Nov. 9, 2007

Sunsea Shaw is willing to try just about anything.

In high school the Northern Illinois freshman was a cheerleader and the basketball team's star player. She also tried out for the football team as a seventh-grader, and did Step, a rhythmic group dance style that falls somewhere in between hip-hop and tap. Shaw sews her own clothes, and even tried knitting, but put the needles aside after just a few scarfs.

When she was a fourth-grader, Shaw tried track. Since then, she's looked back only to see her competition.

But while the adventurous South Bend, Ind. native embraced her eclectic blend of hobbies, Shaw refused to try track's cousin, cross country.

"I didn't think I'd be any good," she admitted.

Shaw was so averse to running distance that she refused repeated requests from her track coach to join the Riley High School team.

"My coach nagged me," Shaw said. "He told me when they were starting conditioning and when they were starting practice and I always told him no."

Shaw persisted in her stubborn path until, prior to her senior year of high school, an academic threat from one of her teachers convinced her to join the team.

"My strength and conditioning coach said he'd fail me (in physical education) if I didn't run," she said. "I believed him."

So Shaw ran, and outran most of her peers.

Shaw joined Riley's cross country team two weeks into the season, and still became the school's first girl's cross country runner to compete at the state championships. She finished 16th at the race, one spot away from earning a medal. Shaw's reaction reflected her newfound passion for the sport.

"I was crying," she said. "I was bawling and cross country wasn't even my sport."

But while Shaw's truncated high school cross country career ended just short, her time as a distance runner was just beginning.

Northern Illinois cross country coach Mark McConeghey saw the same ability in Shaw as her high school coach.

"Her potential is just out of sight," McConeghey said. "She's definitely a diamond in the rough."

Shaw turned down offers from several other schools in the Mid-American Conference, as well as opportunities from Purdue and Howard, to come to Northern Illinois. But before she arrived, Shaw had to endure her first summer of cross country training.

"My legs were hurting so bad, because I never ran mileage like that before," she said.

To get through the training, Shaw relied on her future teammates for advice.

"They told me to focus on one interval at a time rather than counting how many I had left," Shaw said.

The hard work paid off when Shaw opened the season as the second Huskie finisher at the Bradley Invitational. Three weeks later, Shaw led the Northern Illinois team for the first time at the Roy Griak Invitational, and has since finished as the top Huskie twice.

Part of her success can be attributed to her running style.

"I'm motivated when people are in front of me," she said. "They named me `The Cheetah' in high school because I like to catch people. "

McConeghey believes her attitude is rare among athletes in the sport.

"She has more of a sprinter's mentality," he said. "Pumped-up and cocky."

The second-year cross country coach appreciates the anomaly.

"It's a nice change to have somebody on the team that gets everybody all fired-up," he said. "It's a different approach than most cross country runners. Most are internally motivated, and you don't have to go `rah-rah.'"

Shaw says her supercharged attitude only comes out in competition, making practice a challenge.

"I don't like practice. I know that's bad. I know it's making me better," she said. "But I like to compete."

McConeghey agreed with Shaw's assessment.

"She hates practice," he stated. "You can see she's seeing success, and we're seeing success in her, too."

With four full seasons of track and field, and three seasons of cross country remaining for Shaw, that success could continue for a long time.