Published: July 02, 2008 11:02 pm         

Championship effort: Shaun Smith, Megan Murphy named Tribune-Star Spring Athletes of Year

TERRE HAUTE — It took Shaun Smith less than 11 seconds a few weeks ago to get what Megan Murphy had just missed twice in four years of trying.

But the efforts by Smith, who won the Indiana high school 100-meter dash championship on May 31, and Murphy, Casey’s four-year starting infielder who spearheaded state runner-up high school softball teams in 2006 and 2007, made them easy choices as the Tribune-Star’s Spring Sports Athletes of the Year.

Effort, in fact, is a good word for both. It helps explain how Smith kept getting better down the stretch of his season, after placing fourth in the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference meet in the 100 just a month earlier, and how Murphy put herself in the upper echelon of a softball program whose exploits are legendary.

“The Ben Davis kids had a nickname for [Smith] — ‘Hard Work,’ ” coach Chris Conner of the North boys track team said recently. “I told him I didn’t know if that was because he was working so hard, or because he meant a lot of hard work for them.”

“She came to practice every day and worked her butt off,” former Casey coach Katie O’Connell said recently of Murphy.

Smith, who has also competed in the Midwest Meet of Champions and the Nike Junior Nationals since winning his state title, said his 10.47-second run for the championship was the culmination of a long dream.

“I started off the year with goals in mind,” he said recently. “Since my sophomore year, my goal was to be state champion by my senior year.

“I ran an 11.1 [100-meter dash] at the start of the year and I know I’d be able to do a lot of things … overall, obviously, it was a good season.”

“I’m really proud of Shaun’s accomplishment,” Conner said. “He wowed me. I hoped for what he did, but I was shocked and awed when he did it.”

Still, how do you drop that much time and overtake so many other competitors in the last month of the season?

“It’s how much work are you going to put into it? Are you going to be the first guy to practice and the last guy to leave?” said Smith, who signed a letter of intent to run at Vincennes University this week. “And it’s a mental thing. When the biggest run of all was on the line, I knew [some of the other competitors] had beat me [in the past]; I just have to say ‘I can beat them.’ I beat them mentally before I beat them physically.”

A good start doesn’t hurt either. A Tribune-Star photo of the state-finals 100 shows Smith up and out of his blocks ahead of the other competitors there, and he said that a false start by another competitor was all that kept him from winning the same race at the Nike Nationals (he finished fourth on the restart).

“Credit coach [Ernest] Holman,” Conner said. “He must have done something major with [Smith] in the starting blocks. And credit all the other coaches. But [Smith] was always 110 percent on top of everything [as far as work ethic was concerned].”

Speed is the quality that helps set Murphy apart from her softball competitors too. As Casey’s leadoff batter, she was almost impossible to retire anytime she put the ball on the ground.

It was a skill she had to learn, she noted recently.

“It was really great [playing for Casey]. It gave me so much. There’s always pressure — everybody knows who you are — but that will help me in years to come,” she pointed out. “[The coaches] taught me to become a better infielder, and they taught me slapping and bunting.”

Ironically, Murphy’s senior year was the only time in her four years at Casey that her batting average wasn’t above .500, although it remains above that mark for her career. And she switched from her usual second base position — where she’s likely to play at the University of Illinois next season — to shortstop without missing a beat defensively.

“She’s an outstanding kid, a great athlete and an all-around player,” said O’Connell, who recently changed jobs for the second time this summer and will have the pleasure of coaching Murphy again as an Illini assistant coach. “She was our igniter on offense, and defensively she rarely made an error.”

Before Murphy learned the art of slapping and bunting, she was also a pretty good power hitter too; had she not been so valuable in her usual role, O’Connell agreed, she might have been one of the Warriors’ best home run threats.

The physical skills, however, aren’t even the whole package.

“She was head and shoulders over the people we played in her knowledge of the game,” O’Connell said. “She has the intangibles every coach wants.

“She actually struggled a little bit against weaker teams, but in the postseason she was always huge.”

Not having a state championship on her resume hurts a little, Murphy acknowledged, but she knows she played four years on some very special teams.

“We knew we could make it back to the state [as seniors, before an upset loss in the sectional],” she said. “Second [place] is not bad, but it’s not first.

“But we had a bad day, and it just happened to be at sectionals. That’s the way it goes in softball — sometimes you’re on, sometimes you’re not.”



All-Wabash Valley Spring Teams

Baseball

Koby Kraemer, Terre Haute South, Player of the Year

Drew Aff, West Vigo

Steven Ball, Rockville

Ryne Barr, Northview

Taylor Biggs, Casey

Kyle Burnam, Marshall

Zach Clapp, Rockville

Justin Cox, Shakamak

Cody Crooks, Northview

Mitchell Crum, Turkey Run

Brandon Dorsett, Terre Haute North

Harry Downey, Martinsville

Lucas Eitel, Marshall

Cameron Fagg, West Vigo

Luke Greene, Rockville

Ben Grissom, Shakamak

Ryne Hayes, Clay City

T.J. Hill, Shakamak

Josh Horton, Shakamak

Kaleb Johnson, Marshall

Matt King, Rockville

Jeff Laughlin, Linton

Storm Lindsay, North Central

Jeremy Lucas, West Vigo

Joe Meggs, Terre Haute North

Mark Merrill, Terre Haute North

Cody Mumaw, South Vermillion

Austin Nash, Sullivan

Zach Odum, Terre Haute South

Cody Pearson, Bloomfield

Jordan Pearson, West Vigo

A.J. Reed, Terre Haute South

Dylan Reyher, South Vermillion

Craig Roberts, Owen Valley

Keaton Robertson, Northview

Jordan Shoaf, Rockville

Tyler Shotts, Marshall

John Smith, Shakamak

Tyler Wampler, West Vigo

Ethan Wright, Sullivan



Golf (boys)

