner.
Her sister was the best player on my little league baseball team!
You can buy me dinner any time, Mike.
Liz was fast... at avoiding guys. Cannot recall how many times she turned us BRRC guys down. Well, except maybe Dave Dial.
Surprising that she was only recently put into the NNHS Hall of Fame. Shoulda happened yearrrrs ago!
How is life up there, Jon?
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