‘Fierce competitor’ from Central Kentucky named state’s top track and field athlete

Madison Central High School’s Ciara O’Shea shattered two meet records at this spring’s Kentucky track and field state championships so the junior distance runner being named athlete of the year in her sport Thursday was as natural as her stride.

O’Shea was named Gatorade Kentucky Girls Track and Field Player of the Year, becoming the first Madison Central athlete to receive that honor.

The award recognizes not only athletic excellence, but also academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field. O’Shea is now a finalist for the Gatorade National Girls Track and Field Player of the Year award to be announced in July.

A three-time Kentucky Gatorade Girls Cross Country Player of the Year, the 5-foot-2 O’Shea swept the 1,600-meter and 3,200-meter runs at the Class 3A state meet this past season, leading Madison Central to a fifth-place finish as a team.

O’Shea set a state meet record in the 1,600 with her time of 4:52.67, and her finish in the 3,200 came in a meet record 10:32.83.

“I knew it was going to be like any other race, just a little bit higher stakes,” O’Shea said after winning the 1,600. “Just getting out to the front and pushing the pace from the beginning. Just being ready for anything.”

O’Shea also earned All-America honors by placing sixth in the 2-mile run at the New Balance Nationals Outdoor, clocking a 10:17.34, which, at the time of her selection, ranked No. 19 nationally among high school girls in 2022.

O’Shea has volunteered locally on behalf of food drives to benefit the needy and at a nearby retirement community. She has also donated her time as a youth tutor and as part of multiple community service initiatives through her church youth group.

“Ciara is not only a talented runner and fierce competitor, she is just an all-around, great student-athlete,” said Jason Moncer, head coach of West Jessamine High School. “Ciara trains hard and competes at a different level. Her times have all gotten better.”

O’Shea has maintained a weighted 4.35 GPA in the classroom. She will begin her senior year of high school this fall.

The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states that sanction high school football, girls’ volleyball, boys’ and girls’ cross country, boys’ and girls’ basketball, boys’ and girls’ soccer, baseball, softball, and boys’ and girls’ track and field, and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport.

On Wednesday, Cade Flatt of Marshall County was named the winner of Kentucky’s boys’ Gatorade award for track and field.

The 6-foot-1 senior set a state record in winning the national championship in the 800-meter run at the New Balance Nationals Outdoor this past season. Flatt’s clocking of 1:46.48 was 0.03 seconds shy of the national high-school record that has stood since 1996.

Flatt won the 400-meter dash and the 800 at the Class 3A state meet, leading the Marshals to a third-place finish as a team.

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