He prepared for it all season. Leo runs a mostly Class AA schedule. Shields competed against York All-Stater Terre Mastrino and Springfield Lanphier's Class AA state 400 champ Sean Dickerson. Dickerson, who ran 47.98 in the state final, is the only runner to defeat Shields this season, having won a 400 race in a Springfield meet. Winning all three sprints again next year is a real possibility.
Shields has the speed and stamina to do it a third time.
I can't predict what I'll run and how fast I'll run. I take it one day at a time. Although just a junior, Shields has been deluged with mail from college coaches. All the Big Ten track programs have contacted him, and Illinois, Kentucky and Cal State-Bakersfield are on a preliminary consideration list. This summer he'll be working out and running at Illinois-Chicago.