The former Dunedin runner has been forced to lift his standards just to compete in the red-hot competitive atmosphere in the United States,The highlight for Shields was to become the first male athlete from Purdue University in 22 years to qualify for the NCAA cross-country championship final.
He achieved this when he finished tenth at the Great Lakes regional 10km cross-country championships, in 31min 22.20sec.
But he was not able to lift his performance for the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) final and finished a disappointing 132nd in the 10km race, in 31min 13.8sec.
That put the 20-year-old's first stint in the United States College scene in perspective and made him reflect on what needs to be done to lift his performance when he returns to the US early next year.
It must also make New Zealand distance runners reflect on the standards that are being reached domestically at the moment, when the goal is to reach international standards on the track.
While Shields' performances have left him struggling down the track in the United States, they have lifted him into the top echelon in New Zealand senior men's rankings.
He has lowered his 5000m track time to 14min 27sec, fourth in New Zealand at the moment.
It is just outside Blair Martin's 1996 Otago men's aged 20 record of 14min 26.84sec.
Martin also holds the senior men's Otago record for the event, with the time of 13min 40.66sec that he ran in 1998.
Shields ran 29min 56sec in the Penn Relays in the United States and this time puts him top equal with Jason Woolhouse on the current New Zealand ranking list for the 10,000m.
It was also short of the time of 29min 41.74sec that Martin ran when he finished ninth at the world junior championships in 1994.
Dick Tayler set the Otago senior men's record of 28min 48.8sec for the 10,000m in 1973.
He lowered his time to 27min 46.4sec when he won the gold medal at the 1974 Commonwealth Games.
Shields will return to the US in time for the indoor track season that starts on January 9.
To reach the NCAA finals on the track Shields would have to run the 10,000m in 29min 10sec and the 5000m in under 14 minutes.
The 10,000m final will be won in 28min 50sec and the 5000m in a sub 13min 50sec time.
"You have to aim high in the United States," Shields said.
"There are a lot of foreign runners competing in NCAA events and this has lifted the standards."
United States distance runners have not performed well in major international events like the world championships or Olympic Games.
Shields believes the trend is changing and he expects to see United States runners in the medal count at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
Shields is halfway through a $US30,000 athletics scholarship at Purdue University It equates to about $NZ42,500 annually.
The distance squad is coached by Irish coach Conor Holt, who adopts a Lydiard approach to training.
There are 14 runners in the men's distance squad, including Simon Rodgers, from Wellington.
Camile Buscomb, from Hamilton, is in the women's squad.
The medical treatment for athletes at the university is first-class and any injuries or health problems looked at immediately.
The runners have an ice bath after each run.
Shields suffered from bronchitis and it took him two months to come right. He was also anaemic when he first arrived in the United States.
"It was an eye-opener to me," he said.
"To succeed in the US you have to be very careful with nutrition, look after your health and make sure you get enough sleep," he said.
Shields is continuing the health science course he started at the University of Otago.
Purdue University has 39,000 students and is in the city of West Lafayette, in Indiana, in the Midwest.
It is one of the top 10 academic universities in the United States.
"We are expected to get A and B grades and free tutors are on site to help out," Shields said.
"We are on the road every two weeks and have to let our lecturers know when we are away.
"We take our notes with us to study when we are on the road. There is no time to socialise."