Thomas Goss, Terre Haute South, co-Player of the Year

Zach Hosking, Terre Haute South, co-Player of the Year

Phillip Myers, Terre Haute South, co-Player of the Year

Jeff Ackman, Terre Haute North

Thomas Anderson, Terre Haute North

Kade Baker, Northview

Brandon Bekkering, South Vermillion

John Callahan, Terre Haute North

Jacob Collins, Greencastle

Austin Cook, Turkey Run

Eric Davis, Greencastle

George Fritch, Linton

John Gilham, Sullivan

Jordan Lowry, South Vermillion

Evan Miller, West Vigo

Tyler Newby, South Putnam

Drew Snyder, Northview

Ian White, Terre Haute South

Matt Williams, Northview

Jarrod Wrightsman, Turkey Run



Softball

Megan Murphy, Casey, Spring Sports Athlete of the Year

Bri Athey, Casey

Sammy Barbee, North Central

Dalton Bell-Trego, Paris

Sondra Blake, South Vermillion

Dawn Bonnell, Robinson

Angie Camp, Clay City

Izzy Carpenter, Linton

Hannah Chew, North Vermillion

Erica Conrad, Northview

Taneal Church, Linton

Kelsey Coffey, Terre Haute North

Mac Connelly, Casey

Tiffany Fendrick, Terre Haute South

Stephanie Fougerousse, White River Valley

Nikki Fuqua, South Vermillion

Gina Furrey, West Vigo

Megan Gambill, Union

Heather Gilbert, Shakamak

Shelby Gott, Bloomfield

Ciara Hall, Terre Haute South

Bree Hathaway, North Central

Amber Hilderbrand, Robinson

Danielle Ketner, Terre Haute North

Emily Lahay, Sullivan

Kelsey Lane, Sullivan

Shelby Leeman, Paris

Kelly Meggs, Terre Haute North

Nicole Miller, North Central

Becky Myers, South Vermillion

Chelsea Myers, Riverton Parke

Jacki Porter, North Central

Traci Sanders, Northview

Ashli Scott, Union

Audra Staley, Casey

Brianna Stewart, West Vigo

Katie Stinson, Casey

Annie Strahla, Shakamak

Bethany Sullivan, Terre Haute North

Shelby Targett, Clay City

Lindsay Thomas, Northview

Macy Toon, Terre Haute South

Megan Vincent, Riverton Parke

Alex Woody, Turkey Run

Holly Zschiedrich, Bloomfield



Tennis (girls)

Hunter Bullock, Terre Haute South, co-Player of the Year

Brittany Farmer, Terre Haute North, co-Player of the Year

Katie Bilyeu, Terre Haute South

Maddy Bogle, Terre Haute South

Taylor Bullock, Terre Haute South

Paige Cook, Terre Haute North

Brittany Cuthbertson, Terre Haute North

Kelsey Hennette, Greencastle

Jazmine Kellum, Northview

Sarah Potter, Terre Haute North



Track and field (boys)

Shaun Smith, Terre Haute North, Spring Sports Athlete of the Year

Adam Austin, Terre Haute South

Gene Bradford, Sullivan

Josh Bridwell, Terre Haute South

James Craigmyle, South Vermillion

Tyler Crooks, Terre Haute South

Aaron Edwards, Terre Haute North

Levi Eslinger, Paris

Daniel Gabbard, Terre Haute North

Drew Gambill, Shakamak

John Haley, Terre Haute South

Mitch Haviland, Northview

Mike Hughes, South Vermillion

Zach Jenkins, Terre Haute North

James Kent, Rockville

Thomas Marlow, Shakamak

Zach Mayhew, Terre Haute North

Andrew Sullivan, Terre Haute South

Josh Taylor, Rockville

Frank Toth, Terre Haute North

Jon Walton, South Vermillion

Scott Weatherford, Terre Haute North

Jacob Willis, Sullivan

Anthony Witt, Shakamak



Track and field (girls)

Shelby Higginbottom, North Central, Athlete of the Year

Ariane Bell, Terre Haute South

Jocelyn Bradford, Sullivan

Maggie Chenault, Robinson

Laurie Crippes, Paris

Brittany Dorsett, Terre Haute North

Jacquie Exline, Sullivan

Amy Hamilton, Terre Haute North

Lindy Jones, Terre Haute North

Beth Liebler, Terre Haute North

TeNeal Pinkston, Robinson

Paige Rosselli, Terre Haute North

Haleigh Sanders, West Vigo

Brittany Sherron, Rockville

Brittany Solomon, West Vigo

Samantha Solomon, Northview

Brianne Steppe, Terre Haute South

Kylee Thacker, Northview

Shandi Travis, Northview

Ally Vaeth, Terre Haute South

Laura Weatherford, Greencastle

Dee Wood, Greencastle