By Christopher Hunt
Somehow it seemed that this was already written. It was a prophecy waiting to be fulfilled. This day would come. She just had to wait for it.
Guess the waiting is over. Suffern senior Shelby Greany became the nation’s greatest high school steeplechaser Monday. She broke the national record 2,000-meter steeplechase record at the Cornwall Steeplefest in 6:33.7. Her mark topped a time of 6:35.63 set by Marie Lawrence of Reno, Nv., at the 2006 national championships.
Almost six years ago, when Greany was just a seventh-grader and her teammate, Kara McKenna, was one of the top steeplechasers in the country. Saratoga’s Lindsey Ferguson set the national record in 6:39.54 with McKenna second and Greany in the stands.
“I’m going to break that record,” Greany said to her coach Lou Hall.
He laughed. “Let’s work on breaking 6:50 first.”
Greany broke the seventh grade national record that year and the eighth grade record the next. Then she took down the sophomore class national record too. And the overall national record was on the agenda for this year but not for Monday. Not when Greany was on her sixth race in four days.
Greany, who signed with Providence, said she felt exhausted all day in school and took a nap when she got home before the meeting the team on the bus for the meet. She set a goal to run 6:45 but even that seemed in jeopardy when she slipped on the barrier at the first water jump.
“I screamed,” she said. “I thought I was gonna fall.”
But when Greany hit the mile mark she could her mom, Trish Greany, screaming, “Five-thirteen! Five-thirteen!”
When Greany won the 2,000 steeplechase at the Nike Outdoor Nationals last year she remembered telling her mother that if she wanted to break the national record she would need to get to the mile in at least 5:14. Suddenly, Greany went into overdrive.
“If you see pictures of me, I look crazy,” she said. “When I crossed the line there was no clock and I was asking the official, ‘What was the time? What was the time?’
“Then they told me 6:33 and I was like, ‘That’s a national record right. I just broke that right?’ I needed someone to confirm it for me.”
Greany had run the 800, 1,500 and 3,000 at her league meet last Thursday, then the 4x1-mile and the 4x800 at the Crusader Relays Saturday before her race on Monday. And outside of her time, Greany didn’t have much good to say about her race either.
“I definitely didn’t feel 100 percent but I didn’t feel bad,” she said. “My last two laps were bad and all my water pits were horrible.”
So the only question is how much faster can she run?
“It’s obviously nice to break the record already,” she said. “But there’s no way I’m settling for that time. My goal is to run break 6:30.”
Reach Christopher Hunt at chunt@armorytrack.com.