‘Heart of a Lion’: Grover has all it takes to excel on state stage for Lucas

LUCAS – Thanks to Lucas junior Shelby Grover, hurdles maven Jeff Jenkins has now seen (or at least heard) it all in a track and field career that spans several decades.

Hopefully he was sitting down for this one.

In late April, Grover was a quadruple winner at the Forest Pruner Invitational at Crestview. She swept the hurdles, beating the defending champ with meet record times in both races

She also won the 400 meter dash, holding off the 200 champ from the previous year while coming within .4 of another record. To cap her meet, she then won the 200 by beating a girl who in 2021 was a triple winner in the Firelands Conference as a freshman.

Remarkable. Unfathomable (you’ll understand why in a moment). Really, any superlative will do.

For true track aficionados, the biggest takeaway was that Grover won the two toughest races in the sport – the open quarter and 300 hurdles – in back-to-back fashion. And then you throw in the deuce, making it three races – and wins – in a four-race span?

“Whew,” Jenkins said.

Whew, indeed.

Jenkins received a phone call a couple of days after the Pruner Invite. Without being told what Grover had done, he was asked how rare it is for anybody, male or female, to win the 400 and 300, back-to-back.

His three-word response: Can’t. Be. Done.

The three-word reply to his response: It’s. Been. Done.

Jenkins was then informed of Grover’s exploits, how she didn’t hold back in the 400, nearly cracking a minute, and then broke a 16-year-old record in the 300 hurdles before capping her 4-3-2 gauntlet with another victory.

“That’s definitely an ability,” Jenkins said. “Oh, wow!”

Jenkins won state championships in the high and low hurdles for Madison in 1975. He was also a two-time junior college national champion and qualified for the Olympic Trials in 1980. His proteges include state champions Ted Ginn Jr. and Chad Zallow and his non-profit club for northeast Ohio athletes, Hurdlers Haven, has produced several other state champs.

But none of them did what Grover has done.

“I tried to get Zallow to do (the 400-300 double), but he wouldn’t do it,” said Jenkins of the former seven-time state champ for Warren JFK. “You don’t see that and come back and win the 200, too. Wow. That’s a lot of stamina and mental toughness.”

Coach saw greatness in Grover

Lucas’ first year head coach Spencer Adams explained the method to his madness that really wasn’t madness at all.

“I knew Shelby personally wanted to be the meet MVP at Crestview and I was looking at ways to make that happen for her,” said Adams, a former Northmor athlete. “And then they sent out the info on the meet and I noticed there was Senior Night (recognition) between the 400 and 300 hurdles.

“I knew there was going to be 20 minutes between those races for a breather. I asked her if she wanted to try it and she said sure.

“I’m crazy, but I’m not that crazy.”

Even with 20 minutes of recovery time, Jenkins was no less impressed with Grover’s feat.

“That’s tremendous,” he said. “Nobody’s doing that anywhere, even at the next level.”

Jenkins’ had the same reaction as many.

“I’m pretty good friends with some of the coaches who were at the meet and they were like, did she really just do that back-to-back?” Adams said. “I was getting ready to pull her off the 200, but she said there was no way she wasn’t going to run it.”

It’s the only time Grover has ever done the 4-3-2 and she wouldn’t rule out doing it again.

“It’s hard,” she said, groaning, “but I’ll do it again if (Adams) needs me to do it. He pushes me but he knows my limits and what will crack me.”

What does any of this have to do with the busy weekend ahead for Grover at the Division III state track meet in Columbus? Everything and nothing.

She’ll be competing in four events, which as far as anyone knows is a first for a Lucas athlete. But instead of the 400, which she only ran three times this season, she has been competing in the long jump during the post-season.

So there will be no repeat of what everyone watched, in disbelief, at the Pruner Invite.

But what that 4-3-2 did was instill the belief she can do anything. And it no doubt fortified her, mentally and physically, for the final three weeks of the season.

