Pasco County made its mark at the first annual flrunners.com Heptathlon and Decathlon State Championships last weekend, with Wesley Chapel's Kenny "Junior" Roberts placing third among seniors and finishing fifth overall.
Roberts and teammate Travis Ugarte were the only county athletes to compete at the decathlon, an event discontinued nine years ago in Florida but revived as an occasional unofficial meet. This year flrunners.com revived the event with a two-day meet at Jacksonville Bolles after track season ended.
A good finish was especially important to Roberts, a senior. He is trying to earn a college scholarship in the decathlon, and Florida A&M has expressed interest. That is why Roberts skipped graduation ceremonies Friday night to compete.
"I thought it was very good for his first time ever doing the decathlon," coach Brian Colding said. "I think he was a little bit too out of shape to finish the 1,500 meters. But you haven't competed in weeks, then you go out and compete there for two days, and then it's tough to have to run that 1,500 the second day.
"I don't think it's an indicator of how good he can be. But I think it's a good start for him, a good introduction for him."
Roberts' times and distances in his individual events were solid. He ran 11.1 seconds in the 100 meters, second-best in the contest. His 110 high hurdles time of 14.9 was tied for second, and his 52.8 in the 400 was third.
His long jump measured 17 feet, 83/4 inches. His shot put was 34-81/2, and he threw the discus 95-3. He cleared 5-21/2 in the high jump, vaulted 9-33/4, threw the javelin 84-10 and ran 5:05 in the 1,500. He scored 5,278 points, 479 behind winner Javier Garcia-Tunon of Miami Belen Jesuit.
Colding says Roberts has a future in the decathlon.
"I believe so," Colding said. "Nobody asked him to do this. He just went out and did it on his own. If you score over 5,000 points, that's good. Especially if it's your first decathlon ever."
Ugarte scored 4,040 points. His best event was the 110 hurdles, where he finished third in 15.7.
