WHEELERSBURG — Amanda Salmons, simply put, is a young woman of multiple interests.

The 2022 Miss Wheelersburg, busy with cheerleading at Wheelersburg High School, she wondered aloud if indeed running was going to be part of her collegiate future —and if she would stay close to home in doing so.

The clear and well-spoken Salmons said some serious thought went into answering both of those questions — with both answers being a “yes”.

As a result, Salmons’ Shawnee State University running career is now only beginning, as she recently and officially announced her intention to run for the Bears — both for cross country and track and field.

Salmons was flanked at her signing ceremony at Wheelersburg with her parents Ryan and Tammy Salmons, her Wheelersburg High School track and field and cross country coaches, Shawnee State track and field and cross country head coach Eric Putnam, and several Lady Pirates’ teammates and friends.

Putnam, to his credit, has established nationally-renown NAIA running programs at Shawnee State —and Salmons made for his latest good find, as the Pirate programs have produced several runners which have excelled for the Bears.

But Salmons spoke about her decision to attend SSU, bypassing both Marshall University — and the Bears’ rival of the University of Rio Grande.

“Shawnee State was actually never my number-one pick. I was always more headed towards Marshall because my sister graduated from there. Or Rio Grande because they also reached out to me about running. When I visited Shawnee, I went to visit their Art Department, and saw that they had everything that I needed in Animation and Graphic Design,” she said. “I was also offered a complete full ride to run both cross country and track at Shawnee.”

Graphic Design indeed will be her major —as she will continue to run distance during the track season, while logging more miles for cross country.

Salmons debated internally about amassing those more miles, ultimately deciding that running was still with her soul.

“At first, I wasn’t for sure if I wanted to commit to running (in college). But when I really thought about it, about mid-January, I realized I couldn’t give it up and I had to keep going,” she said. “I knew deep down in my heart running still has a huge part of my life.”

Putnam praised Salmons’ choosing his Bears to run with.

“Amanda has a lot of other interests, but it’s an exciting prospect to think what we can do with her running. She is going to run year-round now, and not have these other things that have been so time-consuming. That was my thought process in trying to get her to commit to Shawnee. No kid is guaranteed 100-percent for sure going to transition from high school to college and improve so much. But with Amanda, there are many things that I see lead me to believe that’s going to be the case,” said the coach. “I saw her run a number of times this past year, and I was always impressed. Every individual that we’ve gotten from Wheelersburg to run has had solid careers. They do very well in school. There is no reason to believe that Amanda isn’t cut from the exact same mold.”

Salmons said she is optimistic about running for the Bears —which already includes a number of runners with Scioto County school backgrounds.

“I am very excited about that (running for Eric Putnam’s programs). I heard it’s very good. I’ve had some friends that ran for him, and all I heard was good things about their running teams,” she said. “I am looking forward to this new cycle of college and I just can’t wait to see what he has put for me.”

Her personal record in the 5K cross country run is 20 minutes and 44 seconds, as she finished fourth at the Division III Southeast District meet as a senior in an even 22 minutes.

At the regional meet at Pickerington North last October, she completed her Lady Pirate cross country career with a 36th-place performance in 21:06.

But before that, she was a first-team all-Southern Ohio Conference runner all four years —finishing sixth as a freshman (22:43), seventh as a sophomore (21:47) and sixth again as a junior (22:56).

As a senior, she captured the SOC girls individual championship —completing the 5K at Waverly’s Bristol Park in 21 minutes and 22 seconds.

At the district meet those first three falls, when Wheelersburg was a Division II girls cross country program, Salmons improved from 50th (2019) to 40th (2020) to 32nd (2021).

Only her sophomore season did the Southeast District meet not take place at the University of Rio Grande.

Salmons spoke of her conversion to distance running, and how her Lady Pirate coaches kept her interested in distance.

“It’s been an honor to run here. I actually was a sprinter when I did track in Junior High. But (former Wheelersburg cross country head coach) Derek Massie convinced me to do cross country from eighth grade. Then I started my freshman year all the way to my senior year. He was the one who pushed me and then my coaches farther along,” she said. “Cross country honestly shaped me into a better person and the better runner I am today. I went from barely running any miles to now being the SOC 2022 Runner of the Year and the race champion.”

On the track, Salmons and the Lady Pirates swept SOC championships all three years —as her freshman track and field season was unfortunately canceled because of the coronavirus threat.

Salmons was part of the 4x800m relay quartet, and individually —primarily —ran the two-lap 800m run and the four-lap 1600m run.

She was a second-team all-SOC track selection those three springs, finishing anywhere from third thru fifth for her 800m, 1600m and secondary 3200m races.

She qualified for the Division II regional meet as a junior, placing third in the 800m run at the Southeast District meet —in two minutes and 32 seconds.

Her personal bests include a 2:28 in the 800m, an 8:05 in the one mile (1600m), and a 13:25 in the two mile (3200m).

The NAIA also offers a 10K cross country run, along with a 1,500-meter distance race.

Salmons said she plans to perhaps mix and match events at the next level, but above all else, that her running relationship only seeks to strengthen.

After all, she did decide to continue her running life —and run far while staying so close to home.

“This is my first year of college running, so I am really excited to experiment and see what all there is for me and see what my new run or runs may be,” she said. “My goal every day when I do my workouts, I always just hope to get stronger, get faster and build that strong relationship with running. I already have a strong relationship, but I just hope that I really peak and see my goal through — possibly by the end of my senior year with both track and cross country.”

Reach Paul Boggs at (740) 353-3101 ext. 1926, by email at [email protected], or on Twitter @paulboggssports © 2023 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved