Following the closure of the OHSAA cross country season, we, at MileSplit, are always on the lookout for interesting stories to help showcase our state's great athletes and shed light to the sport's community at-large some under the radar achievements that could otherwise go unnoticed.
Did we ever find one of them in the form of Ryan Shelton!
Shelton, a senior classman from Anthony Wayne, pulled off a double last weekend that was about as unique as any we've ever come across.
First, at the OHSAA State Championships, on Saturday, Shelton's Anthony Wayne squad placed 8th in the Division I race.
Individually, on the day, he was the team's number three man finishing 64th overall and in the No. 38 position among runners competing on behalf of team-based qualifiers.
He produced a 16:00.86 mark, which was close to his season's (and career) best of 15:56.27 that he ran a few weeks earlier at District - Leaders Farms.
All-in-all, it was a very solid showing and a nice cap to his senior XC campaign.
But that's when things just started to get interesting. Forget about a well-deserved Sunday off. Rather, Shelton hit the track first thing in the morning and busted out a marathon distance training run.
That'd equate to 105.5 laps of Anthony Wayne's 400 meter oval.
According to his Strava stats, Shelton covered the 26.2 mile distance in 2:56 for a 6:43 pace per mile. This all coming less than 24-hours after navigating the Obetz 5-kilometer route in what stands as the biggest race of his high school tenure.
For all the granular details on Shelton's remarkable accomplishment, watch his feature interview above and be sure to take notice to his work on Strava below.
