Modesto Junior College Women’s Track and Field and Cross Country Coach Mary Shea has been selected by United States of America Track and Field as Head Coach for the USA Women’s Cross Country Team that will compete in the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland on March 28, 2010. The USA Team was chosen from the USA Championships held on February 13 in Spokane, Washington.
“This is a great honor for me to represent my country in this year’s World Championships,” said Shea, who was asked to make the trip to Spokane two weeks ago where the final team was chosen. “It was great meeting the women who will represent our country in Poland! I feel like I have a lot in common with these athletes, but I also accept my role as coach and I will do my best to help them feel relaxed and ready to compete!”
Shea was selected in 2001 as the Junior Women’s Cross Country Coach for the team that competed in the World Championships in Oostend, Belgium. Two years ago she was chosen as the assistant coach for the 2008 World Indoor Championships in Valencia, Spain where she was responsible for overseeing the women’s distance runners.
Shea is no stranger to success in elite level running. At Michigan State in 1988, Shea competed in the US Olympic Trials 10,000 meter run. The year prior, in 1987, she raced to the Big Ten Championship in the 10,000 meter run. Her collegiate efforts earned her All-American honors twice.
Throughout her career she has coached numerous NCAA qualifiers in both track and field and cross country. At the community college level, Shea has coached many Nor-Cal Champions and state qualifiers. In her first year at MJC Coach Shea guided Delfino Arevalo, a Livingston High School graduate, to a state championship in his best event as an athlete,
the 10,000 meters. Arevalo's successes continued at the University of Utah, where he qualified for the NCAA Championships three times in track and cross country.
Since 1993, Coach Shea’s athletes have earned numerous awards and accolades. Whether it’s qualifying for state and national meets, earning academic awards or simply applying life’s lessons, her student-athletes have accomplished great feats on and off the track.
“My goal is to watch my athletes accomplish goals that they never thought was possible,” Shea states. “I am proud of their efforts and I anxiously await their next contribution to society.”
Shea began honing her coaching skills at Eastern Michigan University where she attended graduate school and worked with both men and women track athletes in all events. In 1993, when Coach Shea was in her last semester of graduate school, she was offered her first Division I job as an assistant at the University of Toledo. In just 1½ years she coached a conference champion and her athletes broke a number of school records.
During her next two Division I coaching positions at the University of Nevada, Reno and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas her athletes accomplished similar goals, but on a more national level. She developed into one of the nation’s top distance coaches and even interviewed at Stanford back in 1997 where she was one of three finalists. At UNLV, her athletes qualified for nationals in both track and cross country. While at UNLV, Shea was recruiting coordinator and helped guide UNLV to three runner-up positions as a team in the WAC and later Mountain West Conference.
“Division I athletics is extremely competitive,” remarked Shea. “As an assistant coach, you could be fired with 30-days notice. I liked the pressure, though. I was a pretty successful DI athlete, so I knew what it took to be on top. The head coach named me recruiting coordinator because I am comfortable with all cultures, backgrounds and beliefs. I liked working with the athletes at UNLV who were from different parts of the world, country and region.”
The combination of all her experience has led Coach Shea to the opportunity to coach on the international scene. It is this experience she believes, that earned her the honor to represent her country twice now, in two years.
“I’m at a point in my life where I am comfortable with myself and my abilities. I have coached every level from youth, high school, community college, four-year college and with professional athletes. It’s natural for me to work with the athletes competing at this level. Believe it or not, the same principles apply: effective communication, sincerity and anticipating what the athletes need. “
Although it was one of Shea’s goals as an athlete to compete on an international level, she was never able to achieve this.
“It was always my dream to make a World Cross Country Team,” admits Shea. “As a collegiate athlete, there was a time when I was in really great shape. My coach always told me that the last spot on the team could be up for grabs. He said that the college women who work hard have a chance of making the team.”
However, an achilles tendon problem slowed her down and eventually arthritis would indefinitely end her career as an athlete. Now she has the opportunity to make other athletes’ dreams come true and considers it her duty to serve the needs of her MJC students and her country.
