History of Women in Sports Timeline

"I really enjoyed it - until 24 miles."

- American Marla Runyan on her 5th place finish at the NYC Marathon, the 10th best time ever for an American women running a marathon. Runyan, 33, is legal blind; this was her first ever marathon.

• 2002 - Kenyan Margaret Okayo wins the Boston Marathon in a course-record time of 2:20:43, just ahead of second place finisher Catherine Ndereba, who has won the last two races.

• 2002 - The United States Professional Volleyball names St. Louis Quest middle blocker Benishe Roberts (Long Beach State University) as the Most Valuable Player for its inaugural 2002 season. Chicago Thunder outside hitter Kristee Porter is the 2002 Offensive Player Of The Year.

• 2002 - Juli Inkster wins the Chick-Fil-A Championship.

• 2002 - Belgium's Kim Clijsters wins her seventh career title by upsetting top seed Venus Williams in the Betty Barclay Cup with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory.

• 2002 - The Minnesota Chill defeat the Chicago Thunder to win the first US Pro Volleyball championship with a best-of-5 series 3-1.

• 2002 - Annika Sorenstam wins her third LPGA Tour win of the season with the Electrolux USA Championship by one stroke over Pat Hurst.

• 2002 - Stanford beats rival UCLA in the NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship 8-4 to earn the 2002 NCAA crown. Loyola Marymount wins third place over Michigan, 6-4.

• 2002 - The West Chester University women's lacrosse team wins the 2002 NCAA Division II National Championship with an 11-6 win over Stonehill (MA) College.

• 2002 - Serena Williams wins the Italian Open, defeating Justine Henin 7-6 (6), 6-4.

• 2002 - The Florida Southern Lady Mocs win the 2002 NCAA Division II Women's Golf Championship, setting a new tournament record low score of 1,234.

• 2002 - Lansing Community College wins the 2002 NJCAA Division II National Softball Championships.

• 2002 - Scotland's Janice Moodie wins her second career title with the Asahi Championship With a 15-under 273 score.

• 2002 - A group of five American women come within 285 feet of the summit of Mount Everest in their quest to become the first all-woman team to climb the 29,035-foot peak. The five incuded 58-year old grandother Nidge Cross, a breat cancer survivor, Alison Levine, 36, who has had two heart operations, and Lynn Prebble, Jody Thompson, and Kim Clark.

• 2002 - Stanford University's women tennis (27-1) wins its second straight national championship with a 4-1 victory over Florida (24-2) in the 2002 Women's Tennis Team Championships. It is Stanford's 12th NCAA Team Championship in the 22-year history of the event.

• 2002 - Williams College wins the NCAA D-II tennis championship, becoming the first Division III team to win back-to-back titles.

• 2002 - Princeton wins its second women's Division I lacrosse championship in a 12-7 game with Georgetown. Middlebury College earns the NCAA Division III Women's Lacrosse Championship in a 12-6 victory over The College of New Jersey

• 2002 - In NCAA softball, the St. Mary's (TX) University softball team (58-1) captures the 2002 Division II Softball National Championship with a 4-0 victory over Grand Valley (MI) State (49-12-1). Ithaca College (NY) (37-13 ) wins its first ever NCAA softball championship in the Division III title game with Lake Forest (34-12) with a 1-0 win. Oklahoma City University (57-10) defeats Point Loma Nazarene University (Cal.) (58-10) 2-1 for their third consecutive and seventh overall NAIA softball title. Oklahoma City's Lindsey Voss is the NAIA Pitcher of the Year

• 2002 The California Golden Bears (56-19) win their first-ever women's NCAA championship, 6-0 over Arizona (55-12), at the Women's College World Series. Cal senior pitcher Jocelyn Forest is the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, allowing just one hit and striking out eight.

• 2002 - 45-year old Martina Navratilova becomes the oldest player to win a tour title when she and doubles partner Natasha Zvereva win at the Madrid Open. Navratilova, who retired in 1994 with a record 167 singles titles, returned to the tour to play doubles in 2000.

