Adams, Shuler earn top billing in Smoky Mountain Conference
Cherokee – At the end of May 4’s Smoky Mountain Conference championship meet, it was a foregone conclusion who would be named the Most Outstanding athletes of the competition.
For the second-straight season, Lady Knights sophomore Zoie Shuler brought home the trophy, while junior Black Knight Brock Adams received the accolade on the boys side.
The pair dominated in each of their three individual events – and for good reason. Both have state titles already on their resume and are top contenders to successfully defend their crowns.
“I’m very blessed and grateful to receive the MVP for two years in a row,” Shuler said.
“It felt really good to be named MVP of the conference meet,” said Adams. “I feel as if my hard work is paying off a little bit at a time.”
Adams leaped 6 feet, 2 inches in the high jump – a personal record – and conquered both the 110 and 300-meter hurdles, with respective times of 15.16 and 41.75.
He is the reigning 1A champion in the 110 hurdles, a feat achieved with a 16.35 sprint through the course in 2021.
“I have put in a lot of practice and quite a bit of work this year with hurdles to get faster,” Adams explained. “So I feel pretty confident in my chances to maybe pull in another 110 hurdles state championship, and a possible 300-meter state championship.
“My goal is to win state, no matter what. But two state championships in two events would be really cool.”
Now a holder of five Robbinsville girls track records (three individual – the triple jump, plus the 100 and 200-meter dashes), Shuler has been on a mission in 2022 to overcome a pair of second-place finishes at state in the long and triple jumps last season. In fact, she posted a leap of 17 feet, 7 ½ inches at the indoor state championship meet in February to win the 1A/2A long-jump title.
At May 4’s conference showcase, Shuler toppled the divisional standard in the long jump – recording a distance of 17 feet, 9 inches – and also won the triple jump (36 feet, 5 inches) and the 100-meter dash (12.84 seconds).
“I was fortunate enough to go to state last year and compete, but I was not satisfied with getting runner-up,” said Shuler. “I am a very competitive person, so I have been working hard this fall and winter to achieve my goal and win this year.”
All-Conference
Shuler also collaborated with Caylin Lunsford, Kensley Phillips and Delaney Brooms to complete the 4x200 relay (another school record set this season by the same contingent) in 1:49.68 – just missing the conference record by 1/100th of a second.
Later in the meet, Lunsford, Phillips, Shuler and Yeika Jimenez finished the 4x100 relay in 53.61.
Lunsford also received an Honorable Mention for her second-place leap of 32 feet, 11 3/4 inches in the triple jump. The Black Knights’ 4x400 combination of Brock Adams, Cooper Adams, Donovan Carpenter and Sully Shanahan earned the same accolade with a time of 3:42.93.
Overall, Robbinsville’s girls finished third at the meet with 114.5 team points; while the boys took fourth, posting 93 points. Swain County captured both the girls (239 points) and boys (217) team championships.
The 1A Western Regional Meet will be held Saturday, at East Burke High School in Connelly Springs.