Wisconsin’s Favor Goes Into The Record Book … Again

Can you name the most decorated female individual champion in NCAA Division I Track & Field history, combining the indoor and outdoor seasons? What if we told you that same woman never lost an NCAA final on the track in her illustrious career (She competed in NINE of them!)?

That would be none other than Suzy Favor of Wisconsin.

But we aren’t concerned with those four indoor titles today. Nor are we focused on the three outdoor crowns she captured as a freshman, sophomore and junior.

These particular moments happened 30 years ago when Favor recorded a series of firsts, some of which have yet to be matched in the long history of the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

When Favor won the 1500 in a collegiate record of 4:08.26, she became the first woman to win an event in this meet four times. Her time broke the meet record of 4:09.85 that she set as a freshman in 1987 – also a CR at the time – making her the first (and still only) woman to set multiple 1500 CRs in this meet.

Just one day earlier, Favor became the first collegiate woman to crack the two-minute barrier in the 800 during the collegiate season with a collegiate record of 1:59.11. Couple that with her victory the following day in the 1500 and she remains the only woman to complete the 800-1500 double in meet history.

Favor left a lasting impact on the collegiate record book. Her collegiate record in the 800 stood for 27 years until 2017 The Bowerman winner Raevyn Rogers bettered it by one-hundredth of a second (1:59.10 versus 1:59.11), while her all-time best in the 1500 spanned 13 years until 2003 when Lena Nilsson of UCLA lowered it to 4:07.69.