Flexible flyer; Colonials' Pawlik does it all.

Byline: Jim Wilson 

SHREWSBURY - At the start of the season, the Shrewsbury High boys' track team put together a checklist of things it hoped to accomplish. The Colonials crossed the biggest item off that list on Monday when they captured the Mid-Wach A championship.

Tomorrow at the Central Mass. Championships at Fitchburg State College, Shrewsbury's Steve Pawlik still has a few things of his own to check off.

The senior co-captain is looking to defend his Division 1 title in the 110 hurdles, having won last year's meet in 15.12 seconds. Pawlik also finished seventh at the state meet (15.28) and 11th at the New England championships.

Pawlik is off to a good start, winning the 110 hurdles at the Class Meet in 15.20, then taking the Mid-Wach title on Monday with a time of 15.06. That translated to a 14.78 hand time, which is a personal record.

"It was a good time and I felt like I was cooking, but I hit a few of the hurdles and that slowed me down a little," Pawlik said. "You just have to put up your blinders and keep focused and do your best."

In the days of AAU basketball and other travel teams, Pawlik is a rarity, excelling at three sports - soccer, basketball and track.

"I think it will help me a lot, but it keeps my interest up," Pawlik said. "Some kids might get burned out playing just one sport. I like playing each sport. I don't really have a favorite."

When Pawlik was in seventh grade, his 14-and-under AAU basketball team competed at the nationals in Orlando, Fla. As a freshman, Pawlik played football for Shrewsbury and was the varsity kicker, but by his sophomore year, he returned to the soccer pitch in order to kick something full-time.

"You just miss all the other sports and that's a big thing for me," he said.

While most of his opponents run cross-country in the fall and indoor track in the winter, Pawlik feels that playing a variety of sports helps him excel at each.

"I do a lot of stretching, there's a lot of flexibility that goes into it," Pawlik said. "In any sport, I have different shapes. There's soccer shape, which is good for endurance, and basketball shape, which is quickness going up and down the court, and there's track shape, which is the hurdles and what I do there. The thing that keeps constant is stretching a lot because I keep in good shape from basketball and soccer and everything falls into place."

It's that flexibility that has made him a top hurdler. Pawlik remembers his freshman goal was just to get over the hurdles without tripping. The second time he recorded a pretty good time for a beginner and it convinced him to keep working at it.

As a sophomore, Pawlik finished second in the 110 hurdles at the class meet (15.41) and third at the Central Mass. Championships (15.67). For the past few years, Pawlik and Westboro's Jared Engelking have battled for the 110 hurdles title. With Engelking graduating last year, Pawlik wasn't sure who would step up this season. So far, Leominster High junior Anthony Monteiro has been pushing him, as the Blue Devils record-holder ran a 15.08 at the Mid-Wach meet to finish second.

"It's weird how track works because one year, you might think you have no competition," Pawlik said. "This year, I didn't feel like I had too much, but I had people popping up left and right."

Pawlik also has been pushed by junior teammate Jimmy Flynn, who accounted for 34 points at the Mid-Wach Championships, winning the 200, 400 and long jump, and finishing fourth in the javelin.

"They keep pushing each other and that's awesome," Shrewsbury coach Ian Butterfield said.

Butterfield is happy to have a lot of momentum heading into tomorrow's event.

"Monday was just the best and this season has been the best," Butterfield said. "We always compare this season to two years ago when we won our first league title outdoors since I've been here. That year, we went 5-0 and had to go up to North Middlesex and they beat us, 73-72, in the last race of the day. It ruined our 6-0 record and we went into the league meet and everything went right, but it just had that one little mark on a good season."

Butterfield said having an athlete like Pawlik is comforting because he knows that unless disaster strikes, his team is going to put up points in his event.

"He's a solid, intelligent kid who has been very successful in what he tries to do," Butterfield said. "This is a really smart team and it's fun because they understand the little things about the sport. They're figuring things out because track is a really technical sport. The kids use that to their advantage instead of getting burned like some teams."

Pawlik will attend UMass this fall along with his brother, Tony, who graduated from Shrewsbury in 2003. The younger Pawlik has been accepted by the Eisenbury School of Management and will major in business and psychology.

Pawlik hops to open a business someday, and while he has no plans to try out for a varsity sport in college, he's looking at intramurals instead. In fact, Pawlik might expand his horizons even further.

"I want to do something different," Pawlik said. "I play tennis a lot, so I might want to try that."

Chances are, he'll probably excel at that, too.

NAME: SHREWSBURY HIGH SCHOOL 

ART: PHOTO

PHOTOG: T&G Staff/TOM RETTIG

CUTLINE: Shrewsbury's Steve Pawlik will be looking to defend his Division 1 title in the 110 hurdles at the Central Mass. Championships.