Bo Jackson, Deion Sanders, Jameis Winston. Those are some of the high-profile athletes to have played two sports at the Division I level. Moravian Academy’s Tanner Shane will now look to add his name to the list of DI athletes two play multi-sports at the highest level.

Shane committed to William & Mary for soccer, and will also be competing for a spot on the baseball team. But that time will be coming in the fall of 2016, this year Shane will be looking to help his Lions challenge for league and district titles during his senior season.

The success on the soccer field and baseball diamond was not all his doing, Shane credits his family for helping to get him to where he is.

“It was a huge challenge on both me and my family to allow myself to compete at high levels of both soccer and baseball,” said Shane. “My parents would sacrifice almost every weekend to take me to games or tournaments, which many times included long distance traveling, and I cannot thank them enough for giving me the opportunity to succeed.”

Moravian Academy boys soccer has had a lot of recent success with Shane on the field. Last year, as a junior, the Lions won the Colonial League and District 11 A title, along with the state championship.

“Moravian Academy has been nothing but great to me, even understanding the year I took off to play with the Philadelphia Union u16 Academy, and could not participate in high school sports, I was welcomed back my Junior year with arms wide open, as well as a State Championship,” Shane noted when asked about playing at any of the bigger high schools. “I have not once wished to go to a bigger public school. Also, most of the recognition I have received from college coaches have been through my club team, Lehigh Valley United ‘97 and Mike Gorni. Coach Gorni is the one who told me about William and Mary, and put in a lot of work for me on the road to my commitment, I cannot thank him enough.”

Heading into last year when most of the recruiting is at its heaviest, Shane heard from schools such as Navy, Lafayette, and James Madison, along with William & Mary. But the home-like feeling he got while on campus with the head coach and team, won him over. And the fact that the coach was open to Shane playing the two sports he loves.

“One of the many reasons why I chose William and Mary was because of the immediate support I received from the soccer coach, Chris Norris, on my dream to play baseball as well,” added Shane. “He is very supportive of my dream and is willing to make it work for me to be able to play both sports, if I can make the baseball team as well.

“I really like to believe that I could make the baseball team as well, but I know it is going to be a lot of work. I need to work a lot in my senior year at Moravian to get better, and I believe I have the support from my school and family to help me do so, so I have a pretty positive feeling that I could.”

Moravian Academy will once again be a favorite in the Colonial League and District 11 this fall in soccer, and Shane will look to cement his legacy and win some games for his team in soccer and baseball before heading off to college. He knows it will be difficult, but he has a lot of motivation to keep him up for every game during both seasons.

“Being able to play both sports at a D1 level would be a dream for me,” Shane stated. “They are two of the things that I have the most passion for, and I would be very grateful to be able to continue both. My parents have put in so much time to help me get where I am, and it would mean a lot to give back to them by doing so. I believe playing 2 sports in college is a pretty rare thing, it is very hard to do because even just one sport almost consumes your whole year at college, so playing two would take a lot of understanding from both coaches, which I am lucky to have from William and Mary.”