Shirlen gets fresh start with Kansas team
Junior transfer cross country runner Isaiah Shirlen is fitting in nicely with the Jayhawk squad
By Jason Baker (Contact)
Thursday, September 25th, 2008
Isaiah Shirlen was nervous when the Bob Timmons Classic rolled around last month, but it wasn’t just because it was his first race of the year. The junior transfer hadn’t run in a meet in nearly a year.
“It was definitely getting the cobwebs out,” Shirlen said.
2008 has been a year of ups and downs so far for the North Carolina native after leaving one school and starting fresh at another.
Shirlen, who is originally from Old Fort, N.C., started his cross country career at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2006. Shirlen said he was surprised that he was recruited by the 49ers.
“It was one of the smallest schools,” he said.
Shirlen looked at other schools such as American University and the University North Carolina at Chapel Hill, but said the UNC-Charlotte coach’s sales pitch was what got him to commit.
“He drove all the way to my house and made a home visit,” Shirlen said. “He had dinner with my family and sold himself pretty well.”
Another reason he chose UNC-Charlotte was his previous competition in high school. Shirlen said that some of his competitors in high school were attending the university.
“Our incoming class when I was a freshman was easily the best recruiting class of the state,” he said.
Although the first race was the Cross Country Relay Championship in Charlotte N.C., Shirlen said that he felt like his first true race was at Winthrop University at the Winthrop Invitational, where he placed 14th overall.
“It was a pretty crazy experience,” he said. “I never did an 8K before. I was pretty happy finishing fifth or sixth on the team. I was pumped because I got to travel with the team for the rest of the year. I was feeling good about the season at that point.”
Two weeks after Winthrop, Shirlen ran his fastest time yet at George Mason when he broke 28 minutes in an 8K. Shirlen said he wasn’t expecting to make that accomplishment but it got him excited going into Pre-Nationals that year.
“This little freshman from small-town North Carolina looking over seeing all the big dogs, it was an experience,” Shirlen said about his mindset going into the meet. “I don’t know what happened at that race, but it wasn’t a good race for us.”
The 49ers finished 32nd out of 36 teams and Shirlen finished 238th overall. Kansas finished in sixth place. Shirlen said he remembered watching Kansas warm up and cool down, and his mind wandered to the Jayhawks.
“All the guys were making fun of me when I said that, because it’s North Carolina,” he said.
Shirlen’s last race of the season was at the Atlantic 10 Championship where the team finished in fifth place overall. He pressed on with track and field season the following semester. It didn’t go well.
During the winter months, Shirlen put all he had into grueling training sessions.
“I averaged about 85 miles a week for a few months, which was a lot for a freshman,” he said. “But the workouts didn’t suit me at all. A month into the track season, my legs were done.”
Shirlen said the workouts were one of the reasons he wanted to leave.
“We were doing things that didn’t make sense at all,” he said. “We were doing workouts in January that we should’ve been doing in April and vice versa.”
After he got through his freshman year of track and before going into the next cross country season, Shirlen had a talk with his parents.
“I said I’m gonna give until the end of the cross country season, and if it’s not better then I’m leaving and ask for my release,” he said about the conversation.
Within a month of the next season, Shirlen realized that it wasn’t going to work. He said that his parents were supportive of his decision to leave because they saw how unhappy he was. He told two teammates he was close to, and they supported him leaving.
“A lot of the team was divided. Most guys weren’t getting along. Only two knew beforehand and were 100 percent behind me.”
Shirlen remembers going into the coach’s office asking for his release and him laughing at him and telling him no.
“I gave him valid reasons why I shouldn’t be there after an hour and a half of going back and forth he was like ‘fine, clean out your locker.’”
Shirlen didn’t tell the team all at once. He said that a few of them still won’t talk to him to this day.
During the August and September months, Shirlen looked at other schools, which included Appalachian State and the University of Georgia, but it was his friend Ryan Van Hoy, who was privately coaching him at the time, who told him about the University of Kansas.
“He said ‘I’m throwing this out there. You need to look at Kansas.’ And I was like ‘How did I not think of that. I love Kansas,’” Shirlen said.
Shirlen remembers being a Jayhawk basketball fan since he was in the fourth grade, and during this past March Madness recalls being the only one of his friends cheering for Kansas. Three days after Kansas’ victory, he called Assistant Coach Doug Clark. He visited the University in January and moved to Lawrence in August.
Shirlen said being around Coach Clark was a complete 180.
“Coach Clark knows his stuff. He’s coached some really good guys,” he said.
Shirlen talked about how much coach Clark cared when he got injured on a run.
“He went back and got the van and talked to me the entire way back,” he said. “Then he called again later that day to make sure I was doing okay. He’s concerned and he takes care of his athletes.”
Coach Clark admires Shirlen’s dedication.
“He’s a really solid, dedicated guy coming from a situation where it wasn’t going very well at all.” Clark said. “He’s kind of like a born-again athlete looking for a fresh start. He’s enthusiastic, trains hard and really happy to be here.”
Clark said that with the young team they have, Shirlen and fellow transfer Brock Ternes’ experience would be beneficial.
Shirlen said that he loved the chemistry the team had.
“I love the fact that we run every single run as a team together,” he said. “My old school, you’d just show up to the track to warm up and stretch and groups would go their separate ways. No more than three guys would run in the same group. Here we all out there joking and running around making fun of each other — we hang outside of practice, which is pretty awesome.”
Looking back on his situation, Shirlen says he doesn’t regret it at all.
“I definitely would not be here not going there. It wasn’t a horrible time there. The friends I had there are some of my best friends I have now,” he said. “As far as running, there were a few high times. It showed me how low things can go. I think you need to go through low times in order to appreciate the high times.”
Shirlen has three years of eligibility remainingand plans to make the most out of cross country and track. Although he’s adjusting well to the Midwest, he said he’s missing something from the South: sweet tea.
“If you check the media guide it’s the one thing I can’t live without,” he said. “I have to go to Jefferson’s to get some, but I’m OK with that.”
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