To any high school athlete with dreams to take their sports career to the collegiate level, injuries can be detrimental to their success. Many athletes give up on their dreams after sitting out for multiple seasons. However, for Shaelea Conway (‘26), this isn’t the case. After fighting through multiple injuries, she secured many awards, even competing at the NJSIAA XC Meet of Champions her sophomore year. Conway is taking her running career to Stockton University to compete at the Division III level, where she will also get her undergraduate degree, on her way to becoming a physical therapist.
Conway’s love for running began when she was in the sixth grade. She began running and knew that it was something she wanted to continue in college. Her brother plays college soccer, and her dad played college baseball, and both were helpful during her recruitment process. They ensured she emailed as many coaches as she could and provided guidance and reassurance as she reached out to colleges.
During her sophomore year, Conway sprained her ankle twice, ending her track season early. When she came back for the cross country season, after not running for months, she needed to get back into a training routine.
“[It] was very demanding physically and mentally,” said Conway. [It] took a toll on me, but I knew I still had a lot to give.”
Conway’s fitness was back to where she wanted it, but this was only the beginning of the injuries she would face. At the end of her winter track season, she had a foot injury, taking her out of the spring track season for the second year in a row. At this point, Conway was familiar with the path of recovery and was able to get back into shape for the upcoming cross country season.
Conway was now in her final cross country season, an essential time for athletes because this is their last chance to drop their times for college recruiters. But during that season, she faced her second injury. Conway never fully recovered until the season was over.
“To have this many injuries in pivotal moments of my high school career was very scary because I knew what I needed to showcase and knew that if I didn’t perform, my college dreams might not happen,” said Conway.
After all of these injuries, she had accumulated countless hours of physical therapy. Her time spent in the office, recovering, helped her learn about what it takes to be a physical therapist. She loved the idea of helping others through the same things she struggled with. Her desire to be a physical therapist is one of the reasons why she chose Stockton University over competing at another school. At Stockton, Conway will be able to follow a program for physical therapy that would allow her to get her doctorate degree earlier than the programs that other schools offered.
“I had to rethink if I wanted to run Division I but have to go to school for a lot longer, or go to a school that had absolutely everything that I wanted,” said Conway.
Conway said that the Stockton coach was understanding and supportive of everything she went through, and that having her as a coach would be amazing.
As Conway competes in college, she will look back on her memories of running at Cherry Hill High School East fondly. She said that she will miss the pasta parties and cookie groups, but most of all, she will miss the practices with her friends that are full of laughter, singing and the occasional funny TikTok.
“Even through all the hardships and injuries, I don’t think I would have landed where I did without them, so I’m glad that I had what I did because it taught me so much about myself, not only as a runner and an athlete, but also myself and what I wanted to be for others when I graduate college,” said Conway.
