Hall of Fame
A four-time Northeast-10 champion, Melissa Nash Ramirez was the iron woman for the Bentley track and cross country teams during her time on campus, going non-stop from cross to indoors to outdoors while excelling in all three.
Those conference titles all came at different distances as Melissa ran to victory in the 5000 indoors as a freshman, in the 10,000 outdoors that same year, in the 1500 indoors as a junior and in cross country as a senior.
The impressive collegiate resume for the 2009 Northeast-10 Women’s Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year also included three runner-up finishes in the NCAA Division II Cross Country East Regional, All-New England accolades in both the 3,000 and 5,000, and three consecutive trips to the NCAA Division II championships from 2006 to 2008.
Melissa has stayed active as a competitive runner since her 2009 graduation. She enjoyed success running for both the Boston Athletic Association and New Balance. Since relocating to Texas with her husband and former Bentley standout Stephan Ramirez, she won the Toyota Music City 10K, ran a personal best of 1:16.32 in the 2024 Houston Half Marathon, was the women’s winner in her debut marathon in Irving, Texas, and qualified for the Boston Marathon.
Former Bentley track and cross country coach Ed Lyons said “it was a true pleasure to coach Melissa at Bentley. She was one of the most determined and focused runners I have been fortunate to coach”
