Girls #5IAAF Score: 1,055 points
Perhaps the first thing to know about Sandra Myers is that she went undefeated at the State meet during the four years she competed in the 100, 200, 400, and long jump.
Or maybe it's that she led Cal State Northridge to the NCAA team title in 1980 by winning two individual NCAA titles at 400 and 400H...as a freshman. And that she broke the American Record at 400H later that year by running 56.4.
Or maybe it's that she went on to compete in the 1988 Seoul Olympics and 1996 Atlanta Olympics and was the silver medalist at 400 in the 1991 World Indoor Championships (running 50.99 on an indoor track) and the bronze medalist at 400 in the 1991 World Outdoor Championships, running 49.76. You read that right: forty-nine point seventy-six seconds. As in less than 50.
And, oh yeah, she set the state record in the long jump, the record that is #5 on this countdown. For good measure, she's also 9th on the Kansas 400m all-time at 55.3.
Pick any of the above. You get the idea: Little River, Kansas produced one of the biggest, baddest athletes in the world on the track. Period.
In 1986, Myers married Spaniard Javier Echarri, obtained her Spanish citizenship a year later, and went on to represent Spain in those Olympics and World Championships. She still resides in Spain today and teaches at Conservatorio Superior de Música de Navarra.