After two years away from track and field, Trinity Shadd-Ceres rediscovered her love for the sport this season at Creighton with the help of her coach, Chris Gannon.
The long jumper transferred to Creighton to play volleyball, but after conversations with head coach Brian Rosen, she realized she could compete in both sports. She said Gannon helped her a lot.
“I think he’s a big contributor to finding my love back for it,” Shadd-Ceres told Hurrdat Sports. “It’s very easy to talk to him and just be real. I’m a very serious athlete on the track and don’t ever really smile much, but he’s just someone I can go to and be real with and then make a joke out of it and make me laugh. He’s for sure the person that has changed making the sport so serious to still being competitive but having fun.”
Shadd-Ceres returned to competition at the Musco Twilight on May 2 after finishing spring volleyball. Prior to that, the Ontario, Canada, native last competed in track and field in June of 2024, where she took first at the Canadian Olympic trials.
“It was my first time competing with a team again,” Shadd-Ceres said. “It was just fun getting to be around so many different people, and a whole bunch of different events, and just realizing that we all come together to represent something bigger than ourselves, which is Creighton. We all get to do what we love and be a team.”
Shadd-Ceres won her first three competitions then finished sixth at the NCAA First Round to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore. She jumped 21 feet, 4.75 inches to earn a sixth-place finish. She also became Creighton track’s first All-American in school history.
“It still really hasn’t hit me,” Shadd-Ceres said. “Obviously, I’m so grateful and just excited that I could even make it to nationals and make the finals. To become a first-team All-American is a pretty sweet feeling, but I didn’t really set any goals in terms of placements or numbers this year. It was kind of having fun as my main goal.”
Consider that goal accomplished. She traveled to Eugene with two coaches, her trainer and a teammate. Her mother, Crystal Shadd, came from Canada to watch Trinity compete.
“It was really special having my mom there,” Shadd-Ceres said. “She has only watched me compete in college twice in three years, including volleyball. She was just really excited, especially seeing me do something that the last time I did was with her in high school. She was just really happy and proud of me, and obviously I’m trying to make her proud, so it was just a full circle moment.”
Shadd-Ceres credits her training for helping her succeed at the NCAA Championships.
“You just have to trust your training,” Shadd-Ceres said. “You can’t treat it differently than any other meet I competed in the rest of the season. So trusting my training, because everything that I’ve done has gotten me to that point. Just being grateful, but also just there’s still so much more I haven’t touched. I’ve trained for it and I know what to expect, what type of numbers to expect, but also I thrive in environments like that and pressured environments, just bigger atmospheres, so I know that being in those types of atmospheres I do normally better than I would at tinier meets.”
Shadd-Ceres did well all season. She placed first at the Musco Twilight meet in Iowa City. She then won the Nebraska Spring Tune-Up a week later. Her leap of 21 feet qualified her for the NCAA First Round.
At the Big East Outdoor Championships, she jumped 20 feet, 10.5 inches to become the Creighton track team’s first Big East champion.
“I’ve really grown the past two years being in college and seeing myself as more than just an athlete and your numbers, because you aren’t just that at the end of the day,” Shadd-Ceres said. “So, just trying to love myself as a person and have joy with myself as a person outside of athletics has really allowed me to thrive more.”
Shadd-Ceres did just that. Named the Bluejays’ first female to win All-Big-East honors in outdoor track, Shadd-Ceres put together one of Creighton’s best track seasons in school history. She became the Bluejay track team’s first All-American and first student-athlete in track to qualify for the NCAA Championships.
“It was awesome, all glory to God for sure, and the people around me,” Shadd-Ceres said. “I couldn’t have done it without them. Without the support of Brian and the whole volleyball coaching staff and my teammates, I wouldn’t even be doing track in the first place. So, it’s just the community at Creighton speaks differently, and it’s very different than at most programs. Without the people around me, I definitely would not have accomplished or achieved anything I did this season.”
Shadd-Ceres had the opportunity to compete in track at Creighton because the school revived its track and field program in 2022, with Gannon, Creighton’s cross country coach, spearheading the efforts. Gannon announced his resignation on June 18, though he will remain with the program in a part-time capacity.
Shadd-Ceres said she’s enjoyed representing the Bluejays and building on what Gannon’s created.
“I never would have expected doing track again, so just being able to represent a program is something really special that not many people ever get to experience,” Shadd-Ceres said. “I’m grateful for that, but also just it’s an up-and-coming program, and being able to be here at a crucial part is really awesome.”
Accomplishing so much with limited preparation has Shadd-Ceres setting her sights even higher for 2027.
“Next year for sure I want more,” Shadd-Ceres said. “I’m very grateful for what I had this year, but I want to win a natty. So that’s for sure something that I want, and I’ll have more time next year in training, so I think that’s realistic.”
For now, Shadd-Ceres is back in Canada for some time off. She will return to campus ahead of volleyball court sessions at the end of July.
“We have a really talented group, and great coaches, so I think we can accomplish a lot of big things,” Shadd-Ceres said. “Winning the Big East is a goal of ours, making the Final Four, and a Natty would be awesome. So just growing as a team, learning each other — we have a lot of new pieces, but I think we have a great team and a lot of potential to go far this year and do good things.”