“Instead of going from the 400 to the 300, I’m going from the 300 to the 200,” she said. “It’s not as much running, but I still need my legs to give me that strength to run as fast as I can. And running the 400 a few times this season helped give me that strength.”

Post-season run has built confidence                                                             

In the district meet at Colonel Crawford, she finished right behind Crawford’s Katie Ruffener in the 100 and 300 hurdles but won the 200 and set a meet and school record in the long jump, beating Ruffener, an Iowa State commit, with a leap of 18-6.50.

At last week’s regional in Port Clinton, Ruffener won the 100 hurdles again (she is the state record-holder, after all), but Grover got her in the 300 hurdles (44.31 to 44.32) and beat her out for first again in the long jump (17.9-5), while finishing runner-up in the 100 hurdles and 200.

Even though Grover had the best prelim time in the 300s, she knew that really meant nothing since she and Ruffener were in separate heats.

“Last year at districts I had the best time in the prelims and she beat me in the finals,” Grover said. “This time I was just happy I had an inside lane (4) for her, so that last 100 (meters) I had that inside lane and she had the outside lane (5). So that’s what I’m going to try to get at state.”

Ruffener trains year-round in this sport and it obviously works for her. Earlier in the season she set the DIII state record in the 100 hurdles with a time of 13.98.

Grover should be at a disadvantage in their head-to-heads since she bounces around from volleyball, where she is All-Ohio, to basketball, where she is All-Ohio, to track, where she is already All-Ohio, thanks to last year’s fifth-place finish – one spot behind Ruffener – in the 300 hurdles at state.

Grover obviously makes the most of whatever time she has in each sport. She’ll make extra time if she needs to.

“I try to rest her when I can, but she won’t let me,” Adams said. “It’s ridiculous. If I tell her to finish practice early, she’ll come back afterwards and practice without me.

“That’s not a joke. I’ve told her to go home and I’ve driven back past the school and her car is sitting there. That’s just how she is.”

Five school records for Grover, and counting …

Grover owns school records in the 100 hurdles (14.71), the 300 hurdles (44.31), the long jump (18-6.5) and the 400 (1:00.63). She shares the record in the 100 (12.69) and has high-jumped 5-2, doing that at a meet on weary legs after completing all of her running events.

“The 200 and long jump have blown my mind,” Grover said. “I didn’t even do the 200 last year. Sometimes I have done the high jump and long jump, but one meet I did the high jump and my shins were killing me for a week, so that’s when I knew I would stick with the long jump. But I never thought I’d break the school record.”

Grover has improved in the long jump by over two feet this season and goes into the state meet as the top seed in that event and the 300 hurdles.She’s seeded second in the 100 hurdles.

“Last year she made it to regionals in the long jump, but I’ll be honest with you, we may have over-jumped her,” said Adams, who was an assistant on the staff at the time. “She didn’t do too well at regionals last year. This year we didn’t jump her much at all and it’s worked out pretty well.”

Grover attempted only two jumps at regionals.

“I jokingly tell Shelby all the time, give me one jump and then you don’t have to jump anymore,” Adams said. “She’s taken it to heart because she does it.”

Grover’s goal Friday and Saturday: To make the podium in all of her events.

“I don’t want to jinx myself, but I’m shooting for four-event All-Ohio,” she said. “The 200 is a little iffy.”

She’s seeded sixth in that race. Only one girl in front of her is doing the 400 and none is doing the 300 hurdles, like Grover, so doing better than where she is seeded might be tough.

But Adams has been around her enough to know not to put anything past Grover.’

“She’s got the heart of a champion, the heart of a lion,” he said. “She works harder than any single person I’ve seen in my life. And I’ve been around some pretty good athletes and state champions.

“I’ve never seen anyone work harder or with more passion. Everything she does is 110 percent every time.”

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: ‘Heart of a Lion’: Grover has all it takes to excel on state stage for Lucas