Shelby Pickering has been a standout soccer and basketball player since her freshman year at Lee Academy.

She has decided to add cross country in her junior year, and her strategy is a bit different.

“I just think, the faster I run, the sooner it’s over with,” she said with a laugh. “It’s harder [than soccer], but I just push myself, try as hard as I can.”

Pickering is one of five Lee soccer players who are also participating in cross country this fall.

Pickering and her brother Drew, also a standout athlete, are both playing soccer and running cross country this fall. They’ve quickly become the No. 1 runners for the Pandas.

The three other soccer players who have picked up cross country are Marci Moors, Shelby Pickering’s teammate, Tom Bird and Sam Irish, who are on the boys soccer team.

Shelby Pickering finished 18th in Saturday’s Sectional Invitational, which featured runners from all four classes. She was the top Class D finisher.

That result was sandwiched between her four goals in a soccer game Friday, and four goals and three assists in a game Monday.

The Pickering siblings swept the top two spots at a race in Lee last Tuesday.

Drew Pickering did not run in sectionals. The Lee boys had a soccer game Saturday.

At most schools that allow student-athletes to participate in two sports, students typically have to commit to one sport, agreeing to attend that sport’s practices and games or meets before those of the second sport. Shelby Pickering said all five of the two-sport athletes have picked soccer as their first sport.

That means the Pickerings aren’t training specifically for cross country, which makes their feats even more impressive.

“I trained once with them,” she said. “We run in soccer practice and I run on my own, but nothing serious.”

This is the first year Lee officials have allowed students to compete in two sports during the same season. Panda athletic director Randy Harris said in years past student-athletes have had trouble maintaining their grades along with participating in two sports.

Harris said after Drew and Shelby Pickering asked him to reconsider the policy, he and principal Gary Haynes decided to give it a try for the 2003-04 school year.

“I figured, what the hey, it’ll get me in shape,” Shelby Pickering said. “[My brother and I] both tried running this year. … We got a new cross country coach [Todd Thurlow] this year and he really wanted more people to come out and try it.”

Minutemen recognize rival Bucks

The Stearns football team took a moment to thank its rival from Bucksport before Friday night’s game in Millinocket.

Bucksport was one of several schools that donated money to the Stearns football program earlier this year, and with the team in town for a game, the Minutemen wanted to publicly recognize the Golden Bucks.

School systems in the Millinocket area were affected by the shutdown of Great Northern Paper mills in Millinocket and East Millinocket, which put 1,300 people out of work. The mills were shut down during bankruptcy proceedings and mills were later sold to Brascan Corp.

The mill in East Millinocket has restarted, but with a reduced work force.

Bucksport coach Joel Sankey said the team decided to send some of the proceeds from a Lift-a-thon to the Stearns program.

“They’re a mill town, we’re a mill town, and these kids have been through a tough time,” Sankey said after Friday’s game. “We wanted to do whatever we could do.”

The Minutemen said they appreciated the gesture.

“We definitely really needed that and it helped us a lot,” Stearns quarterback Derek DiFrederico said. “We had a couple of schools send that money, and we really thank them for that.”

Stearns held off Bucksport 21-20 in a key matchup for the two LTC Class C teams.

Lee teams thinking of McLain

The Lee boys and girls soccer teams and cross country squads are wearing armbands with the number 21 in honor of Sarah McLain, the 14-year-old Springfield girl who was struck by lightning and died during a youth soccer game in New Brunswick July 20.

McLain was going to be an eighth-grader at Mount Jefferson Junior High School in Lee this fall.

She was younger than many of the girls on the Lee varsity soccer team, but the Pandas know Sarah’s sister, Crystal McLain, who runs cross country and cheers for Lee.

Soccer players Cassandra Thompson and Shelby Pickering said some of the Lee freshmen played with Sarah McLain.

“All the sports are wearing them,” Thompson said. “It’s just a way to remember her.”

Jessica Bloch can be reached at 990-8193, 1-800-310-8600 or jbloch@bangordailynews.net.