Girls Track: Lindblom’s Shamier Little has big-time talent

Updated: May 9, 2012 10:25AM

Underneath Shamier Little’s bed is a box for the recruiting letters she gets from colleges. How many does it hold now?

‘‘It’s not a lot, but it’s not a little,’’ the Lindblom junior said.

Chances are, the box will be overflowing by the time Little gets around to making her college choice.

She is already the most successful track and field athlete her school has produced, with two IHSA titles, six state medals and a pair of Class 2A state-meet records. After a dominant performance last weekend at the Illinois Prep Top Times Indoor Classic — the unofficial indoor state meet — Little looks primed for even bigger things this spring.

Once again, she’ll be competing in the 200- and 400-meter dashes and the 100 hurdles outdoors. She won the 400 and 100 hurdles at the Class 2A state meet last year — setting class records of 54.85 and 14.16 seconds, respectively, in the finals — and was third in the 200 (24.53).

After a successful offseason competing in AAU and USA Track and Field meets, Little is looking to lower all those times. She showed the potential to do that in winning the 400 and the 55 hurdles and taking second in the 200 at the Top Times meet.

All that success has put Little in a predictable, if not always comfortable, spot.

‘‘I really don’t like all the attention,’’ she said. ‘‘I just want to be normal. I don’t want all eyes on me. I’m really shy.’’

It helps that the track community has embraced Little.

‘‘People that support me bring me out of my shell,’’ she said. ‘‘Everybody, [Class] 3A, 2A, 1A.’’

That includes rivals such as Sycamore senior Lake Kwaza, who was the Class 2A runner-up in the 100 and 200 last spring. The sprinters got acquainted during downtime at the indoor state meet.

‘‘We talked about our colleges and stuff,’’ Little said.

A few more performances like she had last May in Charleston, and Little will have plenty to talk about when it comes to recruiting.

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