Nicholas Hawk told his coach at the beginning of the season how his finishes throughout his track and field career at Tellico Plains have left him one spot shy of earning a medal.
A few months later and that is no longer true for the senior. The spring was full of accomplishments for Hawk, all that ended with Hawk placing fourth in the Class A State Decathlon on May 16 at Dean Hayes Stadium on the campus of Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro.
“It felt amazing. It was great to finally win a medal. Every time there ever was a medal involved I was always one place short,” Hawk said. “To finally win one and be able to stand on the podium was nice.”
Hawk’s finish across the two-day, 10-event competition was spearheaded by a spectacular finish on Day 2. Second place finishes in three of the five events on May 16 rose Hawk from sixth place into fourth.
“It was awesome. I had my son with me and I was glad my son got to see how Nicholas battled and fought despite being down early,” Tellico Plains coach Barry Carroll said.
Hawk started the contest off on May 15 with an eighth place finish in the 100m run before placing 11th of 12 in the triple jump — one of two events new to him this season.
“It is a grind for two days. His second event of day 1 was pretty poor — it was not his best triple jump. We had to kind of convince him to shake that off and do his best for the rest of the events,” Carroll added.
He placed 11th in the discus midway through day 1 before a fourth-place finish in pole vault — another new event — and a second-place showing in 400m started to turn the tide.
“He mentioned to me that, throughout his high school career, he has missed out on medals. In the past month, he has gotten three or four medals, fourth in the state and second in the sectionals,” Carroll said. “He has just never stopped competing. He has not gotten discouraged and it is very encouraging to see that.”
Hawk showed strong on day 2, starting off with second-place finishes in the 110m hurdles and the high jump. He then placed sixth in the long jump, 11th in the shot put and wrapped up his day with a second-place performance in the 1500m.
His 400m run was less than .06 of a second from finishing third. He edged out another competitor by less than a second in the 100m hurdles.
“Nicholas is a well-rounded athlete, so we tried to focus on the things he had zero experience in. He has high jumped in the past, so we ended up not practicing that,” Carroll said. “He is strong in hurdles and he is fast, so we tried to focus on the things he had zero experience in.”
The Class A State Decathlon was only the second official decathlon Hawk has competed in, the first being the sectional event he finished second in to qualify for state.
“I learned in day 2 of sectionals that you feel super worn out and tired, but you are not as tired as your body makes you feel,” Hawk added. “You can still go out there and do. I have done quite a bit of events since I have been running track for so long.”
Hawk set seven personal records across the competition — in 100m, pole vault, high jump, shot put, discus, 1500m and 400m.
Hawk topped his record by nearly 20 seconds in the 1500m.
“It feels great. It was awesome. At normal meets, a lot of people would joke around and say I am the best. But I tell them all I am there to do is to beat my time. Whenever that happens — when I beat my time — it feels really nice,” Hawk added.
Amongst the new events, Hawk competed in the triple jump sometime this spring while working on the pole vault only a week or so before the Class A Sectional, using the facility at Loudon High School.
Amongst the support, Hawk was joined by his hurdles coach Mitchell Witt as well as his parents, one of his sisters and his grandparents, who were seeing him run for the first time.
“It means a lot. A lot of people are there and their families are not there. It is nice to have them there,” Hawk said. “I am always happy for whoever is able to come up and support me.”
Per the records on TSSAAsports.com, Hawk is only the second Tellico athlete to compete at the state decathlon. Piper Carter won the event in 2019.
Most Popular
Comments / 0