towards the end of the 2007 season at Lane CC i talked to Grady O'Conner about him wanting me to become a decathlete in the season to come in 2008. i was totally up for it. i have always been told by various people that i would be pretty good at it.

the new year came up and i had lost aprox 20lbs in order to get faster for the decathlon (every pound of fat that i lost would mean i didnt have to carry it in my races) the sprints would be my worst events and the jumps/throws (especially javelin) would be my best events. we trained a lot. and i was doing really good at the start of the year. coach always put me with our strongest runners. i think it was to push me to their level, because i know he didnt put me there because i belonged there. i was not one of our stronger runners. hills would always kill me and some of the running practices would make my whole body sore for days.

i would still train in the javelin and i started working on a few new events like shot put and discus. we had maybe 2 practices of high jump but they were in doors and from a 3 step which i could never get anything out of it. we had maybe 2 hurdle practice. our first day i bashed a hurdle and rolled on the ground, but i bounced right back up and coach said i was finally a true hurdler. pole vault was the most difficult thing we had a few weeks of practice of that but i never was able to clear more than about 10 ft.

a couple months went by and we were doing some accelerations and i pulled my left hamstring. it wasnt too bad but i definately had to stop. my coach was a little mad. i was suppose to be one of our best decathletes and if i was out then thats points and we already lost our best sprinter travis due to a broken foot (i dont know where) but it was not good. a few light days and i was back on my feet running with the best sprinters again. i had to be smart and wear a sleeve really get warmed up before i got to do sprints. i had our trainer scott stretch me and i heated before every practice. a few weeks went by and we were going to do repeat 200s i had no clue what they were but i guess it was 200 meters then rest 30 seconds and do one more 200. i was in the first heat and we were all amped. we were suppose to run like 28-30 second 200s but we came out fast. coach said it was more like 25s. but after 50 meters my hamstring acted up. i pulled out and quit before the pain got unbearable. again a few days later and i was back on my feet again. and a few weeks later we were going to do timed 350s (or 300s i cant remember... it was in mid/late november 2007) anyway i was warm and feeling great i was ready to be timed. i came out strong feeling great...  first 100 down and done with the first turn. straight away came up and with every step my hamstring got tighter and tighter. it wasnt but maybe 3 left strides and i quit. i was done. coaches head was down in disappointment he knew i had to get off my feet for a while.

our trainer scott agreed that a month without running would be a good idea. get that hamstring to fully heal and then get back on it after christmas break. so i was off the running events (the events i needed most help with) i started throwing javelin, discus and shot put a lot more. one practice i popped off a 222'6" and my ideas of being a dec faded away.

i soon had the school record in the javelin at the willamete invintational (217'6") and i had a coaches meeting with grady and he said no more decathlon and that i should just focus on javelin. scoring points for the team is always great but having a chance to go D1 on a full ride somewhere or go to the trials is way more important for an athlete and a coach. so the decision was made no more decathlon.

i started purely working on javelin only with cody. weight ball work. cross overs and 10-20 meter accelerations i was way out of shape from not running for at least 2 months. i rarely saw the guys that i had been working on sprints with. it was sad. i missed the guys. i watched them work on hurdles and sprints and wished that i could be competeing with them.

weeks went by and competitions went by and i was doing well. improving every day in the javelin. and i still had room to grow.

on april 14th 2008 bruce tells me that even after tearing his UCL (ligiment in elbow) and having to throw javelin left handed that he would still be competing in the decathlon. he said there was a mini meet decathlon that coach would run us through the events and write down our scores and it would potentially qualify us for the decathlon on april 28-29th 2008. he said the mini meet was next week (april 21-22) i wanted to be apart of it. at least run thru the motions and see what i could score. it would be fun i thought. i asked coach and he said maybe. and it would be jogging! and i wouldnt finish.... i was kinda bummed but i wanted to do it with bruce anyway. we had a meet at redding california and on our way back coach sat with me on the bus and told me that him and cody ran som numbers (really weak numbers) and told me that if i went to the dec and took it really easy that i could potentially take 5th place and score 4 points for the team as opposed to not doing the dec and only scoring 10 pts (if i won the javelin). i was really happy so i said YES I WILL DO IT!

