By Roy Church

It was only a matter of time.

Unfortunately, it took 23 years.

But it will happen this September.

Erica (Palmer) Cordes will be inducted into the University of Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame on Sept. 9 along with 10 other inductees. Then, the next day they will be highlighted at a home football game against Washington State.

In announcing the Class of 2022 last week, Director of Athletics Chris McIntosh said, “The UW Athletic Hall of Fame is one of the highest honors we can bestow upon our athletes, staff and supporters and this announcement is worthy of celebrating.

“These 11 represent the best of the Badgers and their contributions go far beyond their athletic successes.”

In a brief biography that was included in the press release from the university, it said “Palmer’s dominance in women’s cross country as well as track and field led her to be named the 1999-2000 Wisconsin Female Athlete of the Year.

“A four-year contributor, Palmer was a two-time Big Ten Cross Country Athlete of the Year and a four-time All-American. She helped guide Wisconsin to three Big Ten (XC) titles (‘98, ‘99 and 2000) and was a (NCAA) cross country champion in 1999.”

That’s an understatement. Competing in Bloomington, sophomore Erica Palmer won the 1999 NCAA Women’s Cross Country championship. A week earlier at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, she won the Great Lakes regional crown in a (5K) course record time of 16:52.2.

Erica Palmer, an outstanding high school runner from New Hampshire, is now the wife of Jared Cordes, the former Northfield standout who also competed for Wisconsin. In addition to his accomplishments for the Norsemen and Badgers, he represented the United States at two world championships and is a member of the Indiana Association of Track and Cross Country Coaches Hall of Fame.

In high school, Palmer broke onto the national scene as a junior. She was a two-time state champion in cross country (‘96 and ‘97), a two-time state indoor champ at 3,000 meters and a two-time outdoor champion in the two-mile event. She set a state record as a junior and recorded the fastest high school time in the nation a year later in the latter event.

Her career continued at Wisconsin:

Big Ten Freshman Athlete of the Year in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track. First time one athlete has won the title in three events

1999-2000 Wisconsin Female Athlete of the Year

Two-time NCAA All-American in cross country

1999 and 2000 Big Ten cross country champion

1999 and 2000 Big Ten Cross Country Athlete of the Year

Aided Wisconsin to three Big Ten titles and three top-10 NCAA finishes (5th in ‘98, 4th in ‘99 and 8th in 2000)

Three-time All-BigTen in cross country and four-time Big Ten champion in track

Four time NCAA All-American in track

Two-time Academic All-Big Ten in both cross country and track
2000-2001 CoSIDA Second Team Academic All-American

2000 and 2001 CoSIDA Academic All-District Team

Was the top collegiate runner at 10,000 meters at the 2000 U.S. Olympic Team Trials.

After winning the 1999 NCAA title, Palmer ran injured her junior year and finished third. Diagnosed with a calf injury and four surgeries later, her running career came to an end.

“It ended too early,” she said. “Time allows you to forget, but not to heal. At 21, I thought I lost my whole life. I love running.”

The Cordeses are co-owners of the Cordes Berry Farm, opened in 2012 and located northeast of Roann. They raise strawberries and blackberries.

They moved from Wabash to the Cordes homestead/farm in July of last year when Jared took over operation of the family farm.

Jared and Erica married in December of 2001. Jared had graduated that year and Erica graduated in 2002. They have six children.

In 2008, they adopted four children – Michael, now 20 and in the U.S. Marine Corps; twins Paul and Lena, 19 and attending Purdue and Ball State, respectively, and Linda, 19 and starting at Indiana University this fall. All graduated from Wabash High School.
Isaiah, 15, will be a freshman this year at Wabash and runs cross country and track. He was runner-up in the 2021 Wabash County and Running Rivers Conference middle school cross country meets and won the 1600-meter event at this year’s county and RRC eighth grade track meets. Tesa, 10, will be a fifth grader this fall at Wabash Middle School and is looking forward to running cross country.

By Joseph Slacian
jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com

Three additional Norfolk Southern railroad crossings will be closed once the East Street overpass is complete. With the addition of East Street, four crossings in total will be closed.

By Amanda Redman
aredman@thepaperofwabash.com

Wabash City Schools board of trustees approved several staff changes during a board meeting May 22.
Bryant Miller will be the new Wabash High School science teacher beginning the 2023-2024 school year, following board approval.

By Amanda Redman

aredman@thepaperofwabash.com

No one fights alone.

David “Stick” Munford has beaten cancer but in the process he lost a lot of time on his job as maintenance manager at Paperworks.