BLANCA D’HOEDT-ERICKSON

Trinity High School
Slippery Rock University

Captured three WPIAL championships in 1978, winning what was then known as the 880-yard run, mile and two-mile races all in one day. That particular threesome of events had never been captured in the WPIAL finals by a female and hasn’t been duplicated since.

She was named MVP of the WPIAL Championships and helps Trinity claim the WPIAL team championship.

Blanca earned two medals in the 1978 PIAA meet, finishing third in the 880 and sixth in the miles. She ran all three races in the state event.

She was Trinity’s first female qualifier to the PIAA cross coun-try championships.

She suffered a high school, career-ending knee injury in a basketball game in 1979, denying her the chance to defend her WPIAL titles and gain a PIAA gold medal.

At Slippery rock, she was part of championship 3,200-meter relay team and individually qualified for the 800-meter run.

She was the NCAA Mideast regional cross country champion for Slippery Rock in 1982 and earned All-American honors at the national championship meet. He was a four-year letterman at Pitt where he played in four bowl games.

Jeff helped Pitt to a 39-6-1 record from 1980-83. He finished with 17 receptions and a touchdown.