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Republished with permission granted by The Washington Newspaper Publishing Co. LLC d/b/a MediaDC. Back to Montgomery Journal articles
Montgomery Marty Says:
Stroup Sets Track Record
High school track is one of those sports that doesn't receive much coverage. And it seems that people react to that absence of coverage with the belief that participants in those sports just plug away because they can't cut it in the major, attention-grabbing sports.
Such was the case at my high school, way back when, where the so-called "minor" sports of track, cross-country, wrestling, and even baseball, were sparsely attended, and the athletes' accomplishments hardly publicized. (Although our baseball team occasionally won the county title you could count the average attendance on your fingers.)
Sherwood's Shane Stroup is the youngster in question, and not only is he a fine track performer but as a tight end for the Warriors' football team he added a lot to a strong-passing attack that relied heavily on Journal all-star, Mark Childs.
"Shane is just a natural athlete," said Sherwood indoor track coach, Bob Jasper. "He's done a lot of work on his own and we haven't had to tell him very much."
Shane's high jump of 6-feet-5 3/4 inches helped him toward being named the outstanding performer in the annual Naval Academy High School Invitational Track Meet last Saturday in Annapolis. Though the bar was actually set at 6-6, the record is adjusted to account for a quarter-inch sag.
Stroup vaulted 13-feet, six inches, and finished second in that event only because he had missed more times than the first place finisher, who cleared the same height.
Thought Jasper said he didn't know for sure what schools are interested in signing Shane, he said he feels confident the Warrior will be receiving offers from colleges interested in bolstering their track programs. Schools would do well to land Shane Stroup. By diligent work this summer, he improved his old 5-8 high jump to its current state-record level. With college coaching he could do no worse.
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