Sophomore, Lane Decker returned to the blue oval at Eastern Illinois University on Thursday, after a yearlong wait, to compete in the 300m hurdles for a second time. In his preliminary, he stumbled, hit a few hurdles and had to exhort an unbelievable effort, according to his coach, to make the finals, which he did by winning his heat.
He entered the final on Saturday with the fifth best time in the field with a 40.8 having seen a steady improvement in his time during the month. Despite not having a great start, he still managed to better his time and take seventh in 40.5, just above his PB.
Decker and coach Jonathan Schlagheck, both were excited by the finish and are already talking about improving and returning next year.
Decker’s finish gave the Panthers 9 1/2 points in the meet to place thirty-fourth in a field of over eighty teams.
The Morrison Mustangs won the Class 1A title with 51 points, 17 better than Pleasant Plains.
