When a letter arrived in June from the University of Idaho Vandals Hall of Fame, Sherrie Crang Geiger and her husband Tom joked that it was probably a request for a donation.
Instead, the letter was about her contribution to Vandals sports. A national champion and Idaho record-holder in the 5,000 meters, Geiger was inducted on Sept. 12 into the Vandals Hall of Fame.
“It was a shock and an honor,” she said. “I was not expecting it at all.”
Geiger’s place in Idaho sports lore includes a record that stood for three decades and national championship. She competed in cross country and track and field between 1981 and 1985.
As Sherrie Crang, she did not win a state championship at Hudson’s Bay High School — her best finish at a state meet was second in the 2-mile. But in 1982, as a freshman at Idaho, she won the AIAW Division II national championship at 3,000 meters. That effort helped the Vandals finish second as a team.
The NCAA took on women’s sports in her sophomore year, and Geiger twice qualified for the NCAA Division I Track and Field Championships, running the 5,000 meters in 1983 and the 3,000 meters in 1984 at Eugene.
In the spring of 1983, Geiger broke three Idaho records. In a matter of weeks, she set new Vandals standards in the 1,500, the 3,000 and the 5,000, and was named Mountain West Conference athlete of the week three times.
At the 1983 University of Washington Husky Invitational, Geiger ran the 5,000 in 16 minutes, 10.53 seconds. It was one of the 10 fastest college 5,000-meter runs that season and it stood as a Vandals’ record until 2013 when Hannah Kiser broke it.
Geiger still ranks second all time at Idaho in the 3,000 (9:27.14), trailing only friend and teammate Patsy Sharples. And Geiger has the fifth-fastest Idaho time in the 1,500 (4:28.06).
Geiger was one of six individuals and two sets of teams inducted into the Vandals Hall of Fame. Among the group was Jake Scott, a walk-on at Idaho who went on to play nine seasons in the NFL and was a starting guard for the Colts 2006 Super Bowl champions.
In addition to the banquet, the inductees were recognized during the Vandals football game against Western Michigan.
Geiger’s path to college athletics started as a seventh-grader at Shumway Middle School.
She said encouragement from Clark County Running Club founder Bob Moser, from her father Richard Crang, and training runs with brother Mike paved the way for her college successes.
Now a health and fitness teacher at Skyridge Middle School in Camas, Geiger said competing in college taught her that goals are not achieved without persistent effort.
“Goals aren’t easily achieved. There are always challenges. If you give up right away, you’re going to give up a lot,” she said.
At Idaho, the challenges included training runs on snowy days on the road between Moscow and Pullman. Memories of those runs, and of the relationships with teammates and coaches, came flooding back during the Hall of Fame weekend, she said.
One of her most vivid memories is of running the 5,000 exhibition race during the 1984 Olympic Trials at the Los Angeles Coliseum.
She wasn’t a threat to the top runners, but was thrilled to race in front of the huge crowd and to be invited to run in an event that pre-dated the women’s 5,000 being added to the Olympic Games.
In her speech at the Hall of Fame banquet, Geiger credited Idaho coaches Roger Norris and Scott Lorek for their support and guidance.
Geiger was recruited by Washington, Oregon and other major universities, but said a full scholarship and the personalties of the coaches and athletes made Idaho her choice.
The Hall of Fame honor reflects the impact Geiger made while competing for the Vandals. It also reminded Geiger how being a student athlete challenged her to grow in different ways.
“This gave me a chance to reflect on all the things I got out of athletics,” she said.
