Cook High School student-athlete Shaniria McCormick has made quite the impression in her first year competing at the varsity level. She earned First Team All-Region honors as an outfielder for the Cook softball team, and most recently she competed in not one but three separate events at the GHSA Class 2A Track and Field State Championships.
With three more years of high school remaining for McCormick to grow and get better, there’s a lot that should both worry opponents and make her Cook coaches smile.
McCormick is the starting center fielder for the Cook softball team and bats ninth in the order. She was a First Team All-Region selection for her standout performance this past season in which she helped lead the Lady Hornets to a region title with a 16-1 record in Region 1-2A and a 28-3 overall record.
On the track team, McCormick participates in three events: the 100-meter dash, the 200, and the long jump. She recently competed in all three events at the 2024 GHSA Class 2A Track and Field State Championships held at East Jackson High School in Commerce, Georgia, and qualified for the finals in the long jump and the 100.
McCormick finished 10th in the state in the long jump with a distance of 16 feet, 4 ½ inches. She finished sixth in the state in the 100 with a time of 12.29 seconds. Although she did not advance to the state finals in the 200, her time of 25.28 was good enough for 10th place overall.
Tya Brown, who teaches at Cook Middle School and is in her first year as a coach with the Cook High School track program, said she could tell right out of the gate that McCormick was going to be a special athlete to work with.
“My first impression of Shaniria was that she was going to be one of the top standout athletes on our team,” Brown said. “When I first saw her run I thought, ‘Man, she is fast!’”
Cook head softball coach Rusty Beale said that McCormick is just as impressive away from the field as she is when she steps between the lines.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Beale said. “Shaniria is a great athlete in the sports she plays, but what really sets her apart from other talented athletes is that she is simply a special person. She really is unbelievable. People tend to gravitate to her wherever she goes because she is just that kind of person.”
McCormick grew up in Cook County and began playing T-ball as soon as she was eligible to. Her track career came around a little later when she was in the fifth grade. She said it was during field day events that she really learned how fast she was.
“I kept winning the 40-yard dash against everybody else,” McCormick said.
She joined the middle school track team the next year as she entered sixth grade. Taking advantage of her newfound skill, McCormick was drawn to the 100, the 200, and the 4×100 relay in her first year of running track. She soon dropped the relay event and began competing in the long jump.
Beale said that McCormick stood out when she made the jump from middle school to the varsity team; it was, of course, her speed that got his attention in the beginning, but he also was struck with her maturity, a rare trait for a freshman.
“Sometimes when freshmen come out to play with the varsity that first year, they can be shy and kind of stay to themselves, but Shaniria didn’t do that,” Beale said. “She is very easy to get along with.”
McCormick said that math and language arts are her two favorite subjects. She also said that while any decision about what she wants to do after graduating is a long way away, she has thought about an area that interests her.
“I think I would like something in healthcare,” she said.
Whatever she decides to do as she continues to enjoy her high school days, both of her coaches agree that McCormick’s future is certainly a bright one.
“She will have the capability to go do something special when her high school career is done,” Beale said.
“I think she has the potential to do whatever and go wherever she wants to,” Brown said. “The sky’s the limit.”
You can expect to hear college coaches knocking on her door very soon as well.