• 1987 - Lynne Cox swims1.2 miles in the frigid waters off of Antarctica.

• 2002 - Annika Sorenstam wins the inaugural Kellogg-Keebler Classic with a 21 under par for an 11 stroke victory.

• 2002 - In the first-ever PWBA Women's Collegiate/Pro Doubles Challenge, Kendra Gaines, Sebring, FL and Melissa Brownie, Chester, VA defeating Michelle Feldman, Skaneateles, NY and April Ellis, Jackson, TN with a score of 214-196.

• 2002 - The University of California-Davis Aggies wins both the First and Second Varsity Eight events at the NCAA rowing titles.

• 2002 - Two British women, Caroline Hamilton, 35, and Ann Daniels, a 37-year old mother of triplets, become the first all-female team to make it to both the North and South Poles. Their 750-mile journey to the North Pole took 81 days.

• 2002 - In the latest sibling tennis match, Serena Williams tops her old sister Venus 7-5, 6-3 at the French Open for her second Grand Slam title. Fulfilling their father's prediction, the sisters are at the top of tennis world, with Venus ranked No. 1 and Serena No. 2. They are the first siblings to hold the two top spots.

• 2002 - Sandra Day O'Connor becomes the first US Supreme Court Justice to be inducted into the Cowgirl Hall of Fame. She grew up on a Western ranch and wrote a book, Lazy B, with H. Alan Day, about her childhood experiences.

• 2002 - 24 year old Se Ri Pak wins the LPGA Championship to becomes the youngest player in LPGA history to win four major championships

• 2002- Annika Sorenstam, 31, wins the LPGA Evian Masters with a 19-under-par 269, her fifth title of the season.

• 2002 - Karrie Webb earns the 27th victory of her career with a come from behind rally in the final round of the Rochester International to beat Mi Hyun Kim by a stroke. The prize money of $180,000 pushed her career earnings past the $8 million mark, second only to that of Annika Sorenstan.

• 2002 - Sweden's Annika Sorenstam wins her sixth tournamenmt of the year at the ShopRite LPGA Classic with a 54-hole score of 12-under 201.

• 2002 - Serena Williams defeats older sister Venus for the 2002 women's singles crown at Wimbledon in 7-6, 6-3 sets. In addition to the win, she takes over as the number one women's player in the world (Venus slips to No. 2). The sisters win in the doubles final, beating Paola Suarez and Ruano Pascual 7-2, 7-5.

• 2002 - 42-year old Julie Inkster captures her second US Women's Open with a 2-stroke defeat of Annika Sorenstam. Inkster becomes the second oldest woman to win the title (Babe Zaharia won in 1954 at 43) and her 4-under 66 score matched the best final round ever shot by a Women's Open champion. Her prize of $535,000 is the largest in women's golf.

• 2002 - Lisa Leslie wins her third WNBA All-Star MVP trophy, scoring 18 points, as the West beats the East in an 81-76 victory. Leslie had an All-Star game-record 14 rebounds and blocked four shots in the sold-out MCI Center in Washington, which averages 15,280 fans a game.

• 2002 - In-Bee Park becomes the second-youngest U.S. Girls' Junior Golf Championship at 14 years, 15 days.

• 2002 - South Koreans Gloria Park and Hee-Won Han earn the number one and two slots at the LPGA Big Apple Classic. Park is in her third year on tour and Han was the rookie of the year in 2001.

• 2002 - Venus Williams defeats Kim Clijsters 6-3, 6-3 to win her fifth title at the Bank of the West Classic.

• 2002 - Lisa Leslie, 6 foot, 5 inches, becomes the first woman to dunk in a professional basketball game at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

• 2002- 22-year-old Venus Williams wins her third straight Acura Classic title, winning her sixth championship of the season; her only losses have come against her sister Serena in the finals of the French Open and Wimbledon.

