The GSW has an recent tradition of being the greatest high school meet in the country for high school Decathalon and Heptathalon. These difficult disciplines require young athletes to develop skills in a variety of events outside their naturally-gifted zone. Last year under adverse conditions, Albuquerque Academy's Curtis Beach broke a national record with 7,909 points and, a few weeks later, won the decathalon at the Junior Pan-American Games. If not for the high winds here in 2009, he might well have approached 8,000 points. The exceptional Ryann Krais of Eagle Valley (PA) almost tagged the girls national hep record in 2008 when she won almost every event on her way to 5,522 points.
This year's fields have no one with the stature of these all-time greats, and those records are safe. The field of athletes Thursday and Friday will, nevertheless, be competitive and offer an opportunity for the next generation of versatile standouts to shine.
BOYS DECATHLON
Missouri's Logan Halloran (6003) and Utah's Max Schneible (5,955) have virtually identical scores for their previous efforts and are the recognized favorites.
GIRLS HEPTATHLON
Two young ladies have previous scores even more identical than the gentlemen: Texas' Shanay Briscoe (4,779) and Lindsay Vollmer of Missouri (4,775). After they have sprinted, thrown, and jumped six events in a little over twenty-four hours, this title may come down to the climactic 800 meter run as to which lady prevails.
GIRLS DECATHLON
The GSW gets out ahead of most other national and international meets by offering the full ten-event challenge to a separate group of ambitious young ladies. Not only will each competitor be attempting the rigorous ten events for the first time, but the winner will establish a meet record.
Image Kevin Lazas: www.kevinlazas.com