Shelbyville High School

Shia Veach concluded a fantastic 4 years of cross country running for the Golden Bears yesterday in Terre Haute at the IHSAA State Championship meet. Shia finished a very commendable 79th overall in the State on the rolling course of LaVern Gibson, in a time of 16:03. This year's meet was one of the most competitive in recent memory, and we are extremely proud of his effort. Shia started mid pack (of 250 runners) at the 1mi, worked his way up to 101st place by the 2 mile, passing another 22 people in the last 1.1 miles to finish 79th. His season PR of 15:38 (from Regionals last weekend) is the 51st fastest 5k time run by any boy in the state this season. In the notables section of the IHSAA Boys XC State Champtionship webpage, Shia was lauded for being a "drought breaker," ending a 23-year-old drought since a Shelbyville XC runner has qualified for state. To say that we are proud of him is an understatement. Shia's first 5k his freshman year was 20:47 - he has dropped over 5 minutes since that time. He is the definition of hard work, humility and sportsmanship. Shia wore his "Jacob James" (of Waldron, who passed in 2019) headband during his warm-up on Saturday (see red/white/blue headband in pic, attached). At the conclusion of the meet, he tied that head band on his spikes from the season and tossed them into the famous spike tree at LaVern Gibson, where state qualifiers for years have tossed their spikes in commemoration of their achievement.