• 2002 - 27-year-old Karrie Webb earns her third Women's British Open, the first player to win the title three times. Webb also becomes the first to win the LPGA's Super Slam of five majors (with the British Open, the du Maurier, the the Nabisco Championship, the U.S. Open, and the LPGA Championship).

• 2002 - Chanda Rubin beats Lindsay Davenport 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-3 to win the JPMorgan Chase Open, defeating Serena Williams and Jelena Dokic on her way to the finals.

• 2002 - Meg Mallon wins the Canadian Women's Open for $180,000, her 14th career victory and 10th come from behind win.

• 2002 - Sheryl Swoopes, the Houston Comets forward, is selected the WNBA's Most Valuable Player for the second time in three years.

• 2002 - 26-year-old Marinette Pichon of the Philadelphia Charge is named Most Valuable Player by the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA), also winning Offensive Player of the Year honors.

• 2002 - in the Founders Cup II, the WUSA championship game, the Carolina Courage defeat the Washington Freedom 3-2, capping a worst-to-first season that saw them in last place at the end of Season One. Danielle Fotopoulos, Hege Riise and Birgit Prinz score for the Courage; Mia Hamm and a Carolina own goal tallied for the Freedom. Birgit Prinz wins MVP honors.

• 2002 - Venus Williams earns $93,000 and her fourth consecutive Pilot Pen hardcourt tournament title, beating Lindsay Davenport 7-5, 6-0. She becomes just the ninth woman in the Open Era (since 1968) to capture the same title four consecutive years.

• 2002 - Korea's Se Ri Pak, 24, sets a new tournament-record with 21-under par in the Betsy King Classic, winning $180,000 in her third victory of the LPGA season. Pak also has the best 72-hole score on the Tour this year, topping Annika Sorenstam's 19-under set in the Evian Masters.

• 2002 - 21-year old Sarah Fisher, in her fourth season in the Indy Racing League, becomes the fist woman to win the pole position in a major auto race in the qualifier for the Belterra Casino, where she set a track record of 221.390 miles per hour.

• 2002 - In a close game, the Los Angeles Sparks (31-7) retain their WNBA title in a 69-66 win over the New York Liberty. Lisa Leslie scored 17 points and was selected the most valuable player of the finals for the second year in a row.

• 2002 - In another all-Williams final, Serena defeats Venus, the two-time defending champion, 6-4, 6-3 to win the US Open women's championship, for her third straight win in a Grand Slam of the year over her sister. The win ensures Serenewill keep her No. 1 world ranking. Serena becomes only the sixth player to win three straight Grand Slams in one year, first since Steffi Graf won the same three titles in 1996.

• 2002 - Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suarez win the US Open the women's doubles championship, beating Elena Dementieva and Janette Husarova 6-2, 6-1.

• 2002 - Annika Sorenstam wins the Williams Championship, her seventh LPGA Tour title and ninth worldwide event of the year, earning $150,000 for a season total of $2,061,991 in 16 events.

• 2002 - International soccer scoring leader Mia Hamm nets her 10th career hat trick (and gathers 3 assists) in an 8-2 exhibition game between Team USA and Scotland in Columbus, Ohio. Hamm's total now stands at 133 goals. USA team member Abby Wamback also scored a hat trick 3 goals (giving her a career total of 4 international goals).

• 2002 - Annika Sorenstam wins the Safeway Classic, earning $150,000 and breaking her own single-season tour record with $2,211,991 in 17 events. (She set the record last year in 26 events with $2,105,868 in earnings.)

• 2002 - The United States team come from behind to defeat Europe 15 1/2-12 1/2 to win the Solheim Cup of women's golf.

• 2002 - In the inaugural WUSA All-Star game, the South beat the North 6-1, with rookie of the year Abby Wambach scoring two goals and an assist to earn MVP honors.

• 2002 - Serena Williams, the world's No. 1 player, beats Kim Clijsters 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 to win the Toyota Princess Cup.

