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McCook girls' state champ runs for more than first
OMAHA, Neb. — Her knees suddenly feel a little wobbly at the finish like that double scoop of goodness awaiting Shawna Wilkinson Saturday night.
“Coach (Clint) Hosick promised me ice cream if I run a personal best and win a state championship,” the McCook sophomore reveals about her Class B 400-meter race at Burke Stadium. “The crowd is cheering, it’s so exciting...then about 10 feet away (from the finish), my knees start giving out.”
Yet something even cooler kept Shawna from melting even close to a collapse.
Names are running through the Class B state leader’s mind — including one McCook Bison name which still echoes across Burke’s grounds every year in late May.
“Molly Sughroue has been such an inspiration to me,” Wilkinson proclaims about the McCook all-class gold champion and U.S. Olympic team hopeful. “She’s such a great athlete, and she’s so nice when I have talked with her.”
Shawna not only keeps moving to challenge Molly’s greatness, but also for all her teammates on McCook High’s GNAC and Southwest Conference champs.
“I love my teammates. They are so encouraging. I really couldn’t hear them but I know they are cheering in my heart,” she said.
However, this McCook three-sport girl doesn’t need to hear all her friends and family cheer.
She runs strong for family like her late greatgrandfather mentioned following a recent B-6 district championship.
“Grandpa was a great runner. I have a medal from when he won the district championship in 1947,” she explains. “It was a little too heavy for me to wear while I was running. But I keep it close. He means so much to me and to my family.”
Shawna also can’t forget the ultimate unseen friend who has kept her running since sixth grade.
“This race and every race is for God,” she said. “He has given me a gift to run and it is pretty exciting. I can feel his presence. I have an incredible platform to represent and glorify God. So no matter the outcome, I try to be as positive as I possibly can be.”
Shawna admits not every race has felt that way this spring.
“There was a time where it got to be more about me, and I ran like a 60-second (400) at GNAC,” she said. ““I realized the Lord was just testing me, reminding that this isn’t about me. I realized it and came to run 57-something at districts.”
At the state meet on Saturday, Shawna reached that 57-second speed zone again.
In fact, she ran to her all-time best of 57.59 seconds and took home the Class B state title.
Shawna’s never satisfied, though, just as she said following that rough GNAC performance. Plus she sees how not one of the 11 McCook High state girls are seniors.
“We’re going to be back and we have some eighth-graders that will give me a run for my money,” she concluded. “I want to be back here next year and perhaps win a state team championship.”