The National Junior Olympic Track and Field Championships proved to be very beneficial for Goodrich residents Jeff Decator and Michelle Elliott.
In Decator’s case, it helped him land an opportunity to compete in the decathlon for the University of Minnesota.
Decator finished eighth in the decathlon out of 26 competitors, and Elliott placed 13th out of 28 competitors in the heptathlon at the championships, which were held July 26-31 at Michael A. Carroll Track & Soccer Stadium in Indianapolis.
‘There were some real athletes there ? the best of the best,? said Kirk Richards of Goodrich, who coached both Decator and Elliott in preparation for the Junior Olympics.
Richards said an added bonus of competing in the event came when Scott Bennett, assistant head coach for the University of Minnesota’s track team, introduced himself to Richards. Bennett said he had a stable of four men competing in the decathlon, and he said he would like to add Decator to that mix.
‘It looks like they’ll enroll him in the winter term and redshirt him for a year while he goes to a community college, then he will start competitively his first year of school (at Minnesota),? Richards said. ‘It was worth all those eight hours a day we were on the track.?
At the Junior Olympics, Elliott did particularly well in the hurdles, where she finished in a time of 14.87, and also achieved a personal best time of 26.5 in the 200 meters, just one-tenth of a second off of the Goodrich school record.
Meanwhile, Decator set a personal best in the long jump at 21?10-1/2?. ‘They measured him where he fell back with his hands,? Richards said.
Richards said while there is a chance Decator will compete in a decathlon later this summer in West Virginia, Elliott will not be competing in any more heptathlons this summer.
Elliott has accepted a scholarship to compete on the women’s track team at Central Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant, MI and Richards said the CMU coaching staff wants Elliott to take the rest of the summer off.
‘She plans on continuing with the heptathlon in the Mid-American Conference,? Richards said.