BRYANT – The University of Central Arkansas is getting a package deal in two Bryant Lady Hornets athletes. Bryant seniors Megan Lee and Deborah Shaw signed a National Letter of Intent to compete for the UCA track and field team Wednesday at Bryant High School.
“UCA is getting a tremendous deal,” Bryant track and field Coach Keith Dale said. “Deborah Shaw has been an outstanding hurdler since her ninth-grade year, and Megan Lee has shown really great promise through all of her events trying to find out where exactly she fits best in our program until finally we decided she should just do it all.”
And do it all Lee did, and did it well, as she took eighth with 3,715 points at the Arkansas Heptathlon this past May in Cabot.
“Any time you can place in the top 10 in the heptathlon for track and field, you’re pretty good at everything,” Dale said.
“The heptathlon drains your energy but it is so much fun,” Lee said. “It’s the best two days of the whole entire year. You wake up and you’re so excited to go out there and compete against some of the best athletes in the state. I just love everything about it.”
As far as choosing UCA, after first considering Arkansas State, Lee was at first resistant to be a Sugar Bear.
“Both of my parents went to UCA so I’ve always heard about the college around my household and they wanted me to go visit it,” Lee said. “I wasn’t really interested in it and I was pushing it away as much as I could. Once I went, I fell in love with it. I met the coaches and they were so nice, and the teammates really just wanted me to come there. I just loved everything about the campus, so it wasn’t a very hard decision to make.”
Lee’s personal bests: discus, 79-5; high jump, 4-8; long jump, 16-3; shot put, 37-11.5; triple jump, 35-2; 100-meter dash, 13.5; 100 hurdles, 17.17; 200m, 26.68, 400m, 60.56; 800m, 2:32.99.
“They’re getting a really good jumper and hurdler, as well as a multi-event specialist,” Dale said.
Lee, who plans on being a kindergarten teacher, began her track career in seventh grade.
“I started off being pretty decent and I would win my little seventh-grade meets with the events I was in,” she said. “I liked winning a lot so I just kept doing it and it brought me here. I just love running because it was so competitive and I’m a really competitive person so that’s what made me want to keep doing it.”
Lee says her favorite event is the 400-meter dash and said she will now be competing in the 300 hurdles, which will help with the heptathlon.
“This season I’m switching over to 300 hurdles,” she said, “so we’re going to explore that a little bit because I have to do hurdles for heptathlon and that’s extra practice.”
Lee, who competes in five to six events per meet, is always a lock for the 4x400-meter relay team, which won the Meet of Champs last season in a time of 3:58.99, and was close to breaking a school record.
“I do some jumps and I have to do two relays or one, but I’m always in the 4x400,” Lee said. “We’re going to break the record this year. We were two seconds away from it at the Meet of Champs. We lost one person, but we have some younger girls we’re mentoring right now and we’re really working with them to get them up where that one person was, which was Amanda Burt. We’re going to have someone fill her spot and that person is going to be good.”
Shaw considered Southern Arkansas University and Pittsburgh State, but said UCA was the place for her.
“I just really liked the campus and I could tell the coaches coached how I like to be coached,” Shaw said. “I felt like that’s where I fit in best.”
“Deborah has been with me since ninth grade. Deborah would not run cross country for me,” Dale joked. “Anything over a quarter (mile) she just does not like. Anything that is over an 800, Deborah does not like.”
Shaw didn’t start out as a track and field star, but her gymnastics and cheerleading background has helped her excel.
“I did gymnastics for eight years, starting when I was 3,” she said. “I trained at the Olympic training center. I was going to go to the Olympics, but it was just so much to handle. I quit gymnastics and moved to cheer and did cheer for five years. I did a cheer team in Dallas, Texas. We won the world championship and after that I was done.
“My ninth-grade year I decided to try out for track; didn’t tell my mom anything about it at all. And then I was like, ‘Mom, I made the track team,’ and it ended up being what I liked best.
“I like that it’s a team sport, yet you’re still competing individually, I like that your teammates, and also your opponents, always wish you good luck and are always there for you. One time I fell down during a race and people were cheering me on, so I just like how nice everyone is inside the sport.”
And the event she likes the best is the 100-meter hurdles.
“I just get a rush when I do the hurdles,” Shaw said. “Since I have a gymnastics background, I’m pretty flexible and it’s just easier for me to do hurdles than most people because of my flexibility. I just like how fast it goes by and it’s over really quick, and I don’t get too tired.”
Shaw’s personal records: triple jump, 33-7.5; long jump, 15-11; high jump, 4-8 (all indoors). Outdoor PRs: triple jump, 36-6; long jump, 16-10; high jump, 5-0; 100m hurdles, 15.22; 200m dash, 27.62.
Shaw, who may study occupational therapy, speech pathology or athletic training, said she will compete in hurdles and the heptathlon at UCA.
“As far as personality of these girls, they are a joy to work with,” Dale said of Lee and Shaw. “They do anything that’s ever asked of them. They go above and beyond, and always willing to help out, especially trying to mentor our younger athletes, which is really what our track program is all about - mentoring the younger athletes to make them feel a part of the program so that we have a good buy-in.”