RISE magazine selected Broken Arrow High School Thomas Shannon as Gatorade Oklahoma Boys’ Soccer Player of the Year

In its third decade of honoring the nation’s best high school athletes, Gatorade joined with RISE Magazine to name senior midfielder THOMAS SHANNON of BROKEN ARROW HIGH as its 2007-08 Oklahoma Boys’ Soccer Player of the Year.

The 6-foot senior midfielder scored 15 goals and passed for 14 assists this season, leading the Tigers (11-4-1) to the Class 6A state quarterfinals, where they fell to Edmond North. A returning First Team All-Metro selection as named by the Tulsa World and a three-time All-District and All-Conference honoree, Shannon concluded his career with 43 goals and 29 assists. Thomas was recently selected for All-State honors as a senior.  He has also led the Tulsa Soccer Club to five United States Youth Soccer State Cup titles as a captain for the past seven years.

Shannon has maintained a 4.40 weighted GPA in the classroom. An annual participant in the Salvation Army Christmas Toy Drive, he volunteers on behalf of multiple community-service initiatives, collecting items for the Broken Arrow Neighbors for Need program, speaking publicly as a role model to elementary school students as part of the school’s Tiger Pal project and donating his time to Broken Arrow’s Beat AIDS campaign.

“He can just change the game by himself,” said Eric Marshall, an assistant coach at rival Union High. “He’s got very good pace, he’s very technical on the ball and he reads the game very well.”

Shannon has signed a National Letter of Intent to play soccer at the University of Memphis this fall.