At least, until the University of North Carolina came calling, wanting Shippee to become a thrower for the Tar Heels. “I really never had any plans to be a hammer thrower. I thought I’d be a soccer player, but life had other plans,” Shippee said.
“I definitely was not a full-time trackian until I got to college, which was quite the transition.” A 2017 graduate of Shenendehowa, Shippee earned her bachelor’s in sociology and sports administration at UNC in 2021, and then continued on to pursue a master’s degree in accounting. All while setting hammer throw records and winning championships at North Carolina.
On Saturday, Oct. 5, Shippee will be inducted into the Greater Capital Region Track, Field and Cross Country Hall of Fame. “It’s an awesome honor and I’m really grateful for it,” Shippee said.
“I know that it’s something you usually have to wait for a little bit after college. Being inducted into the Capital Region Hall of Fame so soon, it’s great and I’m really excited. “I’m excited to come back home, since I don’t get home much, to share this time with my high school coach and my family – all the people that helped me from the start.
” Shippee is one of 10 inductees in this year’s class. “It’s a great class of athletes, and obviously the classes of athletes that have come before,” Shippee said. “Rudy Winkler is one that I know and I train with him.
He’s been a really good mentor to me and a motivator in my career, so I’m really honored to be in the same group as him.” During her time at Shenendehowa, while the hammer throw wasn’t a traditional NYSPHSAA event, once Shippee began learning the throw, she knew it was something she wanted to keep working at. “High school started out with shot and discus, but hammer isn’t really a state event,” she said.
“Like, hammer and javelin weren’t really a thing, but a couple invitationals we would go to every year I would see it, and I asked my coach Scott Dochat about it. “He said there weren’t really too many opportunities for it, but if I wanted to learn, he could teach me for fun. I threw it around a little bit, and started taking it more seriously my senior year.
” Learning the hammer throw evolved into being more than just ‘for fun,’ as Shippee won a pair of high school national championships in the event, as well as a national title for the indoor track weight throw. She holds the New York State record of 196-2 in the hammer and is second on the all-time state weight throw list at 65-6, marks that were set in 2017. She also ranks second in Section 2 in the shot put at 44-8 1⁄2.
In college, Shippee won three ACC hammer championships, and once NCAA East Qualifier title. She placed third at the NCAA Championship meet in 2021 and fourth in the World Junior Championships in Finland in 2018. Shippee holds the UNC records for the hammer and weight throws.
Her personal records at UNC were 224-3 (68.36 meters) in the hammer throw, 43-7 3⁄4 (13.30 meters) in the indoor shot put, 45-10 1⁄2 (13.
98 meters) in the outdoor shot put and 65-6 (19.96 meters) in the weight throw. Since her college career ended, Shippee is still working on perfecting her craft.
“I told my coaches that I know I can throw farther,” Shippee said of continuing to throw after college. “I don’t know how much farther, but I want to keep trying, and that was my whole motivation right after college. .
.. Now it’s just about finding that best version of yourself and your throw.
” In 2023 she placed fourth in the hammer at the U.S. Championships, however, she fell just a bit short of making it onto Team USA for the Paris Olympics this summer.
“I’m doing a little bit of a European tour, since the Olympic trials didn’t go my way,” said Shippee, who is currently competing in the Czech Republic. “I’m out here with another US thrower doing a couple meets.” When not abroad, Shippee lives in North Carolina where she still works with her college coaches, and is a volunteer coach with the Tar Heels.
“It’s tough because it’s not a sport where you get drafted to a team, with a contract and everything,” she said. “We don’t have specific places we need to be all the time, like structured leagues. It’s kind of all up to you.
There’s some beauty to that, but it’s also pretty difficult navigating all that on your own. It really is self-motivated.”.
