Fresno State Athletics
Lieder of the Pack
3/29/2001 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
March 29, 2001
By Jennifer Smith
It was an unseasonably scorching hot 105-degree day in May in Fresno, Calif., and Shannon Lieder had the 1992 Big West Conference track meet to run. It was her senior year. She had no more tomorrows.
Shannon Lieder had asthma, and the heat always aggravated it.
"Breathing for me in the heat was like breathing through a straw," Lieder said. Lieder was scheduled to run both the 1500 and 800 meters, and the person with the most competitive desire was the person who would win the races.
Lieder wanted it bad. She wasn't going to let a little breathing complication slow her down. She's still breathing, isn't she? That was Lieder's competitive spirit.
"I knew I had a job to do. I had a set plan in my mind from the beginning of the track season," Lieder said.
Nothing was going to get in her way. The Tough-as-nails Lieder won the 1500 meters, but she couldn't start partying too early because immediately after her 1500 meter victory, and with her asthma kicking in, Lieder spent the next 30 minutes in the school's lone swimming pool. No, she wasn't doing laps. She was cooling off, waiting for her last event, the 800 meters.
"You've got to live your plan, breathe your plan, and you just got to do it."
Lieder won the 800 meters in 2:09.80 despite feeling she was like breathing through a straw, and thus complementing her 1500 victory of 4:27.27 earlier in the day. Lieder walked into the 1992 Big West Conference Meet with two events to run, and she came out of the meet with two victories. Her mission was accomplished.
What drives this woman? Lieder started running when she was 6-years-old, but not by choice.
"It started when I had to run down to the bus. It was a mile down my driveway. And my mom didn't take me to school so I ran to catch the bus in the morning, uphill in the snow, both ways. And if I didn't catch the bus, I had to run to school." Lieder noted that school was six miles away.
She was only a pup when she started running. And Lieder kept running all the way through high school. Lieder says she ran because she wasn't good at any other sports. She tried to do other sports, but as she said in a giggly voice, "Yes, I did. I tried to be a cheerleader all through high school and I never made the squad." And why didn't she make the squad? "Yep," she said shyly. "I couldn't do the splits." That could be a minor hindrance on a cheerleading performance. But who cares about cheerleading? Lieder was a studly runner with a bright future.
And her bright future proved to be as bright as a shimmering star in a clear night's sky. Lieder finished her track career as an All-American at the 800 meters.
"It felt great to be an All-American. It was my first time ever going to Nationals. It was my senior year, it was my last season ever," Lieder said.
And Lieder was actually surprised to have received this honor.
"It was a surprise to me that I got to that level because I was very average coming out of high school." It was because of her competitive spirit that she went from average in high school (2:14, 800 meters) to superstar in college (2:07.8, 800 meters). She worked hard. She raced with intensity. She believed in herself.
Today, Lieder is referred to as `Coach.' She is in the middle of her first coaching experience, ever. She coaches the women distance runners.
"My goals are to win the conference meet in track and to develop some All-Americans. But I also hope to bring out the best in all my athletes, ability wise as well as character wise. I enjoy working with athletes and seeing them develop. The toughest part of coaching for me is being patient with development. Communication and controlling my emotions is the most important part of coaching because if I let my competitiveness out, I would probably lose people on the way."
The competitive spirit. That is what made her a great runner, and that will be one of the key ingredients to making her a great coach.
Jennifer Smith is a student-athlete on the Fresno State cross country and track team. She is a junior english major from Lake of the Pines, Calif.
