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The North Sprinter Formerly Known as Amy Shevchuk
By Emily (Estey) Taylor

In addition to the excitement of indoor track & field competition this past weekend, there was another event of interest to many North Running alumni – the wedding of ‘97 grad Amy Shevchuk. She was a solid member of the infamous class of ’97. They had an impressive 4-year outdoor girls track campaign with a composite win-loss league record of 34-5 while they racked up over a bakers dozen in school records.

Amy’s contributions both on and off the track were an important part of the group’s success. On the track Amy was a strong 100m and 200m sprinter, and her league reputation as a fierce competitor on the basketball court carried over to the track leaving many of her rivals intimidated. Off the track her outgoing personality made her a very supportive (and humorous) teammate – there was never a dull moment with Amy at practice.

Whereas she was the ideal teammate, Amy did have one drawback from a coach’s point of view. Her stubborn personality made it a bit more challenging to capitalize on her untapped track & field potential.

It took Coach Estey four years to convince Amy to run a 400m race, and in the last few weeks of her senior season he proved his point when she became the critical missing link to the school record-holding, State Class champion 4x400 relay team. Amy never admitted to liking the 400, and never ran an open race, but after seeing her success in the relay even she can’t deny that she was good at it.

In her very first attempt she ran the second leg of our 4x400 in the fast heat of the State Class B meet in Reading, MA. Not bad for a first try – Amy clocked a 61.6 and helped the relay team (consisting of Kate Beith, Amy, Becky Torre, and myself) to win the State Class B meet, breaking both the meet record and the school record. After qualifying to advance to the State Finals in Shrewsbury, Amy tried valiantly to convince us to end on a high note and call it a season. But, now that our relay team had finally found the magic we weren’t going to let her get out of it that easily. The next weekend we dragged Amy across the state and went on to finish 4th in the State Championships. To prove it wasn’t beginner’s luck Amy blazed the track in a 60.4 leg! Thanks to the last minute addition of Amy, the 4x400 school record still stands today at 4:05.8.

Besides her dark horse success as a quarter-miler, Amy also proved her track & field prowess by contributing to the following school record performances:

Sprint Medley relay (Kate Beith, Amy Shevchuk, Alisha Durant, Emily Estey) – 4:14.6
This relay team won the Muscato relays all 4 years and also won the State Class B Relays for 3 consecutive years. The school-record setting performance also set the All-State record and held the Class B record for 6 years. The dominance of this particular relay team was well known, and in the record setting year (1997) the 2nd place team trailed by more than ½ a lap.

4x200 relay (Alisha Durant, Kate Beith, Emily Estey, Amy Shevchuk) – 1:47.6. Amy was the only true 200M runner on this team, the rest joining her from a scattered array of events.
This record has since been broken by the impressive team of Caitlin Hurley, Leah Seward, Jen Deschenes, and Amy Billing (2002).

Now to the wedding!

Amy was married to Kory Kiser on January 17, 2004 at the Universalist Church in Foxboro. The church boasted beautiful stained glass windows and was decorated with silver and white pew bows. The bridesmaids (including ’97 North grad Christy Bradley) and the Maid of Honor (’95’ North track alumni / sister of the bride, Julie Shevchuk) wore strapless pale blue dresses with matching pashminas. The reception followed at the Lake View Pavilion, which was very elegant with a wintry theme of snowflakes and white lights. Keeping in motif, the tables were aptly labeled (Matt and I sat at “Snowball” with another member of the 4x400 team, Becky Torre). Highlights of the day were their touching (and teary) wedding vows, the toast by Amy’s mother, Kory’s surprise serenade at the reception, and of course, the dancing!

Amy and Kory met while in Oceanside, CA and they currently reside in Windham, CT.

*Coach's Note : This group was indeed infamous because when they weren't busy toasting the competition they were finding ways to get in hot water with the coach. All one has to do is look at the description of the wedding to know this isn't one of my articles - (matching pashminas??).