Every day this week one of the seven members of the University of Wisconsin Athletics Hall of Fame class of 2009 will be celebrated. The Hall of Fame induction is Friday, Sept. 4 outside the Camp Randall Memorial Sports Center. The 6 p.m. ceremony is open to the public. Today's celebrant is track and field and cross country champion Clare Eichner.

Few athletes can claim the amount of success in an entire career that Clare Eichner earned in her senior season for the University of Wisconsin track and field team.

The Wauwatosa, Wis., native put an impressive cap on her collegiate career by laying claim to four individual NCAA championships in 1993, taking the mile and 3,000 meters crowns at the national indoor meet and then sweeping the titles in the 1,500 and 3,000 meters at the NCAA outdoor championships.

Those impressive individual performances also led the way for the Badgers to national runner-up finishes as a team at both the NCAA indoor and outdoor meets.

Eichner also won four Big Ten Conference championships in the 1993 season, taking top honors twice indoors and twice at the league's outdoor meet. Her titles came in the same four events Eichner would go on to claim in NCAA competition, as well.

Those performances earned Eichner the UW Female Athlete of the Year award for 1993, and she went on to win the 3,000 meters at the World University Games following the collegiate season.

Eichner finished her career as a seven-time All-American and a 10-time Big Ten champion between cross country and track, and she finished first or second in Big Ten competition a total of 13 times.

Amazingly, Eichner swept the Big Ten titles in the outdoor 1,500 meters and 3,000 meters in each of her final three seasons (1991-93), and she had a hand in five Big Ten team championships won by the Badgers during her career.

The members of the class of 2009 include Heisman Trophy winner Ron Dayne (1996-99); NFL lineman Joe Panos (1991-93); All-American runner Claire Eichner (1988-92); basketball player Robin Threatt (1988-93), and in the heritage category, baseball player Thornton Kipper (1946-50). Coach/administrator Bill Reddan (first soccer coach 1977-81 and club coach 13 years) and Mendota Gridiron Executive Director Wayne Esser in the special category are also to be inducted.

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