Hall of Fame
Erica Hess-Gross is the most accomplished 400-meter runner in SU Women’s Track & Field history. A six-time NCAA qualifier and six-time PSAC champion in the 400 meters, Hess-Gross is the only woman in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) history to win three or more PSAC Championships in the indoor 400 meters and one of just three women in PSAC history (and the only Raider) to win at least three PSAC Championships in the outdoor 400 meters.
Overall, Hess-Gross was a 14-time PSAC individual place winner (seven times indoors and seven times outdoors – three times indoors and outdoors in the 200, four times indoors and outdoors in the 400), an 8-time All-PSAC finisher (all eight of her 400-meter runs at PSACs) and a six-time PSAC champion (three times indoors and outdoors in the 400). She has won the second-most PSAC Championships of any women’s sprinter in school history.
In addition to qualifying six times individually for the NCAA Championships, Hess-Gross twice won All-America honors with the 4x400-meter relay (doing so as a freshman and sophomore). SU’s 2008 4x400-meter relay was the first PSAC relay squad to ever earn All-America honors at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Her outdoor 400-meter personal best – 54.70 seconds at the 2010 NCAA Championships as a junior – remains SU’s school record to this day. Meanwhile, her indoor 400-meter personal best – 56.33 seconds at the 2011 PSAC Championships as a senior – stood as a school record for three seasons and to this day still holds the No. 2 spot in school history. The performance also remains the PSAC Indoor Championships meet record to this day. Additionally, her indoor 200-meter personal best of 25.54/25.94 as a senior in 2011 was second in school history at the time of her graduation and is still 10th-best all-time at SU.
Hess-Gross graduated magna cum laude in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in biology (health professional concentration). She was a three-time CoSIDA Academic All-District award winner who compiled a 3.695 cumulative GPA.
Professionally, Hess-Gross later earned her doctorate of optometry from Salus University and now works as an optometrist in East Greenville. She is also an author of more than 30 books.
