Bio

Lisa Melendez entered the highly successful women’s track & field program at UW-Oshkosh by trying to be good at a sport she wasn’t great at.

This is a bold statement, considering Melendez won back-to-back NCAA Division III outdoor track & field titles in the 400-meter run and contributed to eight UW-Oshkosh conference and national team championships in 1995 and 1996.

Melendez stepped onto a track for the first time at age 20. Previous to her track & field experience at UW-Oshkosh, Melendez’s athletic achievements were on the basketball court, where she played guard and was a member of the University of Miami’s (Fla.) women’s basketball team that won the 1992 Big East title and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Division I Championship.

National championship titles weren’t the only awards earned by Melendez during her two-year career in track and field at UW-Oshkosh. The Pompano Beach, Fla., native also accrued 10 All-America titles, eight WIAC titles and helped break the 400-meter relay school record with a time of 47.53 in 1996. She once held five records at one time, including the outdoor 400-meter run mark that remained for 10 years.

Within the first few months of her track & field career in 1995, Melendez took home indoor All-America honors in the 55-meter dash and 1,600-meter relay. The rookie also claimed the conference indoor title in the 200-meter dash. She then went on to become an outdoor national champion in the 400-meter run while earning All-America accolades in the 200-meter dash and the 1,600-meter relay. At the 1995 WIAC Outdoor Championship, Melendez obtained first-place medal in the 1,600-meter relay.

Melendez’s second year of track and field, in 1996, proved to be as successful as her rookie showing.  Melendez raced to a third-place finish in the 400-meter run at the NCAA Division III Indoor Championship while taking home first-place trophies in the 400-meter run and the 800-meter relay at the WIAC Indoor Championship.

The 1996 outdoor season featured a national title in the 400-meter run and All-America awards in the 200-meter dash, 400-meter relay and 1,600-meter relay. In the conference, Melendez was a part of first-place finishes in the 400-meter run, 400-meter relay, 800-meter medley relay and 1,600-meter relay.

Since graduating from UW-Oshkosh in 1997, Melendez has taught biology and chemistry while coaching girls basketball and track & field in the Appleton Area School District. She also earned her master’s degree in microbiology from UW-Oshkosh in 2003, and has served as an accountant, project coordinator and vice president for Steel Homes by Design, LLC.

Currently, Melendez is an IT Manager and Consultant for Appleton Lathing Corporation, the freshman girls volleyball coach at Hortonville High School and an active member in the Appleton Alliance Church.

Melendez lives in Fremont with her husband, Tim Van Wyk, and their children, Peter and Nicole.