Melissa Sopher (2025)
A 2002 Slippery Rock Area High School graduate, Melissa Sopher was a four-year letter winner in track and field. Melissa specialized in the 100m and 300m hurdles, breaking school records multiple times. Melissa was a four-time County and District Champ and PIAA state qualifier. In both her junior and senior seasons, Melissa was a state champion in the 300m hurdles and 5th-place finisher in the 100m hurdles. Melissa also competed on relay teams and other individual sprints to varying degrees of success. Melissa still holds the District 10 AAA 300m hurdles record.
After high school, Melissa went on to compete for Slippery Rock University, earning four varsity letters in both indoor and outdoor track and field teams. Melissa was a member of the SRU Indoor PSAC Championships Teams of 2006-07 and 2007-08. Melissa was also part of record-setting relay teams that qualified for NCAA DII Nationals. In 2007, Melissa also qualified individually for Nationals in the 400m hurdles.
