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Of all the runners who have ever circled the track in Spokane, no male athlete has ever signed with a Division I school until now.
“It feels good to accomplish something that I’ve wanted to do for a really long time,” said Owls senior Sam Shuman.
He recently signed with the University of Tennessee-Martin for both cross country and track.
“We consider them two different sports, so it’s kind of amazing, he’s going in both sports,” said Spokane Co-Head Track Coach Jeff Mitchem.
It’s amazing, but not surprising when you consider firsts are kind of Sam’s thing.
“He was our first Spokane athlete ever to make all state [in cross country],”Mitchem said. “[When he won, it was] the first time we ever had a state champion in cross country.”
Not far behind Sam was his teammate, Grant Stewart. Grant finished 5th at the Class 2 State Cross Country meet, becoming just the second Spokane runner to ever finish all-state.
For Sam, he only reached the front after starting in the back.
“I got 127th at state freshman year for [cross country] and then winning it, it was kind of like I couldn’t wrap my head around it,” Sam said.
Some of the work toward the title happened roughly one year ago.
When the pandemic wiped out the spring season, Sam kept running, and even posted some of his best track times.
“We weren’t allowed practice with them all spring once school was cancelled, just like any school, but I could write up different workouts for him, which we did and he kept doing all of his workouts,” Mitchem said.
“It was frustrating, but it also made me learn who I really was as a runner, to understand that even though I don’t get to run in meets, I’m still going to persevere through it and run.”
Now, Sam is in position for another first — this time on the track.
“We’ve had numerous state champions, but never in the distance events, never in the relays.”
However, these days in Spokane, they’ve learned to never say never when it comes to Sam Shuman.
