Lancaster Mennonite’s Lindsey Shertzer is the New Era’s Female Athlete of the Year. She had an incredible senior year on the cross country fields and tracks across the area. And from the sounds of it, she’s going to have a pretty incredible six months coming up. Read on, from my story in Thursday’s New Era:

For someone who wound up getting a storybook ending, Lindsey Shertzer’s senior year sure didn’t start off on the right foot.

Make that her left shin.

Lancaster Mennonite’s distance runner extraordinaire suffered a stress fracture in her left shin midway through the cross country season last fall.

“It was torture,” Shertzer said. “I couldn’t do what I wanted to do.”

In a word, run.

After missing a month a half, she returned in style, setting the school record with an 18:12 in a meet at Manheim Township.

Shertzer settled for third in the Lancaster-Lebanon League Meet – behind winner Sydney Clark from Hempfield and Justine Barr from Lampeter-Strasburg – but she turned on the jets in her next meet, winning the District 3 Double-A title (in 19:18.53) before finishing eighth in the state.

“First district championship in cross country,” she said, “so that was pretty sentimental.”

Shertzer also helped Mennonite win the team title in the District 3 Meet, and finish second in the PIAA Meet behind
St. Basil Academy. So despite the shin injury, Shertzer - and the Blazers - accomplished quite a bit last fall.

Now here’s the storybook ending part:

After an injury-plagued – yet successful - cross country season, Shertzer stole the show on the track this spring, grabbing the gold in the 1,600-meter run in all three big meets: L-L League (5:08.44), District 3 (5:08.18) and the granddaddy, the PIAA (4:55.92).

And the state gold, the first individual gold medal won by a Lancaster Mennonite athlete, came in her final event representing the Blazers.

“Talk about great timing,” Shertzer said. “It was my very last race and my very first state gold. So that was pretty cool.”

Tack on the 3,200 championship in the L-L League Meet (11:06.4), and a runner-up finish in that event in the District 3 Meet (10:45.14), and Shertzer earned five gold medals, one silver medal and one bronze medal in cross country and track combined this school year.

For her efforts, Shertzer is the New Era’s Female Athlete of the Year.

“There were a couple of times this year when I was ready to throw in the towel,” said Shertzer, who lives with her family in Washington Boro. “But my dad kept encouraging me to finish strong.”

Shertzer’s dad, Nelson, is Mennonite’s cross country coach and the Blazers’ distance coach during track season. He has tutored Lindsey from the start.

“Great coach,” she said. “Even better dad.”

Shertzer also inherited athletic genes from her mom, Kim, who ran track and played field hockey and basketball at Hempfield. Nelson, a Mennonite grad, is an avid distance runner.

But there came a time this school year when Shertzer had to make a major decision – a decision not even her parents could help her with.

She had athletic scholarship offers on the table from Penn State, Syracuse and Wisconsin – all powerhouse Division 1 cross country and track programs.

But Shertzer was also interested in Youth With a Mission (YWAM), a nondenominational organization that does outreach programs around the world.

Her older brother, Weston, participated in YWAM three years ago, and Shertzer had traveled to Central America three times with her church.

Her dilemma: Full ride to college for cross country and track or YWAM?

And how did she decide? She headed to the mountains – alone.

“Silent retreat,” Shertzer said. “I was in turmoil over the decision.”

A family friend has a cabin north of Harrisburg, and that’s where Shertzer went to contemplate her immediate future.

Her decision?

YWAM.

“I wanted to have peace about it and have no regrets,” Shertzer said, “and I haven’t gone back on it since making the decision.”

So Shertzer called Penn State, Syracuse and Wisconsin and said thanks, but no thanks.

In September she’s going to Chile for three months of training, and then she’ll be part of an outreach team that will be sent somewhere in the world for three more months.

“This is what I was meant to do,” Shertzer said. “I’m sure of it.”

When she returns from her mission, Shertzer will attend Harrisburg Area Community College and major in respiratory therapy. She said she’ll likely compete in local road races and maybe take a stab at a marathon someday.

“There is no way I’d ever give up running,” she said, “unless I break both of my legs.”

Shertzer has already survived a stress fracture, which interrupted – but didn’t stop – her unforgettable senior year.