Column: Damien High’s Zach Shinnick on track for family bragging rights

There’s nothing quite like a gathering of the Shinnick family at the dinner table. Sports talk, not eating, is always topic No. 1. That’s what happens when one grandfather was a 13-year NFL player and former UCLA standout who had five sons, all of whom excelled in sports, and the other grandfather was a high jumper at USC.

One of those sons, Adam Shinnick, married a standout high school swimmer, Christy Parker. Their 17-year-old son, Zach, has become one of the fastest track runners in the nation as a junior at La Verne Damien.

“It makes for fun family dinners,” Zach said. “I get bragging rights.”

Saturday’s Arcadia Invitational at Arcadia High School will bring together Shinnick and the nation’s top runner, Michael Norman of Vista Murrieta, though they will be avoiding each other for now.

Shinnick will run in the 100 and 200. He has the state’s fastest 100 time at 10.53 seconds. Norman, the defending state champion in the 200 and 400, will run in the 400. Shinnick finished second to Norman in the 200 and third in the 400 at the state championships as a sophomore. The meet starts at 5:25 p.m.

Adam Shinnick says chasing Norman is like “chasing Superman around the track.”

Zach likes the challenge of trying to run down Norman.

“It’s definitely difficult and I have not done it yet, and I don’t think anyone has except one person,” he said. “I try not to think about it too much. He’s one of my really good friends. He’s going to do what he’s going to do and I have to focus on myself. He’s going to run his crazy times. I know if I’m anywhere near him, I’m going to run fast times as well.”

Shinnicks don’t go down easily. The patriarch, Don Shinnick, was a standout linebacker at San Pedro High, UCLA and for the Baltimore Colts. He set an NFL record with 37 career interceptions and became a longtime NFL assistant coach.

Among his five sons, Adam played football for Penn State and Cal; Peter played for Colorado; Josh played for UCLA; Joel was into motocross. And the youngest, Chris, was a standout at Woodland Hills El Camino Real and Hawaii.

Don died in 2004, and his No. 1 saying to everyone in the family was, “Whether you gained one yard or 80 yards, you still have to line up and play the next play. Stay humble and stay hungry.”

Zach said he gets his athleticism from his mother, who was a top swimmer at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame. Christy comes from a Trojans family: Her father, siblings and uncles went to USC. Then you have the Shinnicks, mostly Bruins fans. And UCLA has offered a scholarship to Zach in track.

“We have a little Trojans vs. Bruins thing going,” Christy said.

Christy spent one year coaching girls basketball at Notre Dame High, where she met Adam, who was coaching football. So why is Zach not at Notre Dame?

“It’s a long, sad story,” she said.

In other words, the family doesn’t want to spend hours on the 210 freeway traveling to Sherman Oaks from their home in Glendora. But they’ve become sold on Damien. There are also two younger sisters, one a ballerina and the other a blossoming track athlete.

Christy remembers the early signs of a fast young boy running around in the backyard as a 2-year-old.

“He’d run back and forth, back and forth, ‘Come play with me, Mom,’” Christy said.

But his family ranking took a beating on Monday night. The whole family gathered to watch the NCAA championship basketball game to see whose NCAA pool bracket would triumph. It turned out Christy and her youngest daughter, Maya, tied for first after Villanova won. Zach and father Adam finished last.

“Bragging rights,” Christy said.

So the pressure Saturday night will be on Zach.

eric.sondheimer@latimes.com

Twitter: @LATSondheimer