1999-2000: Erica Palmer’s NCAA title shined spotlight on cross country in banner year
November 22, 2019 | Women's Cross Country, Andy Baggot
Former Badgers distance runner proud of program’s ongoing success
UWBadgers.com is looking back at Wisconsin Athletics' 1999-2000 season. Follow along throughout this year as we revisit this unheralded dream season for the Badgers.
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BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — Twenty years ago, she was known as Erica Palmer, a distance-running phenomenon for the Wisconsin women's cross country and track teams.
She came out of tiny Gilsum, New Hampshire, to assemble an extraordinary career with the Badgers from 1998 to 2000. Palmer is best known for winning the NCAA individual cross country title in 1999 and qualifying for the U.S. Olympic Trials in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters in 2000, but she also was a six-time All-American, a six-time Big Ten Conference champion and the first in league history to be named freshman of the year in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track.
Palmer's athletic career didn't end the way she hoped, but she looks back on 1999-2000 — arguably the greatest season in the history of Wisconsin athletics — with fondness.
The Badgers made some extraordinary headlines that school year. Ron Dayne won the Heisman Trophy. The football team claimed its second straight Big Ten title and Rose Bowl win. The men's basketball team advanced to the NCAA Final Four and the women's basketball team reigned as National Invitational Tournament champions. Meanwhile, the men's hockey team won the MacNaughton Cup as Western Collegiate Hockey Association titlist for just the third time in program history.
Palmer wedged her way onto that list in dramatic fashion, winning the NCAA championship race as a sophomore. Her personal-best time of 16 minutes, 39 seconds on the 5,000-meter Indiana University course in Bloomington, enabled Palmer to join Cathy Branta (1984) and Kathy Butler (1995) as national women's cross country champions from Wisconsin.
Palmer married Jared Cordes, a member of the UW men's cross country and track squads, in 2001. They now live on an expansive farm in Wabash, Indiana, where they're raising corn, soybeans, blackberries and strawberries, as well as their six children.
Palmer-Cordes remembers her signature triumph vividly. It was her 20th birthday. It was a sunny late autumn day. The conditions were perfect for doing something magical.
"That was an amazing day, an amazing season," Palmer-Cordes said.
"It was a great honor to win. It's still one of the best days of my entire life. That feeling of working really hard for something for years and years and then earning it is just an amazing feeling."
The performance probably didn't get the local acclaim it deserved, though.
"Because cross country is not a money-maker and not very popular, I was kind of overshadowed by football, which didn't bother me at all because it's not who I am," Palmer-Cordes said.
But the NCAA title brought Palmer-Cordes a good deal of national attention. She showed up in Sports Illustrated's "Faces in the Crowd" segment. She also was included in the magazine's feature on the 50 greatest athletes from each state; she was No. 25 for New Hampshire. She also heard her name mentioned as a future Olympian.
Palmer-Cordes is quite busy these days. In addition to overseeing six children — Michael is 18, Lena and Paul 17, Linda 16, Isiah 12 and Tessa 8 — she helps Jared with in the fields, manages two pick-your-own berry patches, serves as a social worker at a local elementary school and teaches a spin class at the local YWCA.
Palmer-Cordes said she remains in touch with two of her former teammates, Liz Reusser and Linsey Blaisdell, and was on hand for the NCAA championships staged last November in Madison. That's where Palmer-Cordes was pleased to see Alicia Monson finish fourth for the Badgers.
Monson is the reigning two-time Big Ten champion who's vying to become the first Wisconsin runner since Palmer-Cordes to win an NCAA crown.
Another honor for our five-time All American, Alicia Monson... 𝙉𝘾𝘼𝘼 𝙂𝙍𝙀𝘼𝙏 𝙇𝘼𝙆𝙀𝙎 𝙍𝙀𝙂𝙄𝙊𝙉𝘼𝙇 𝙒𝙊𝙈𝙀𝙉'𝙎 𝘼𝙏𝙃𝙇𝙀𝙏𝙀 𝙊𝙁 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙔𝙀𝘼𝙍 Defended her Nutty title ✔️ Defended her B1G title ✔️ Defended her Regional title ✔️ Earned a spot at NCAAs ✔️
— Wisconsin Track & Field (@BadgerTrackXC) November 19, 2019
Palmer-Cordes speaks wistfully — almost mournfully — about her current relationship with running. Her competitive career came to a painful, abrupt end in 2002 when she had her fourth surgery in a 13-month span. She left UW with a year of athletic eligibility remaining.
Both legs were affected by a severe case of compartment syndrome, whereby the thin layer of skin around her calf muscles stopped expanding like it's supposed to, creating a build-up of fluid, pressure and nerve damage.
None of the surgeries, five in all, were successful. The last four took place between June of 2001 and July of 2002. Palmer-Cordes doesn't know what caused the condition.
"It was devastating," she said. "I still very vividly remember my surgeon walking in after my last surgery and him saying, 'If I see you again, I will amputate.'"
Palmer-Cordes ran most of her biggest collegiate races in pain from the compartment condition. That includes the NCAA meet in 2000 when she placed third.
"I loved running. Loved it," she said. "To be at the level I was at you have to love it."
Palmer-Cordes uses that 5 a.m. spin class to stay fit.
"It's the only time I can get a workout in," she said with a laugh.
How does Palmer-Cordes fill the void of competitive running? Her search is ongoing.
"I don't think I'll ever find something I love as much as running," she said. "You just get pulled away. Time doesn't heal. It just allows you to forget."