• 2002 - Suzy Whaley qualifies for the PGA's Greater Hartford Opento be held in July 2003.

• 2002 - The US beats Russia 79-74 in the final of the Women's World Basketball Championships for their fourth gold medal in five championships. Shannon Johnson is selected as the world championship team MVP. Since 1953, when the world championships were first played, the US women's teams have won seven gold medals, one silver and one bronze.

• 2002 - Serena Williams adds the 19th victory of her career with the Sparkassen Cup, beating Russia's Anastasia Myskina 6-3, 6-2.

• 2002 - Annika Sorenstam breaks her own one-season record with her ninth tournament win in the Samsung World Championship for a one-season LPGA record of $2,374,000 in earnings.

• 2002 - Team USA wins its eight straight US Cup, defeating Italy 4-0, going 24-0-0 in the tournament and out-scoring opponents 112-10. Kristine Lilly, Heather O'Reilly, Joy Fawcett and Brandi Chastain score for Team USA in the final game.

• 2002 - In just her second marathon, Britian's Paula Radcliffe sets a new world's record at the Chicago Marathon in 2:17:18, 18 seconds faster than the old mark.

• 2002 - Natalie Coughlin sets a new world's recod in the 100-meter backstroke, finishing in 59:58 secomds at the US National Swimming Championships. She is the first American omwna to hold the records since Catherine Ferguson in 1966

• 2002 - Se Ri Pak defends her Mobile LPGA title with a tournament record 20-under par for her fourth victory of the year.

• 2002 - Kenya's Joyce Chepchumba wins the women's New York City Marathon in 2:25:56, Lyubov Denisova of Russia came in second just 21 seconds behind, with Olivera Jetviz of Yugoslavia third. Kenyan Esther Kiplagat was fourth and American Marla Runyan, who is legally blind and running her first marathon, came in fifth with a time of 2:28:10. Runyan's time is the 10th fastest ever for an American woman running a marathon.

• 2002 - Team USA's Mia Hamm scores (136 goals in 228 international appearances) in overtime to give her team a 2-1 victory over Canada for the CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup title. Both teams qualify for next year's World Cup in China. Mexico beats Costa Rica 4-1 for third-place game in the tournament.

• 2002 - Annika Sorenstam becomes the first LPGA player in 34 years to win 10 times in one season, defending her title in the Mizuno Classic. The Swedish star is the first player to win 10 times in a season since Kathy Whitworth and Carol Mann both accomplished the feat in 1968. Mickey Wright reached double figures four times, setting the record with 13 victories in 1963 and winning 11 times in 1964. The 32-year-old Swede earns $169,500 for her 41st career LPGA Tour victory to push her record total to $2,648,904, with one championship left in the 2002 season.

• 2002 - Wake Forest wins their first ever feild hockey Division I championship in a 2-0 decision over Penn State. Kelly Doton, the ACC player fo the year, and Heather Aughinbaugh score for Wake Forest.

• 2002 - Annika Sorenstam wins her 11th LPGA tournament of the year at the ADT Championship. Her $215,000 prize money pushes her over the $11 million mark in career earnings, the first woman to earn that much in golf.

• 2002 - Christine Sinclair scores both goals in Portland's first national title with a 2-1 OT victory over Santa Clara in the NCAA Women's College Cup. She scored 10 goals in the tournament and is named the College Cup's most valuable offensive player.

• 2002 - Mia Hamm wins FIFA's player of the year award for the second straight year. Hamm is the top scorer in the history of the US national team; she is the only winner of the award which is in its second year.

• 2002 - Katie Hnide becomes the first woman to play in a D-I-A football game when she attempts an extra point in the Las Vegas Bowl.

• 2002 - Serena Williams is named the AP's Female Athlete of the Year for 2002 with 53 first-place votes and 351 overall points from voting among AP members newspapers and boradcasters across the country. Willaims won three of four Grand Slam titles and 56 of 61 matches overall.