i had no idea what i was going to be able to do but i figured it doesnt even matter it will be fun! mon and tuesday we had the mini meet we jogged the 100 and threw a few times and got thru day one. day 2 rolled around and my left butt cheek was on fire. it was bad news. i didnt want another injury to take me out of the dec again. i shut my mouth (didnt tell coaches) sucked it up and finished day 2. i scored a 4450. lol it was funny. we half assed the entire meet. but it was fun.

wednesday we took the day off and thursday i was back at it. i had work late so i cam in early and filmed myself hurdling. it was terrible. i scored a 20.3 in my first 110 hurdle race and i found out why by watching my film. i was clearing the 42" hurdles by 12 inches! it was slowing me down. but i couldnt fix it. i threw a little javelin and did some sprints for the 100.... got my steps for the long jump and high jump and called it good (i basically did 5 more events... so 15 events of practice in 4 days!)

friday was Oregon relays and i got a new Personal Record and new school record of 220'10" even after doing 1.5 decs in the last 4 days. friday night, saturday and sunday i went on a church retreat and got away from it all. had some fun played on the beach and cleared my head with friends. it was great. and then monday was all business.

the 100 came up fast and i had never ran one before. i lost my heat but only just barely. i ran a 12.19 which was a new PR but i am out of shape from not running much for 3 months and only having 1 week practice in the blocks.

long jump came up and i had not done it since high school 3 years ago. we never practiced it all season and i got my step for the first time on thursday. first jump was terrible i didnt even get off the ground but it was still 20'0 1/2" and my coaches cut me off. they knew i was out of shape and that in order for me to finish the decathlon i needed all the energy i could get so they said i couldnt take anymore jumps. i begged for more but finally gave in. i told bruce that if i loose by a fraction of a point then i will know what it came down to.

shot put was up and i knew that i could power (no spinning or gliding) more than i could do a full approach. ever since cody told me to save it (not scratch the throw in practice) i had been jumping backwards when i threw and always did terrible. my first throw was 36'0" second one i did a full approach and threw like 34' and 3rd i just thought about NOT SAVING IT. not fading away and jumping backwards. i thought lets push thru it. i did so and it landed around 37'6" but i couldnt keep my balance and scratched the throw.

high jump was up and i had NEVER done this. i figured i wanted 5'8". my coach had me coming in at 5'3" i was mad about that but i know he doesnt want me to no mark. i was clearing bars but i had the worst form ever! i got up to 5'7 3/4" cleared it and couldnt make 5'11"

the 400 was up and i was afraid. my butt was on fire i had a feeling i was going to pull it in this race and i had never ran a 400m dash in my life. i dont know how to run it. i know if u give it everything at the start u will die in the end. but u dont want to have too much energy at the end and not have givin it your all. i just decided to come out hard and stay hard. i ended up loosing my heat by a fraction of a second but ran a 53.68 which was way better than anyone expected (i hoped for anything under 60 seconds lol). i even beat jeff hester on my team and he had been doing the dec all year long (sorry jeff)

day 1 was over and i was in 5th place. with 6th place just 20 pts behind me and 4th place 142 points in front of me it looked like i had to just hang on for dear life.

day 2 was up and i just remembed that i sucked at the 110 hurdles and it was the first event. i had totally forgot it was in the decathlon and i knew i was going to have to catch up in the javelin in order to be in the race for 5th place.

u look out at the hurdles from the blocks and u see a tunnel of hurdles infront of u... they never seem to end and they are the most intimidating thing i have ever seen. i came out of the blocks and accelerated really well at the first hurdle but when i had to jump over it my mind went blank. everything i had leared in 1 week went out the door. and i just jumped straight up over the hurdle. the second and 3rd hurdles were the same. and everyone pulled away from me. i thought to myself "you are doing these all wrong! you need to attack it and get as low over the hurdle as possible!" and on the 4th thru 10th hurdle i did 200% better than i have ever hurdled. i lost the heat (again) but i ran a 18.08. which was amazing to me. i figure if i could have gotten those first 3 hurdles i could have been around a 17.5 or better.

discus was up and it started to rain bad. it was cold and windy and rainy. and with the disc u need a good grip and release and in rain it wasnt going to happen. i ended up with a 103'5" which wasnt bad considering the weather. i was hoping for a 110 but not many people did better than me.

