Cindy Sturm Menard

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Cindy grew up in an Air Force family.  She started running with her father when her 2 brothers were working on a Boy Scout Athletic Merit badge when she was in Junior high school.  When her father retired in the mid-70s, they initially located to Amherst, Mass.  She met Charlotte Lettis and Tom Derderian and learned a great deal from them about long distance training which did strengthen Cindy's running ability.  She joined the Sugarloaf Mountain Running Club and enjoyed many long distance training runs and road races with them.  Cindy went on to win the mile in the Western Mass. Track and Field championship her sophomore year at Amherst high school in 1976 with a time of 5:11.

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Her family relocated to Westfield for her last 2 years of high school  where she won the Western Mass. Cross Country championship both her junior and senior years in 1976 and 1977.  She also placed first in the mile both years in the Western Mass. Track and Field Championship in 1977 and 1978 with a time of 4:58 her junior year and was second in the State championship with a time of 5:08 behind future Olympian Lynn Jennings.  She was also a member of the Liberty Athletic Club.

Cindy accepted a scholarship from University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa in the fall of 1978.  She won the AIAW Regional Cross Country Championship both her freshman and sophomore year in 1978 and 1979.  In Track and Field  she finished 1st in the 3000 meters her freshman year in 10:20 at the AIAW State meet in Auburn in 1979.  During her sophomore year, she won the 10,000 meters in 38:47 at the AIAW State meet. 

Her last 2 years of college were at Westfield State University where she came in 11th at the Division III National Cross country championship in Seattle her junior year in 1980.  She was injured during the spring Track and field season in 1981 with a foot stress fracture.  Her senior year, she won the Division III National Cross country championship in Kenosha, Wisconsin in 1981.  She also won the 3000 meter race in 9:56, placed 2nd in the 1500 meter in 4:42 and 3rd in the 5000 meter in 17:23 at the Division III National Track and Field championship in Naperville, ILL in 1982. 

During her college years and after, she ran for the Greater Springfield Harriers as well as the Central Mass. Striders. Her personal best times were during 1981 and 1982: 3000 meters - 9:37, 1 mile - 4:54, 1500 meters - 4:38, 15K - 53:48,   10K - 34:50, 5000 meters - 16:56.

Cindy was inducted as a Charter member in the Westfield State University Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Hall of Fame in 2020.

Cindy and her husband Steven, have 2 sons, William and Mark.  She has been working for Konica Minolta Business Solutions for 42 years in the Information Technology department.  They split their time between their homes in Westfield and Westerly, RI.