Lori Stich Obluda

Class of 1991: Taking on the world

Her biggest take-away from Ripon College was “learning not to be intimidated by perceptions of what I (or anyone else) can and can’t do or have ever done before — learning not to be limited by the impossible,” said Lori Stich. Graduating in three years with three majors and conference championships in two intercollegiate sports was just the beginning.

She was born May 1, 1970, in Little Falls, Minnesota, and grew up in west Michigan. She had a triple major in English, music (classical piano performance) and politics and government. She participated in Phi Beta Kappa, Alpha Delta Pi/Pi Tau Pi, Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Orchestra, Chamber Singers, Choral Union, College Days and Student Senate, and she was a Student Life/Resident Assistant.

Stich earned her law degree from Emory University School of Law in 1994. She is a member of the bar in 10 states and now works remotely as a senior attorney with the National Legal Research Group in Washington, D.C. She specializes in appellate and employment litigation, commercial and residential real estate litigation, medical and legal malpractice, and complex products liability.

Her lifelong affiliation with sports began at Ripon. “I came from a rural Michigan high school with no cross-country program, so with virtually no distance running background I had the modest goal of making the cross-country team as a freshman. I had never run more than two miles in my life, so I literally called home excitedly to tell my parents the first time I ran ten miles at practice,” Stich said.

Nicknamed “The Hurricane,” Stich is the only two-time women’s cross country National Qualifier in Ripon College history and one of just two Red Hawks women to win the MWC Cross Country Championships and to finish a 5K race in under 19 minutes — accomplishing that feat four times. She owns the top five times in program history.

In track and field, Stich is a 14-time conference champion and six-time All-Region performer, setting six school and 11 conference records.

In her senior year, she was named NCAA Wisconsin Woman of the Year and received Ripon’s S.N. Pickard Award. She was inducted into Ripon’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 2001, the first year she was eligible.

As a post-college athlete, Stich has run marathons throughout the world. She was a three-time Olympic Trials qualifier, finishing in the top 50 in 2000, 2004 and 2008. She was named an alternate for the U.S. Olympic Marathon Team for the Athens Games in 2004.

She has achieved multiple top-10 U.S. Championship finishes; won races in France, Belgium and Ireland, Alaska, Hawaii, Washington, D.C., Texas, New York, California, Georgia, Colorado, Michigan and Oregon; finished in the top 10 at the U.S. Open Women’s 25K National Championship four times; was the top-ranked American and ranked eighth in world in the Professional Road Racing Organization Circuit final standings in 2000.

She has spent more than 40 years as a volunteer church musician and youth leader, playing and singing professionally in operatic productions and symphony choruses and performing at Carnegie Hall. She has been a high school, college and community youth leader, mentor and coach; Habitat for Humanity volunteer and fundraiser in Georgia and Michigan; and performer with the Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus, Core Chorus and Opera Grand Rapids.

Extensive international travel has taken her backpacking across Europe, climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, running with the bulls in Pamplona, walking the Great Wall of China, sailing the Nile, visiting the Taj Mahal with Ripon classmate Vir Singh, Class of 1992, walking among Easter Island’s Moai, and diving the Great Barrier Reef.

Ripon College named her an Outstanding Young Alumni in 2000 and she received the Distinguished Alumni Citation in 2021.

“Ripon provides a perfect atmosphere, not just in athletics, but also in academics, extra-curricular activities and personal growth, for students to reach beyond themselves and try new things, which is a habit that continues for me to this day,” Stich said. “My experience at Ripon College has opened more doors than I could ever have imagined when I first stepped on campus as a freshman.”