“Rest in Peace”: Track & Field Community Heartbroken as 23-Year-Old Champion Athlete Passes Away Months After Graduation
Shelby Daniele. That’s not a name Fresno natives would not know. Local audiences thronged the Veterans Memorial Stadium in numbers to watch a local young athlete compete and bring in accolade after accolade. Remember that blistering 23.73s across 200m—the second-best in Central Section history, historian Ron Blackwood said—to help Buchanan High School clinch the 2019 CIF State championship? Deep community roots saw her move out of Fresno the following year with dreams of pursuing a job to give back to society. Five years later, a crowd is gathered at the same stadium yet again, but this time, for a different reason… On Friday, friends, family, and countless others arrived in hundreds. Some cried, some hung their head low, and others discussed the five-time All-Big West honoree’s impact on the community. But one common theme settled within conversations and thoughts: The kind of person she was. A fellow athlete’s father, Brian, credited the school record holder in women’s in...