Former Northrop track & field star Shaton Vaughn was one of 12 Indiana Hoosiers’ competitors to earn All-American honors in track. The school released the information on Tuesday, May 26th.
“I wasn’t aware of it at first, but then my teammates and my parents and friends were telling me about it,” Vaughn said. “It means a lot because my teammates helped me get there.”
Vaughn received All-American recognition for his accomplishments in the Men’s Distance Medley Relay. He shares the honor with fellow DMR competitors Kyle Mau, Matthew Schadler, and Cooper Williams.
“Cooper was one of the guys that I looked up to and so was Kyle because they both worked hard. And I got to know Matthew more too and he also works hard,” Vaughn said. “And I feel like we all just pushed each other during the DMR to be better.”
This past indoor track season was Vaughn’s first season competing in the DMR. He was part of a DMR team that finished second at the Indiana Relays and took third at the Alex Wilson Invitational.
“At first I was nervous and I just didn’t want to let anybody down,” Vaughn said. “But I started to get more comfortable in some more race that we had for the DMR. And I started to realize that I can actually do this and help the team out and that I’m the best option for that leg for that race.”
Vaughn has also had plenty of success as a hurdler. He secured a fourth-place finish in the 60 Meter hurdles at a 2019 indoor meet against Tennessee. In the outdoor season, he took first in the 400 Meter Hurdles at the 2019 Arizona State Invitational.
At IU, Vaughn is coached by Ron Helmer. Helmer has coached the Hoosiers for 13 seasons. He has coached national champions, been named “Big Ten Coach of the Year” four times, and coached 491 All-Americans.
“He really pushes us,” Vaughn said. “Even when we think we’re not gonna make it through a rep or something like that or be able to finish the workout, he’s there just to keep us going, and it helps out. And the speeches that he gives us and the emails that he sends us; it’s just constant reminders that we’ve just gotta work hard.”
When Vaughn was at Northrop, he had several accomplishments. Some of his best accomplishments were winning back-to-back state championships in the 300 Meter Hurdles (2017 and 2018). The first time Vaughn won, he was not expecting to finish first.
“It was more of a [mindset of] ’just go out there and PR and just run the race. Don’t look at the clock, just finish it,’” Vaughn said. “The second time it was more ‘okay now I have to win it because I won it the year before’. It was more [pressure] but I was happy with how my senior year ended out.”
One of Vaughn’s Hoosier teammates is fellow Northrop grad, Jalen Royal. Royal and Vaughn were both part of IU’s 2018-2019 freshman class. Some of Royal’s accomplishments at Northrop included placing fourth in the 800 Meter Run in both 2017 and 2018. As an IU freshman, he won the 4X400 Meter Relay in four different indoor meets.
“Jalen’s pushed me, I feel like, the most out of everyone, because when we were teammates at Northrop, he was faster than me in the 4, so it was always me trying to catch up to him,” Vaughn said. “And then, now that we’re in college, it’s still me trying to catch up to him, but in the 600 instead of the 400 now. I feel like he’s pushing me to be better.”
