Forty years later, four-time national champion sprinter Nancy Cisar Nelson is still bringing home honors for the Central College women’s track and field squad.

Nelson, a 1984 graduate, is being inducted into the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association NCAA Division III Athlete Hall of Fame. She’s among six former athletes who will be recognized at Wednesday’s Division III Championships banquet at St. John Fisher College in Pittsford, New York where this year’s championships will be staged Thursday through Saturday. She is the first Central athlete ever selected.

Nelson, who turned down Division I offers to attend Central, was a key cog in a women’s track and field dynasty at Central in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She was a sophomore when the first NCAA Division III women’s championship meet was conducted in Naperville, Illinois in 1982. The Dutch dominated the field, racking up 151 points and posting a 55-point victory margin.

In 1982 and 1983 she ran the second leg of Division III champion 4×100-meter relay units, then swept the 200- and 400-meter championships in 1984, leading the Dutch to a second-place team finish after helping Central place fourth nationally in 1981 and 1983. Her four individual national crowns are the most ever by a Central athlete. Nelson earned all-America distinction 12 times and was a 16-time national place winner.

Following graduation, Nelson served as assistant women’s track and field coach for six seasons at Central and as head volleyball coach for four years, including the 1988 Iowa Conference championship campaign. She also was Central’s director of the Educational Talent Search program, part of the federal TRIO program on campus after previously serving as an admission counselor. Nelson earned a master’s degree at Drake University, then received a doctoral degree in educational policy and leadership studies at the University of Iowa in 2009. She left Central in 2006 to serve as GEAR UP director with the Des Moines Public Schools. In 2013, she took on a position as director of pre-college TRIO programs at Indian Hills Community College, before retiring in 2019. She now lives in Norwalk, Iowa.

Athletic Director Eric Van Kley said that an on-campus recognition of Nelson’s induction will be staged sometime this fall.