Hall of Fame
It’s impossible to look through the College of Saint Benedict cross country and track and field history books without seeing Leah Wurm Scirto’s name everywhere.
Wurm Scirto graduated in 2006 as one of the top cross country athletes in the school’s history, and she left her mark on the track and field team’s distance records as well.
Wurm Scirto is one of just two CSB cross country athletes to earn four All-Region and All-MIAC accolades. She is also the only Saint Benedict runner to win the MIAC cross country championship, which earned her MIAC Athlete of the Meet honors in 2005.
A three-time national qualifier, Wurm Scirto earned All-American honors as a junior and senior after finishing in the top 25 at the national championships. Her best finish came in 2004, when she finished 14th. She followed that up with a 23rd-place finish as a senior in 2005. Wurm Scirto – who was the team MVP each of her four seasons – still holds the school’s 6K record, and is third all-time in the 5K.
On the track, Wurm Scirto was just as good. She won the MIAC 5K title at the 2004 indoor championships, and finished top three four times in her career. She still holds the school’s 5K indoor record and is second in the 3K, and on CSB’s outdoor top-10 lists she is in the top 10 in both the 5K and 10K.
Wurm Scirto was equally successful in the classroom. She earned USTFCCCA All-Academic honors each of her four years, and was awarded an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship in 2006 – one of a handful of CSB athletes in any sport to earn the prestigious award. She graduated Summa Cum Laude with a degree in nursing, and took first place in the CollegeNet national essay scholarship contest.
After graduation, Wurm Scirto married her husband, Mark Scirto II. She worked more than seven years as a registered nurse at the St. Cloud Surgical Center, and she and her husband currently reside in Chandler, Texas, where she homeschools their five children.
