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YSU athletes fall short in World Junior qualifiers
By CHARLES GROVE
Youngstown State track athlete Isaac Agyemang fell short of qualifying for the World Junior Championships with a fourth-place finish in the decathlon at the USA Track and Field Junior Outdoor Championships in Clovis, Calif.
After sitting in second place out of five participants, just high enough for a spot in the world games in Poland next month, after day one, Agyemang didn’t have enough down the stretch in some of his weaker events to progress any farther.
Agyemang finished third in the 110 hurdles (14.8 seconds), fourth in the discus (37.14 meters), fifth in the pole vault (3.6 meters), fifth in the javelin (41.52 meters) and fourth in the 1500 meter run (5:03.77). Overall, Agyemang finished fourth in the competition.
Agyemang set personal records in the 110 hurdles, discus and the javelin on Saturday.
“I felt pretty strong after the discus but I knew the pole vault was my weakest event. It has been since junior year of high school,” Agyemang said. “I had to jump my life away but I just couldn’t convert. They were all vaulting well and I was a bit fatigued.”
Once it became apparent halfway through day two that a spot on Team USA next month was out of reach, it became a matter of holding his head up at the end.
“It was just a matter of finishing at that point,” Agyemang said. “I wasn’t leaving without a medal at least and I didn’t want to finish fifth. I’ve seen other people shut down when they know their goal is out of reach but for me it’s just pride. I can’t give up.
“I have people back home counting on me — family, coaches and friends. And it would be disrespectful to quit on them.”
Still despite the frustrating finish, Agyemang said he gave words to encouragement to those who did qualify for Poland.
“I gave Cale Wagner from Nebraska a hug afterwards and told him good luck in Poland,” Agyemang said.
Agyemang and Chad Zallow, who finished eighth in the 110 hurdles at the same competition on Friday, plan to take two weeks off before beginning to prepare for next year. But their idea of days off is a lot different than most.
“We’re still going to do 200 pushups a day, 500 crunches and 600 calf raises a day to get ready for sophomore year because it’s going to be a big one,” Agyemang.