Steven Shomaker and Caroline Towles are the kind of athletes that don’t come around very often.
The two were leaders on and off the field. The two had the respect of their peers and their coaches. The two also had the skills to play a number of different positions and sports.
So it comes as no surprise that Shoemaker and Towles were named Shorecrest High School’s athletes of the year.
Towles excelled on the soccer fields, the basketball courts and on the track for the first time this spring. The Shorecrest senior likes to have a busy schedule.
“I get bored if I’m not doing anything,” Towles said.
Though she is headed to the University of Idaho to play soccer, Towles really doesn’t have a favorite sport.
“I enjoy all the sports,” she said. “I did not want to focus on one. If you play one sport, I feel like you get really bored with it and you don’t care. Switching back and forth helps keep it fresh and more interesting.”
Plus skills learned in one sport can translate into others.
“Basketball helps with my coordination as a goalkeeper,” Towles said.
Towles is headed to college because of her considerable skills as a goalie, but she almost didn’t even play the position. Since the fifth grade, Towles had always played in the midfield. Then during Towles’ first year at high school, coach Mindy Dalziel was addressing the freshman players and asked if there was a goalkeeper present.
There wasn’t. Towles’ friends, however, all said she would be really good and Dalziel stuck her back there.
One night the varsity goalkeeper got the flu and Dalziel called Towles and said she would be the starter.
During the first 30 seconds of the game, the other team took a shot that looked to be a sure goal.
Towles flew in the air to the right and made the save.
“The look in her eyes showed me she wasn’t scared, just determined to be amazing,” Dalziel said. “From then on, I was never worried when she was in.”
Towles is the player who likes to be in the middle of the action, so at times she admits she was bored being in goal during her sophomore year.
“I was still kind of in denial, still wanting to get back on the field,” Towles said. “My junior year I kind of accepted it. Now I enjoy being goalkeeper. … I enjoy my position.”
This spring Towles decided to not play softball and instead give track and field a try. She had a feeling she might do well but even she was surprised by her success. Towles earned all-league honors in the javelin and ended up eighth in the event at the Class 3A state championships. She also was a member of the 1,600-meter relay team.
“I kind of expected I’d be decent at track,” she said. “I didn’t think I’d do that well.”
Athletics has been at the core of Towles’ life. Ask anyone who knows her and the conversation will eventually end up about her participation in sports.
“It’s defined my whole life,” Towles said. “It’s giving me the most happiness and the most enjoyment. I’ve met most of my friends through sports activities.”
Steven Shomaker understands what Towles feels.
“Sports has been the thing I’ve done at school all year – either workout out or doing a sport,” he said. “In between sports, I feel lost. If I don’t have a sport, I feel like just a part of my life is missing.”
Shomaker was a standout on the football team and also did track and field. Shomaker spent the winter in the weight room or was out running to get ready for the track season. In both sports, he was a leader by example, said assistant football coach and head track coach Brandon Christensen.
“He’s a phenomenal young man,” Christensen added. “He’s the accountable one on the field or out on the track. He’s the kid making the right choice and putting out a 100 percent effort.”
The Scots expected a lot out of Shomaker in football and he delivered. Shomaker, a cornerback, was one of the team’s best defensive players. On offense he played quarterback, running back and receiver. He also played some safety on defense.
The highlight of the football season for Shomaker was beating Meadowdale, a team that was ranked in the top 10 at the time. Shomaker wrapped up his senior year with an appearance at the state track and field championships, where he ran a leg of the 1,600 relay.
“It was a good way to end my senior season,” Shomaker said.
Shomaker ran the leadoff leg of the relay. The leadoff runner has to be someone Christensen trusts.
“Steven is one of those athletes I trust,” Christensen said. “He always give you the baton in the lead or close to it and makes you competitive.”
Shomaker enjoyed both sports but enjoys the camaraderie of football.
“On the football field, it’s 11 guys trying to do the same things at the same time over and over throughout the whole game,” he said.
Sports also taught Shomaker about discipline and how to focus his attention, especially on his schoolwork.
“During high school I had to keep up with my grades and be as good a student as I could to keep playing sports,” Shomaker said.
Shomaker will attend Central Washington in the fall and may try to go out for track and field there. Christensen expects he’ll be a success there just as he was at Shorecrest.
“His work ethic is second to none,” Christensen said. “There is not a more trusting or worthy kid out there.”
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