Bruton senior Carley Shannon said the rewarding feeling of leading her school to postseason success in two sports trumped the extreme exhaustion she felt following one of the most grueling days of her athletic career Thursday.
Merely two hours after leading Bruton High’s cross-country team to a runner-up finish at the inaugural Conference 33 championship meet Thursday afternoon, Shannon joined her field hockey teammates and helped the Panthers capture the first-ever Conference 24 title on their home field.
Two conference championship events in one day is challenging enough, but Shannon was also a standout in both competitions.
Her 19 minute, 48 second finish in the conference cross-country meet was her best time of the season and helped her to a team-best third-place individual finish. Her time also helped Bruton finish runner-up to state power Maggie Walker Governor’s School and earn a berth to next week’s region meet.
Then, following a brief 90-minute break before joining the field hockey team for warmups, she assisted on three of her team’s four goals in the Panthers’ 4-1 victory over Northampton in the conference field hockey championship.
“It’s been awesome,” Shannon said of her long day. “When you’re really excited you don’t think about how tired you are. It’s a great day for Bruton.”
Her final assist in the conference field hockey championship – which came in the game’s final minute – was also the 100th of her career, which is the fifth highest career assist total in the country, according to topofthecircle.com, one of the leading prep field hockey websites in the nation. Her 44 assists this season ranks third best in the country.
“I can’t get an assist unless we get it in the goal, so that just shows how well our team works together and how much I count on my teammates,” Shannon said.
Shannon, who will play field hockey for Ball State next year, said too many factors go into choosing which is more difficult — running a 5K or the physically demanding stop-and-go nature of a back-and-forth field hockey game – such as how hilly the cross-country course is or the intensity of the field hockey game.
Either way, she’s looking forward to more hilly terrain and arduous competition on the field hockey pitch as she’ll aim for a repeat performance in both sports at regionals next week.
