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WVU Sports Hall of Fame

Clara (Grandt) Santucci
Inducted: 2020
Written by Bryan Messerly

High School: Four-time all-state cross country runner for Coach Craig Kellar at Doddrige County High … captained 2004 AA-A state champion cross country team … member of three-time state track champion team … holds state single A record in the 1600-meter and 3200-meter … placed at the West Virginia state track meet all four years of high school

Collegiate:
Won the 2006 WVU Open in her first race with the cross country team … opened 2007 season with a win in the mile run at the Holiday Classic …helped WVU win the 2007 Big East Championships by finishing eighth … finished seventh in the 5,000-meter and fifth in the 10,000-meter in the 2007 Big East Championships … was the second WVU finisher in sixth place at the 2007 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional … made first trip to outdoor NCAA Regional Championship in 2007 and finished 14th in the 5,000-meter run … set an indoor school record as part of the 4x1 mile relay team that took first place at the Penn State Relays in 2008 … named to USA Cross Country team in 2008 and took first place at the NCAC … set a new meet record in the 10K at 2008 ECAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships … took eighth place with a time of 28:22 at the 2008 United States World Cross Country Trials … set the WVU record in the 10,000-meters in 2009 with a time of 33:16.96 … won the 2009 Big East Championship in the 5,000-meter run (16:07.55) … became WVU’s 24th track and field All-American as she earned the honors with a fourth-place showing in the 10,000-meter finals at the NCAA Championships in 2009 … led the team to a sixth-place finish at the 2009 NCAA Cross Country Championships … won the 2010 Big East Championship in the 10,000-meter (33:31.80) … ranks No. 2 in the 5,000-meters in all-time indoor performances after posting a 16:04.24 time in 2010 … finished in first place (34:29) in the 10K at the 2010 NCAA Regionals in Greensboro, N.C. …

Sports Awards/Honors: Four-time All-America honoree … three-time all-region honoree … recognized with All-America honors twice during her senior year … 2008 USTFCCCA All-East region team … 2007 All-Big East and All-Mid-Atlantic Region … 2008 Mid-Atlantic All-Region team … 2008 All-Big East women’s team … 2009 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Region Track Athlete of the Year

Professional: Ran in the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials where she placed seventh and served as the alternate for the U.S. team that year … two-time Pittsburgh Marathon champion (2014 and 2015) … in 2014 she became first American woman to win the Pittsburgh Marathon since 2009 … member of the U.S. Half-Marathon Championships team in 2014 … competed at the 2016 U.S Olympic Trials in which she was ranked No. 13 of the 246 women in the marathon field

Personal: Married Jason Santucci in 2012 … currently serves as a graduate assistant for the WVU track and cross country teams … majored in exercise physiology at WVU …

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