Interview: Erika Russ

Hoover's Erika Russ made a name for herself as a hurdler early on in high school, sweeping the 6A hurdle events as a freshman in 2001. After starting the year with a one-hundredth of a second win at the indoor championships in February over Central-Tuscaloosa's Judy Shepard (who now competes for UAB), Russ edged Shepard again in the 100mH finals at the state outdoor meet in May. Later that day she completed the hurdlers' triple crown with a win of more than half a second in the 300mH.

Russ stayed at the top of the field as a sophomore, again winning the 6A indoor 55mH and again running under 15.00 seconds in the 100mH and dipping into the mid-44's over the 300m distance in outdoor. After finishing fifth and third in the two hurdle races at state, however, it looked like she'd bounced back as strong as ever this past January.

She clocked 8.99 in the 55m hurdle prelims at the Early Bird Invitational, even faster than her state-winning time from 2001. Though she suffered a leg injury before getting to run finals and didn't get a chance to better that time until the state meet, she ran a personal-best time of 8.70 to win her third straight indoor 55m hurdle title.