Shane Knoll: Miles Away
5/1/2009 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
May 1, 2009
Michigan State track & field junior Shane Knoll (Warren, Mich.) was recently featured in an article on BigTen.org. Big Ten contributor Larry Watts sat down with Knoll to talk about everything from his record-breaking performance in the Meyo Mile to what it was like to grow up with 14 brothers and sisters.
Shane
By Larry Watts - Big Ten Contributor
How did Michigan State's Shane Knoll develop into a sub-four minute miler?
One theory is it started at home, where he is one of 15 children, currently ranging in age from 7 to 32. The Spartan junior fits right in the middle. He has five older sisters and two older brothers and five younger sisters and two younger brothers. In other words, one had to be quick to make it to this dinner table.
"There were no second helpings," he says. "But I love it and it always has been a lot of fun. There was always someone to hang out with and something to do. Something was always going on in this household."
Knoll says his Warren, Mich. two-story house is hardly a mansion. There are three bedrooms upstairs and two more in the basement.
"The boys would usually start out playing soccer and baseball and then by fourth grade we were playing football," he says. "My older sisters all played soccer and the younger ones are runners now. We were all involved in sports of some kind and my parents try to make as many of our events as possible.
"I raced a lot with my sisters. And if they beat me, it would be gab, gab, gab, gab."
His mother, Nancy, even picked up running about 10 years ago. She just ran her second Boston Marathon, but Knoll says he never goes running with her.
"She's not competitive; she just likes to run," he says. "She's always begging me to go running with her, but I can't run that slow."
Another theory on the development of his speed comes from working a paper route for two years. When it snowed, his father would drive him and his two older brothers on the route.
During one particular early morning snowstorm, his father's car got stuck. Knoll was the chosen one to make the deliveries to nearly 50 homes.
"My father knew my brothers were bigger, so it would probably take them awhile to make the deliveries," he says. "So they stayed in the warm car putting rubber bands on the papers while I'm running through the neighborhood."
Although he did well as a runner in middle school, his passion was to play football in high school. However, his father and middle school track coach intervened and talked him into cross country.
"As a kid I really wasn't into running," he says. "The only thing I liked about it was I could talk junk to the other runners.
"I loved playing football, especially linebacker on defense. If they had let me stick with it, I'd probably be a first round draft choice."
To read the rest of the story, click here.
Players Mentioned
