Valedictorian

Iatauro named Tri-Valley valedictorian

By RICHARD A. ROSS

GRAHAMSVILLE, NY — For most people who follow sports, Heather Iatauro is a well-known running icon who has garnered numerous accolades in cross-country, indoor and outdoor track.

A six-time consecutive winner of Section Nine’s cross-country championship and the first female runner in Section Nine history to break the five-minute mark in both indoor and outdoor track, Iatauro is also the Adidas Outdoor National Champion in the 2000 meter steeplechase.

This coming weekend she will be honored as one of the nation’s four recipients of the Verizon Youth Leadership scholarship award of $5,000, which will be presented at the Penn Relays by Craig Masback, the CEO of USA Track.

Iatauro is also number one in her graduating class and has been named Valedictorian by the administration of the Tri-Valley Secondary School. She has been on the Principal’s Honor Roll every marking period since fifth grade. She was awarded the Rensselaer Medal for Math and Science, the Bausch and Lomb Honorary Science Award, the Kodak Young Leaders of America Award and the New York State Sportsmanship Award.

In addition, Iatauro is a Wendy’s High School Heisman State Finalist and a Scholar Athlete Milk Mustache of the Year (SAMMY) 2004 Award Semifinalist.

She will be attending Princeton University in the fall, where she has been accepted into the engineering program.