Double-duty: Skwierawski making her mark in two sports
Shorewood standout stars in soccer and track
SHOREWOOD – At this time of year there are two guiding forces in Fiona Skwierawski's life.
“My mom made a vast spread sheet that tells me what I'm doing each day, whether it's a rest day, soccer, track, both and things like that,” the Shorewood junior said. “A lot of it is I have to listen to my body and what it's saying.”
A precise schedule and smart choices when it comes to her health. That is the bare-bones answer Skwierawski provides when asked how she handles all that comes with being one of the area's top multi-sport athletes. She actually stretches the limits of that term, pulling
double duty for the Greyhounds’ soccer and track and field teams this spring.
On the pitch, the University of Minnesota recruit is a high-scoring midfielder/ forward for one of the state’s top Division 3 teams. On the track, she is a 400-meter runner who ranked 13th individually in Division 2 and is part of the state’s topranked 1,600 relay for all divisions. She’s different.
“She does really care about Shorewood athletics,” said Sarah Richards, who shares the soccer head coaching duties at Shorewood with Katie Kalt. “To play these two sports and be on a competitive club team, she’s got a true commitment.”
This is Skwierawski’s second year pulling double-duty. As a freshman, she was a second-team all-Woodland soccer selection who also helped the Greyhounds 400 relay place third and the 1,600 relay reach the finals of the Division 2 state meet.
This year she is having an all-state season in soccer, ranking seventh in goals (28) and ninth in points (64) through Wednesday. On the track, she finished second at the Woodland Conference meet Tuesday in the 400 (1 minute 1.02 seconds) and led off the team’s first-place 1,600 relay. She has a seasonbest of 1:00.59 In the open 400 but has broke 60 seconds on the relay.
“To play these two sports and be on a competitive club team, she’s got a true commitment.”
Sarah Richards, co-soccer coach at Shoerwood, on Fiona Skwierawski
How it all began
The partnership between the two teams has gone famously well, though initially it wasn’t something Skwierawski was thinking about. Soccer has always been her game. The idea that she could also run track wasn’t on her radar until Shorewood track coach Dominic Newman put it there the summer before her freshman year.
“It was just a random day,” Skwierawski said. “I saw Dom in the summer going into my freshman year and he said you ran really well your eighth-grade year. He said are you thinking running in high school and I said ‘I have soccer, so I don’t know.’ He turned and said ‘I’ve had girls double up before, usually it’s club but think about it.’”
There is something about soccer players and track. Former Division 1 state meet 800 record holder Cami Davre of Whitefish Bay came from a soccer background. So did Bianca Stubler, a 400 runner from Sussex Hamilton who completed her senior season at Wisconsin this spring.
Closer to home former Marquette University standouts Cara and Emily Jacobson pull the double as club soccer players who also helped the Greyhounds finish ninth in the 3,200 relay in 2010. A few years later their sister, Allison, another club soccer player who went on to play at Marquette, helped the 400 relay medal at state in 2014. On the boys side, 2007 Shorewood state cross country champion Kevin McCollow was also a soccer player.
Add current Greyhound Bella Lozier to the list. The junior started as a soccer/track athlete but decided to focus on track this spring.
Newman has long been a proponent of the multi-sport athlete and has been impressed with the athleticism of soccer players in general.
“Why not?,” Newman said about accommodating athletes from other teams. “I just feel like coaches should create those opportunities a little more. … If I was rigid then she wouldn’t do track.”
While Skwierawski is a strong runner, she is special in soccer.
Kalt and Richards move her around the formation depending on the situation. Her statistics support her ability as a playmaker, but the Gophers recruited her as a defender, a position she plays during club ball.
“The things that pop out to me are not only speed, which clearly makes her such a great track athlete, but it’s also her ability to accelerate with the ball,” Richards said. “You see that more commonly in boys and men’s soccer, but in girls soccer someone who can do that really stands out. … You can see it in every game.”
And you can see it in every game, not just because Skwierawski often displays that burst in matches but also because she has played in every game this season. Her dual roles have also had little affect on her role with the track team.
Potential dilemma on horizon
However, if all goes as the Greyhounds soccer and track and field teams hope, Skwierawski will have a tough call to make.
The WIAA Division 3 state soccer tournament is June 25 at UIhlein Soccer Park in Milwaukee. Across the state in La Crosse, the state track meet will be taking place.
Skwierawski had a similar conflict two years ago. That time she ran in the 400 relay, but when meet was delayed had to leave before the 1,600 relay in order to make the 31⁄2 hour ride back to town for the sectional final game.
This year the soccer semifinals and finals will be played on the same day, meaning a cross-state sprint to compete in both events probably won’t be possible.
It’s a potential conflict Skwierawski and her coaches won’t give much thought to until it becomes a reality.
“All my teammates are very supportive and are like ‘How did the meet go?’ or ‘How was the soccer game?’,” she said. “That helps because in the back of my head I never have to think are they made at me because I wasn’t at the game. They all support me through this, which really helps.”