Grinnell College Athletics

Nicole Cueno '02 joins the Hall of Fame because of her talent for running. This talent carried her through three seasons of cross country and four seasons of track. Cueno earned seven athletic letters - one for each season in which she competed. One of her favorite competition memories is winning the 1,500-meter at Outdoor Track Nationals. She describes the experience as "wondrously surreal," because the top four runners were so close, she won by .04 seconds. The next year, Cueno went to nationals again, this time taking second place in the 5k and 10k races. By graduation, she held 11 track records, eight of which still stand today, including her 1500m time. She also earned four All-American awards for her track and field performances. To date, she has run seven marathons, earning several cash prizes and one first-place triumph. Most recently, she competed in Grandma's Marathon in northern Minnesota, where she set a personal record of 2:52:42. Cueno spent two years with Teach
for America before moving on to graduate school. She is currently a graduate student in evaluation studies at the University of Minnesota. She is working on a proposal to evaluate the American Evaluation Association.