Prep Track & Field: Blue & Golden Opportunity
Kane Carrigan has been on both ends of the spectrum as far as high school sports are concerned.
The Harrisburg High School senior has been a part of the team sport, being a four year football player and two year basketball player.
However, where the senior Bulldog is most comfortable is on the individual side, competing in the shot put and discus for the Harrisburg track and field team.
His dedication and handwork have paid off for Carrigan, as he owns the school record in both events, but in the case of long term, his efforts have given him something he never thought would be accomplished.
Late last month, Carrigan signed a National Letter of Intent with the Naval Academy and will be throwing for the Midshipmen this fall.
It's that aspect of team sport and individualism that Carrigan believes will help prepare him for the Navy.
"Everyone is working together to achieve the same goal," Carrigan said. "It's just like high school (sports), whether its the team or you by yourself, your main goal is to always come out on top."
Surrounded by his parents Chris and Karla, along with his head coach Zach Cox and Blue and Gold officer, Bill Searcy, Carrigan is looking forward to making the most of his opportunity.
"My mom and dad are pretty proud and I'm proud of myself too," Carrigan said. "I'm pretty excited about moving away and looking forward to seeing something new.
"I've put in a lot of time - especially with track the last couple of years - and once I got an idea that I had the opportunity to go to a Division 1 school, I made that my sole focus and worked even harder."
Carrigan broke the school record in both the shot put and discuss, throwing 56-feet-11.25 in the shot put at the Edwardsville Invitational earlier this year and last year at the Sectional at Triad, Carrigan had a toss of 177-feet-5 in the discus.
Carrigan spoke of an outing that Cox took him too in Ohio earlier in the year, where he got to work with Kurt Roberts, who currently had the No. 1 throw in the country in the shot put and along with former Bulldog greats and friends like Isaac Ingram and J.C. Lambert, Carrigan hasn't come up short in seeing out guidance.
"It's a great feeling to know that you have influenced and been a part of Kane's like and help him accomplish his goals," Cox said. "It takes a special person to achieve the things he has done. He's helped me achieve some coaching goals that I had in mind when I first started coaching track.
"In my first year, I would have never expected to have a kid come up with the throws he has. Those are special marks and looking back on the history of great southern Illinois track and field athletes, you probably can't name more than five guys that have done those things in the last 25 or 30 years."
More so, while Cox said he couldn't be more proud of Carrigan and looking forward to see all that he can accomplish, there's more to Carrigan than just being an athlete.
"This is a great honor for him - to serve our country - it's refreshing to know we still have that kind of caliber of young men coming out of high school, but more importantly, coming out of Harrisburg."
Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Harrisburg Daily Register. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.