pole vault was up and i was screwed. i was the worst on our team of 3 that was there and i havent practiced in at least 3 to 4 months. i was jumping in my distance spikes from a 5 step which was as far as i had ever jumped from. everyone else in the dec was a good ways behind me (which means more speed) i came in at 9'3" i think. cleared heights all the way up to 11'8" it was amazing i had some difficulty with every height and never had good form but 11'8" is monster to me!

finally Javelin was up! my event. everyone else was killing me at every other event but now it was my turn to win. warm ups were nice i wanted to get the dec javelin record (208'6) but i wasnt sure the weather would allow it. it started to hail. it hailed till the red track turned while and then it had thunder and lightning within a mile of the track. we postponed the javelin for 30-45 minutes. it rained some more and finally the clouds parted a bit. i was throwing about 200 from my half approach so i figured i would get the 210 that i was shooting for. but as soon as i started throwing i wasnt doing as well. first throw i scraped the tail on the ground and it totally thru me off it was like 158' second was 193 and some change and 3rd looked like it hit 197 line but i guess it was 193' as well. i had still won by over 35 feet so i was happy.

we had 30 minutes to the final event the 1500. coaches sat all three of us down and told us what we had to do in order to win or advance a placement. bruce was in 2nd and had to beat the #1 guy by 20 seconds. we are all in good shape but to beat someone by about 150meters is a lot! i was in 4th and i was down 20 pts which meant i had to beat 3rd place guy by 3 seconds. BUT he was a 400 hurdler. this guy runs the most difficult kick yourself in the balls when its over race in all of track. hes in great shape and he can kick! and i am a javelin thrower that eats what he wants and has never ran a race in his life. i was in for some pain. and jeff was in 5th he had to beat me/or 3rd place guy by about 15 seconds in order to take 3rd. i knew jeff and bruce were in great shape (jeff ran a 4:33) but i had no clue what i could run (i wanted a sub 5 minute 1500). jeff and bruce say they want to run a 4:21 and hit 70 second laps. i knew i couldnt do that. i said i would stay with them for the first 2 laps but i dont know after that.

the meet starts and we get out in first we have #1,#2, #3 spots. and doing well. we hit 68 seconds on our first lap. it was perfect. i was feeling it already tho. i backed off at 550m mark. only by about 10-15 meters tho. second lap was around a 74. i dont know what the 3rd lap was but at the 1100 meter mark the 3rd place guy starts to pass me. and i know i am not going to beat him by 3 seconds. i am huffing and puffing and this guy hasnt broken a sweat. i told myself i was going to slowly start accelerating at the 300 meters left mark and finish strong. but something else happened. i just went 100 % at 300 meters left. i passed everyone in a blink of an eye. and i was going strong. 150 m left and no one is behind me. 75 meters left and bruce finally over takes me. i know the 3rd place guy is behind me but by how far? i dont know! i just have to finish strong and hope to hear that i beat him by 3 seconds. 2 steps left and i step on the metal inner ring around track and i trip and fall thru the finish line. i lie on my back in the wet grass and i get an instant head ache. my coach is so happy with me. he tells me that no one wanted to kick it untill i had passed by. bruce only beat the #1 kid because he wanted to catch me. bruce beat his guy by 25 seconds. and i beat my guy but how much. i waited to hear what the announcer said. my time was 4:35 which was 25 seconds better than i expected. and 3rd place guy ran a 4:36.5 i had only beat him by 1.5 seconds and he beat me by an overall of 10 points. i was 10 points away from being an all american in something that i trained for 1 week.

other coaches said that my kick was the balliest move they had ever seen and people were talking about it for at least 1 hr after the race was over. i still think about it today and i have no clue where the energy came from. i told myself i couldnt do it after 1.5 laps. it must have been god's help. it was amazing.

after the meet was over i told coach man if you would have given me 1 more jump in the long jump and i jumped 2 more inches i would have had 3rd place (2 inches is 10 points) it was alright tho it was amazing i had 1 week at it and i did great. better than anyone expected i even scored 5919 points even my best friend grant piros has only scored like 5995 in the dec and he has been doing it for 3 years. i did it for 1 week. i was so happy with my results. i thank god every day!

10 points equals

2ft further in the Javelin

2inches further in the Long jump

7 inches further in the Shot put

0.11 seconds faster in the 110 hurdles

1'7" further in discus

1.5 seconds faster in 1500

0.05seconds faster in the 100m dash

0.23seconds faster in the 400m dash