Cathy Easker (née Branta; born January 6, 1963) is a retired middle-distance and

long distance runner Long may refer to: Measurement * Long, characteristic of something of great duration * Long, characteristic of something of great length * Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate * Longa (music), note value in early music mensur ...

from

Slinger, Wisconsin Slinger (formerly Schleisingerville) is a village in Washington County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 5,992 at the 2020 census. Toponymy The village was originally known as Schleisingerville, after Baruch Schleisinger Weil, a me ...

, USA. After achieving Wisconsin state championship high school record times (for division 2 girls) in cross country in both 1979 and 1980, she competed in track and cross country for the Wisconsin Badgers. While at

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, Branta won the Broderick Award (now the

Honda Sports Award The Honda Sports Award is an annual award in the United States, given to the best collegiate female athlete in each of twelve sports. There are four nominees for each sport, and the twelve winners of the Honda Sports Award are automatically in th ...

) as the nation's best female collegiate cross country runner for the 1984–85 season. She won the gold medal at the 1985 Summer Universiade in

Kobe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

in the women's 3,000 metres event. She set the collegiate record in the 5,000 meters in a time of 15:07. Cathy won the 1984

USA Cross Country Championships The USA Cross Country Championships is the annual national championships for cross country running in the United States. The championships is generally held in mid-February and it serves as a way of designating the country's national champion, as ...

, qualifying her to the 1985 World Cross Country Championships, where she won the silver medal behind

Zola Budd Zola Budd (also known as Zola Pieterse; born 26 May 1966) is a South African middle-distance and long-distance runner. She competed at the 1984 Olympic Games for Great Britain and the 1992 Olympic Games for South Africa, both times in the 30 ...

, leading USA to the team gold medal. She also qualified to the 1984 World Championships on home soil at the

Meadowlands Racetrack The Meadowlands Racetrack (currently referred to as Meadowlands Racing & Entertainment) is a horse racing track at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, United States. The track hosts both thoroughbred racing and harness ...

East Rutherford, New Jersey East Rutherford is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the borough's population was 10,022, reflecting an increase of 1,109 (+12.4%) from the 8,913 counted in the 2010 census.

, where her 10th-place finish also had been a part of the USA's team gold medal. On October 5, 1985, she married John Easker of Wittenberg-Birnamwood, Wisconsin, who had won the state boys division 2 title in 1980 and also went on to have a successful running career at UW. They met there during their freshman year of university. John also qualified to the 1984 World Championships. His 28th-place finish contributed to the USA's team silver medal. In 1986, he won a separate "World Cross Country Championships Senior Men's Trials" in 1986, qualifying him to run in the

1986 IAAF World Cross Country Championships The 1986 IAAF World Cross Country Championships was held in Colombier, Neuchâtel, Switzerland, at the Planeyse Colombier on March 23, 1986. A report on the event was given in the Glasgow Herald and in the Evening Times. Complete results f ...

. His 10th-place finish contributed to the USA's team bronze medal. She currently coaches high school track and cross country, and teaches physical education and health in Wittenberg-Birnamwood, WI. She is married and has three children.

References

trackfield.brinkster

1963 births Living people People from Slinger, Wisconsin Track and field athletes from Wisconsin American female middle-distance runners American female long-distance runners American female cross country runners University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade gold medalists for the United States Big Ten Athlete of the Year winners 21st-century American women Wisconsin Badgers women's track and field athletes {{US-longdistance-athletics-bio-stub