Lady Knights freshman following in father’s footsteps
Cherokee – The sudden emergence of a Robbinsville freshman over the last month has shaken up the hopes of many girls track and field athletes who were hoping for a state championship bid.
And the success is coming exactly 30 years after her father made waves of his own.
Zoie Shuler was named the Smoky Mountain Conference’s Most Outstanding Female Track and Field Athlete at the conclusion of the June 9 championship meet – a well-earned recognition after winning the long jump (16 feet, 8 inches), triple jump (36 feet, 1 inch) and 100-meter dash with a time of 12.64 seconds. She missed the conference record in the dash by 0.32 seconds – Rosman’s Alicia Vergho ran a 12.32 in 2003 – and both the long and triple jumps by the slimmest of margins, a standard set by another Robbinsville athlete: Katie Williams, who had respective jumps of 17 feet, 3 ¾ inches and 37 feet, 1 ½ inches at the championship meet in 2012.
Williams was also named the Most Outstanding Female Track and Field Athlete that year and was the last Lady Knight to receive the accolade before Shuler.
“It’s crazy,” Zoie said. “I’m a freshman and except for one middle school meet I ran last year, I’ve never competed in track before.”
Michael Shuler received the Most Outstanding Male Field Athlete award in both 1991 and 1992. He still holds the Black Knights’ records in the high jump (6 feet, 8 inches, set at Cherokee in 1990) and the triple jump (44 feet, 6 ¾ inches, set at UNC in 1991).
Shuler now gets to enjoy watching both his daughter and older son Jeb – a senior – compete in multiple sports for Robbinsville. In addition to track, Zoie suits up for the Lady Knights’ basketball and softball teams; Jeb competes in basketball and baseball.
The latter resulted in a verbal commitment for Jeb to play at Cleveland Community College in Shelby next year.
“It’s unbelievable,” Michael said. “It’s so much more than anything I ever did myself. I’d much rather watch them than to go back and do it all again myself.
“I’ve always tried to let them do them and not push them to do anything. I played college football, but at no point in time did I try to get Jeb to play. I’ve always let them pick what they wanted to them and I’ve never pushed them to work extra, but anytime they ever ask me to come help them work on something, I’ll do it.”
Zoie’s foray into varsity track quickly turned heads. In her first meet – which did not occur until May 14, following the conclusion of softball season – she ran a 12.98 in the 100-meter dash.
She just competed in her first long and triple-jump competitions May 26, winning both with respective leaps of 17 feet, 1 ¾ inches and 35 feet, 9 ¾ inches.
But the fast track to success did not come without its challenges.
“I’ve never done it, because it’s always been the same season as softball,” Zoie said. “I thought this year, I would give it a shot.
“I wasn’t in as good shape as I should have been, but when I ran last year, it was in the 100. I won and my dad said, ‘Dang, you’re fast.’ And then we just went to the track one day, because I wanted to try jumping. I ended up really liking it.”
“A lot of nights, after supper, she’ll ask, ‘Dad, can we go to the track?’ “ Michael added. “There’s lights, so we’ve went down, and worked on steps and the mentality of it. The little things she didn’t know, because she had never done it.”
All-Conference
As a whole, the Lady Knights finished third at the June 9 meet, cumulatively recording 112 team points. The Black Knights placed fourth, with 89.5.
Athletes were named All-Conference for winning their respective events, with honorable mentions bestowed upon second-place finishers.
In addition to Zoie’s three first-place honors, Brock Adams (16.54) won the boys 110-meter hurdles to be named All-Conference.
Honorable mentions for Robbinsville went to Caylin Lunsford (girls triple jump; 33 feet, 5 inches); Adams (boys high jump, 6 feet and 300-meter hurdles, 43.45); Jeb Shuler (110-meter hurdles, 17.45); the Lady Knights’ 4x200 relay team (Lina Pagan, Shuler, Kensley Phillips and Delaney Brooms, 1:51.58); the Lady Knights’ 4x100 relay team (Pagan, Lunsford, Haize Moore and Phillips, 54.09); Brooms in the 400-meter dash (1:02.44); Hayden Stewart (3,200-meter run, 11:24.16); and the Lady Knights’ 4x400 relay team (Pagan, Keylie Jordan, Moore and Brooms, 4:34).