Julie Shea is a former American

long-distance runner Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely aerobic in nature and requires stamina as well as mental strength. Within endurance running comes two d ...

and politician.

Early life

While at Gibbons High School in

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Sout ...

, she was the first ''

Track and Field News ''Track & Field News'' is an American monthly sports magazine founded in 1948 by brothers Bert Nelson and Cordner Nelson, focused on the world of track and field. The magazine provides coverage of athletics in the United States from the high ...

'' "High School Athlete of the Year" in 1977 Her national record for female high-school mile was unbroken until 2012, when Wesley Frazier beat it.

College career

At her time at

North Carolina State North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The unive ...

lead the cross country team to two national titles, won two individual cross country championships, and won 5 individual Track and Field titles. While in

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

she became, in 1980 and 1981, the only female athlete honored with the Anthony J. McKevlin Award noting athlete of the year in the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Assoc ...

. (In 1990, the award began to be awarded only to male athletes and a separate award was started to honor women.)NCPrepTrack.com . . . Julie Shea (Cardinal Gibbons HS, Raleigh, NC)
/ref> In 1980, she won the Broderick Award (now the

Honda Sports Award The Honda Sports Award is an annual award in the United States, given to the best collegiate female athlete in each of twelve sports. There are four nominees for each sport, and the twelve winners of the Honda Sports Award are automatically in th ...

) as the nation's best female collegiate track and field athlete and the same award for cross country in 1981. In addition, she was awarded the Broderick Cup, given to the nation's best female collegiate athlete. In 1993 Shea was inducted into the

North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame The North Carolina Museum of History is a history museum located in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. It is an affiliate through the Smithsonian Affiliations program. The museum is a part of the Division of State History Museums, Office of Archives ...

and in 2012 she was part of the inaugural class of the

NC State Athletic Hall of Fame The NC State Athletic Hall of Fame is a sports history museum located in Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a c ...

Notable marathoning achievements

* All results regarding marathon, unless stated otherwise

Post college

In the 1990s, Shea was thrice elected to

Raleigh City Council Raleigh City Council is the governing body for the city of Raleigh, the state capital of North Carolina. Raleigh is governed by council-manager government. It is composed of eight members, including the Mayor of Raleigh. Five of the members ar ...

. She currently coaches CoolKidsRun in Raleigh.

References

Raleigh City Council members Track and field athletes from North Carolina Living people North Carolina State University alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Women city councillors in North Carolina NC State Wolfpack women's track and field athletes NC State Wolfpack women's cross country runners {{US-athletics-bio-stub