Abby Williams Budzynski '98 was a two-sport star at Ripon College. A three-time All-Conference performer for the Red Hawks' cross country team, Budzynski also won three conference championships in track & field. She was inducted into Ripon's Athletics Hall of Fame in 2020.

"The one thing that stands out to me about Abby, besides being an awesome person, is that she was a tremendous competitor," former Ripon College Head Cross Country and Track & Field Head Coach Bob Duley said. "When the gun went off, it was like a switch was turned on."

Budzynski was a major contributor to the team from day one, finishing 10th at the 1994 Midwest Conference Cross Country Championships as a freshman to earn her first career All-Conference nod. That same season, Budzynski earned First Team All-State honors at the Wisconsin Private College Championships.

After failing to duplicate her All-Conference performance as a sophomore, Budzynski would again earn that distinction during each of her final two years, finishing fifth and seventh, respectively, at the conference meet as a junior and senior. She also earned Second Team All-State honors in each of those seasons.

Budzynski is one of just four student-athletes in program history to run a 5K under 19:15, as she finished a race in 19:14 during the 1995 season. That time still ranks as the 10th-best time in program history, 26 years later.

"Abby was fun to coach and even more fun to watch when she competed because she never gave less than her best effort," Duley said. "Abby set a high bar for her teammates to follow, and she definitely made both of our programs stronger."

On the track, Budzynski scored 375 points for her team during her four-year career, which ranked her in the top five in program history at the time of her graduation. Her biggest year came as a junior when she won a trio of conference championships across three different events. During the MWC Indoor Championships that year, Budzynski won both the 3000 and 5000 meters, establishing a new conference record in each event, both of which stood for a handful of years. She won the 3K with a time of 10:40.00, while finishing first in the 5K with a time of 18:32.37. Later that same year, Budzynski won the third and final conference championship of her career by finishing first in the 5000 meters at the 1997 MWC Outdoor Championships with a time of 18:48.04.

A Religion and Anthropology major from Downers Grove, Ill., Budzynski went on to earn her Master's Degree in Library and Information Studies from Dominican College. She currently resides in Lombard, Ill. with her husband Brian, and daughter Dorothea, while working at the Bloomingdale (Ill.) Public Library.


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