Follow senior Will Shafer as he embarks on his first and only indoor season at Gray New Gloucester HS. Shafer is one of the top distance runners in the state, he was the Class B state champion in the 800m, and ran the second fastest 1600m in the state during the 2013 outdoor season.. Shafer finished 4th in the Class B XC state championship this fall, see what he's doing to get to the next level.
Hello all,
Well, change of plans here. Originally, I was going to wait and crank out a blog after my first indoor meet. However, the weather has yet to cooperate and as a result, I sit here on my couch, on the 6th of January, without having run an indoor race. Initially, I was pretty ticked off about having the first meet called off for a second time. But taking it with a grain of salt, indoor is a long season, not racing early on will hopefully benefit me when the State meet rolls around, and hopefully, New England’s and Indoor Nationals. Plus, I really have nothing to complain about compared to the Eastern Maine athletes, sorry guys.
Shifting gears, the college search has come to a happy conclusion for me. As some of you know, I verbally committed to Dartmouth College in the fall. I received my acceptance letter in December, making me an official member of the Big Green Class of 2018!!! Using athletics to help get into an elite college had been a goal of mine before I even entered high school. For some reason, Dartmouth was always the school that came to mind as I worked towards this goal. Besides the academics and athletics, what separated Dartmouth from all of the other schools for me was the great success Mainers have had in the past on the Big Green’s track and XC teams. To sound incredibly cliché, it was a dream come true when I was offered a roster spot on the team and accepted my admissions. Reality still hasn’t set in, and probably won’t until I actually set foot on campus in the fall. Nevertheless, I am very thankful for this opportunity and will do my best to continue the 207’s success at Dartmouth, both in the classroom and on the oval.
I encourage all other student athletes to pick a dream school. Hard work really does pay off. In the classroom and in athletics, hard work is what makes it happen. So pick that school, do everything in your power to make that goal a reality. Dream big.
Back to this season. Rather ironically, I will now be having my first race in Hanover for the Dartmouth Relays on the 11th. I’m looking forward to finally starting off the season and competing at the place I will be calling home for the next four years.
Until next time, adiós mis amigos.
-Will
