A look at the best Colorado-born female athletes — from Jennifer Kupcho to Mikaela Shiffrin
Who is the greatest female athlete to ever come out of Colorado? That’s the question The Denver Post sought to answer with this Top 10 list. To be eligible for the list, an athlete had to be born in the state, hence the notable exclusion of famous locals such as Missy Franklin (born in California), Becky Hammon (South Dakota), Lindsey Vonn (Minnesota) and Jenny Simpson (Iowa). For purposes of the list, an athlete’s entire career is calculated into her ranking, and not just achievements at the Colorado prep level.
10. Jennifer Kupcho
Winning two state titles at Jefferson Academy was a prelude for the Westminster native, as Kupcho has emerged as one of the world’s best female golfers. Kupcho won the NCAA national title as a junior at Wake Forest in 2018, then captured the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship the next year. Now on the LPGA tour, 2019 saw the 23-year-old rookie capture over a half-million dollars in earnings amid three Top-10 finishes.
9. Adeline Gray
Few have done as much to advance and transform women’s wrestling as Gray, who is the first American woman to win five world titles in the sport. The Denver native and Bear Creek/chatfield product placed seventh at the 2016 Olympics, and also has a pair of Pan-american titles to her credit from 2018 and 2019. She’s shown dominance across multiple weights, and as the first female wrestler with her own signature shoe, Gray also uses her platform to push for gender equality in sports.
8. Lindsey Horan
The Portland Thorns midfielder was Colorado’s soccer wunderkind pre-pugh, and was the first female soccer player to skip college and sign a professional contract straight out of high school. The Golden product played for Paris Saint-germain for four seasons before returning to the States, and 86 caps later, is the heartbeat of the U.S. Women’s National Team midfield. In 2017, she was MVP of the NWSL championship game, and was MVP of the league in 2018.
7. Tanya Haave
Haave starred in basketball and volleyball at Evergreen, leading the Cougars to a couple of undefeated seasons and two state titles in the latter sport. In basketball, she emerged as a star at Tennessee, playing on three straight Final Four teams before graduating as the program’s alltime leading scorer. The Metro State coach also played professionally for 14 years overseas, notching a dozen all-star nods and a couple international MVP awards.
6. Phyllis Lockwood
The Fort Morgan native gained acclaim for her prowess in tennis, basketball, track, swimming and softball. Across Colorado’s three major tennis tournaments, she won 21 singles titles and 43 doubles titles between 1936 and 1964, at one point going 11 years without a loss. She was also an All-american in AAU basketball in 1949 amid an 18-year career on the hardcourt, and the next year was a member of the first U.S. women’s all-star basketball team to travel abroad.
5. Emma Coburn
Surely the greatest female distance runner the state has ever produced, the Boulder native and Crested Butte alum was a three-time NCAA champion at CU before becoming the first American woman to medal in the 3,000-meter steeplechase when she won a bronze at the 2016 Olympics. She also won gold in that event at the World Championships in 2017, breaking her previous American record. This year, she broke the Colorado female mile record with a 4:32 time.
4. Mallory Pugh
At just 22, the Littleton native and Mountain Vista alum has been one of the world’s best strikers for several years now. She made her national team debut in January 2016, the youngest American to do so in over a decade, and scored a goal in that match against Ireland. The Washington Spirit forward has 18 goals and 16 assists in 63 caps. As a member of the U.S. team in Rio de Janeiro, Pugh became the youngest U.S. woman to score an Olympic goal.
3. April Heinrichs
The Denver native and Heritage grad is one of the most influential figures in American women’s soccer history, and began by leading North Carolina to three NCAA titles. She was an offensive pillar on the first U.S. Women’s National Team that won gold at the 1991 FIFA World Cup and finished with 46 career caps. Also one of the first American women to play professionally overseas, Heinrichs became the first woman elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 1998.
2. Amy Van Dyken
A six-time Olympic gold medalist, the Denver native and Cherry Creek alum burst onto the international scene in 1996 in Atlanta by becoming the first American female to win four golds at the same Olympics. Prior to that, she starred at CSU as the 1994 NCAA Swimmer of the Year. Her fearlessness after a spinal cord injury from a 2014 ATV accident — the Amy Van Dyken Foundation is dedicated to improving the lives of those with such injuries — has only added to her legacy.
1. Mikaela Shiffrin
The winningest slalom skier ever, the 25-year-old won Olympic gold in the slalom at Sochi in 2014 — the youngest ever to accomplish the feat in that event — and then gold in the giant slalom four years later at Pyeongchang. Shiffrin was a phenom long before her World Cup debut at 15, and the Vail native would’ve been the first American to win four consecutive World Cup overall titles this year had she not missed the final seven races due to her father’s passing.