Claudia joined the perennially successful cross country and track teams at Palatine High School and helped take both teams to another level. She came into high school with no previous running experience, but made quite an impact once she committed herself to both programs. After being on the swim team her freshman year, Claudia joined the cross country team her sophomore year and helped lead them to MSL, regional, sectional, and state championships. Claudia finished her high school cross country career as a part of three MSL championship teams, three regional and sectional championship teams, a state championship team and state runner-up team. Individually, Claudia qualified for the state meet in cross country all three years, finishing ninth her sophomore year, sixth her junior year, and fifth her senior year. Her success as a distance runner paid dividends in track as well. Claudia led her teams to three state trophies and set the school record in the 3,200-meter run her senior year. All of her accomplishments landed her Palatine High School’s Athlete of the Year award in 1994. After a successful collegiate career at Marquette University, Claudia recently qualified for the Olympic trials marathon after finishing 98th at the Boston Marathon this last April.