This is part of a series of interviews that Cortland track and field/cross country runner Shannon Imbornoni '21 conducted in 2020 with former Cortland track and field and/or cross country individual national champions.
Interview Menu
Becky (Bieber) Shaw ’90 (MS ’91)
Becky (Bieber) Shaw is a two-time individual NCAA champion, one-time team NCAA champion in cross country, one-time team NCAA champion in indoor track and field and a nine-time All-American. She still holds the school record for the indoor and outdoor 800m, both set in 1991, along with the indoor record for the 4x800m relay (1991). Shaw still holds the SUNYAC record for the indoor 3,2000m relay (1991). The Cortland native currently resides in Colorado with her husband and two children.
Some of the questions and answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.
Why did you choose Cortland?
I grew up there; I was a townie. I actually lived on Lincoln Ave, so I would walk up Treetop steps, go up the hill or I’d ride my mountain bike around by the Waterworks to get to class. I grew up in Cortland so I went to Cortland High School and we had the awesome privilege of using SUNY Cortland’s Field House for our indoor track team. Man that was awesome. Living there, I thought, ‘okay, I’m going to go away’, so my freshmen year, I went to SUNY Brockport. I ran cross country there, and it was fine, but then I broke my collarbone skiing. I was out for indoor and outdoor which actually turned out to be a blessing. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, as many people don’t, and I thought ‘I obviously want to do [physical education] or [recreation] or sports something, so I’m just going to go back home.’ Back to Cortland, live at home, save a ton of money and run there since they were so reputable. Jack Daniels was of course coaching back then and I just thought, ‘why am I at Brockport? This is dumb’, so I went home. Cortland is home to me. That’s why.
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What do you remember about your national title season(s)?
1990 was the NCAA cross country championship [in Grinnell, Iowa]. The reason I said I was so blessed to be injured as a freshmen at Brockport is because that gave me the 1990 fall season and also indoor and outdoor of eligibility because you have five years to get in the four years of eligibility. There was one cross country season I did not run at Cortland because I was injured, so I had a whole full year left. I went to grad school and got a masters degree in therapeutic recreation. When I won the half-mile at indoor nationals that year [1991], man, all I remember about that race is it was one of those races where I knew in the first 150m that I was going to win it. I just knew; it was weird. I went out, took the lead and I remember it so vividly. It was almost effortless, if you can believe that. I still remember it very clearly just being like I was weightless. It’s funny what I remember about the outdoor race. I remember not so much about the race itself, but after the race. You have to get drug-tested after you win. So after you win, someone follows you around until you can pee [for drug testing] and I could not for the life of me pee in a cup. I couldn’t and actually, I think I had to go run the 1,500m in between and they have to stay with you. I think they cool down with you, warm up with you and everything. They can’t leave your side once you’ve won and so what I remember about that race is not winning or standing on the podium or anything. It was taking so much time to pee in a cup! I know it’s crazy, but ultimately I had to get into a warm shower because that helps you to actually be able to do it. Then I was able to do it. That’s what I remember about my outdoor race.
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What was winning your first title like?
The cross country one, it’s different because it’s not an individual thing, but it was that team bond. It was amazing that you can accomplish something like that; we just all worked so hard. Man, we were good! Things just click and you think back and go ‘wow, we really had a good team’. The indoor race, I just knew. It felt weightless. I don’t know how else to explain it.
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What is your favorite memory of Cortland?
Oh my gosh, there are so many. Honestly, I don’t know if should say this, but those Saturday night parties! Listen, we all raced really hard and when we got back, we definitely got together and had good times. Never during the week though; we were all really serious about it, but we had some good times. Since I did grow up [in Cortland, my mom loved to make spaghetti dinners for us. So the cross country team would have spaghetti dinners at my house. Also, we had one time where mostly cross country folks went to a race in New York City in Central Park for New Years Eve. We did a midnight run in probably 1989. It was awesome.
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What have you taken from being a part of the team?
We just all held each other up. More so in cross country because it’s such a tight-knit group. It really was the best of times to be honest. Everyone always says college is the best time of your life and it really was. We were just so close and had really good friendships. We learned a lot about relying on each other and picking each other up when we needed to.
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What are you doing now?
I met my husband [Jim Shaw] at SUNY Cortland when we were in grad school. I got my masters degree in therapeutic recreation and he got his in outdoor education/recreation. We then came out to Colorado and he’s been in the ski industry for 45-years now. I did a lot in the ski industry when I first came out 30-years ago, but now I’m in rental management, so I do a lot of nightly rentals of Airbnb’s and VRBO’s [vacation renal companies]. We have rental properties for locals and tourists in Winter Park, Colo., which is a really big resort area for skiing, mountain biking and climbing in the summer. Yeah, rental management, which has nothing to do with anything I did in school. You’ll find that later in life that none of it matters. You would never think that’s something you would do, but it just kind of happened and it worked out great.
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Do you have any advice for Cortland XC/TF athletes now?
It’s not exactly for just athletes, but just in general. Don’t get stuck in a one-way of thinking because you never know the road that you’re going to be on. I still have to remind myself that all the time because I’ll get stuck and it doesn’t have to be that way; there are a lot of different options. We tell our kids, who are 21 and 19 that they can slow down. If you need another semester or whatever, you should just take it. Slow down and don’t stress out so much because you have your whole life to work. That may sound like a cliché, but it’s so true. Stay in the moment and don’t worry so much about later. Everyday is different and you never know where you’re going to end up. It’s OK to take a breath and slow down.
