Shannon set to lead Nelson County track team in Dogwood District Meet

By Laura Clark

Published: May 14, 2008

Cody Shannon, a 6-foot-3 junior, is a top competitor for the Nelson County High School track and field team. At the Dogwood District meet on May 15 in Appomattox, Shannon will compete in the 110- and 300-meter hurdles, high jump, long jump and triple jump. Shannon may also run a leg of the 4 X 400 relay.
Shannon has been running outdoor track since his freshman year, and this winter competed in indoor track for the first time.

On getting into hurdles:
I sort of came out in ninth grade and coach said I was doing hurdles. It was just my event.
You’ve got to work on your form, because if you’re fast and you have no form then someone that’s slow and has form is going to kick your butt in hurdles. You’ve got to get low and make sure that your lead leg is up there high enough and that you can get your trail leg over quickly.
I used to have problems stutter-tepping. In indoor I still had a big problem with stutter-tepping this year, and coach Dunnick was just like, “Okay, you have to learn how to three-step. Your legs are long enough, so just go up there and do it.” Then in the first meet in outdoor, I got it the last half of the race.

On his district competition in hurdles:
I’ve got some Chatham dude that’s got me by a couple seconds in one of them. Then there’s a lot of people that are right up there with me, so it’s pretty good.

On falling over hurdles:
My first race in outdoor, it was at Buckingham. They have an asphalt track. I was in first place for the first half of the race, and then I started dying. On the very last hurdle, I tried to jump it and my foot catches it and I just fall. I lay there for about a minute, then I get up and stagger across the line. I wasn’t really injured.
I’ve fallen before a hurdle. At Liberty states, tenth-grade year, we were warming up. I was running toward the hurdle — these were 55-meter hurdles — and my spike caught in the track, and I just fell and skidded. It was kind of embarrassing. That first time falling over the hurdle was what really inspired me to get my form down, so it wouldn’t happen again.

On learning the various jumping events:
Last year, Anthony Halliburton helped me out a lot, just watching him jump. And then another guy from Chatham, Matt Moser, helped me out. He coached me a lot. That helped me improve. He watched me jump and he decided that I’d get really good if I actually knew what I was doing. He graduated last year.

On running the 4 X 400 relay:
I don’t like that. It’s not something I run very often, so I’m not used to it. Especially right after all the other events I do, it just wears you out.

On competing in several events in one meet:
I’ve done six at some. Just make sure you (rest) the night before and get good food that day. And hope I do well; hope the competition runs slow.

On competing in general:
I like sports and I didn’t want to do anything my brother, Jesse, was doing, so I chose track. He goes to Miller School and plays basketball there. He’s 17.
One of the reasons I’m athletic is because he pushes me to work harder because he does it himself.

On his goals for the district meet:
I’d really like us as a team to win the meet. And hopefully individual, qualify for states. That’d be really nice. (I’m) really close. In the hurdles, both of them I’m only a fifth of a second off. I have no idea what the standards are in any of the jumps.
At times (there’s pressure) because once you do really well, people expect you to do really well. And sometimes it’s just hard to do that. You get stuck sometimes.

On the boys team:
We’ve got a lot of young athletes. We don’t have too many people who are returning so they’re good runners but they’re not seasoned. So they’ve got a lot to work for. And I think maybe next year or the year after we’ll definitely have a chance at districts.
We don’t have very many distance runners really. The rest of the people are sprinters or middle distance. We need some more distance people and probably throwers, because we have four throwers for the guys.

On coach Dunnick calling him the most improved athlete:
I think actually I’ve been kind of lazy this season. For the most part, there have been times when I’ve worked really hard. Mostly I started working hard because I really want to make it to states this year.
As for being most improved – I don’t know – maybe from my times last year. But as for being the most improved on the team, there’s another kid, James Kuchenburg. At the beginning of the season he couldn’t run a full lap without stopping for breath. Now he can run an 800 or a mile.

On his teammates:
Most of the team, we all get along, so there’s no problems with us as a team in general. Some of my best friends run. There’s always good times to sort of soften the break in between races.

On his plans this summer:
Pretty much just hanging out with my friends. I’ll be doing some running for cross country. It’ll work on my endurance, and I really need that. In the last stretch (of the 300) your legs start to get really tight and heavy, and breathing gets hard and I’m like, I don’t know if I can make it to that next hurdle.