Putting His Dukes Up
Arkansas Junior In Scoring Position After First Day Of Decathlon
By Andrew Jensen
OXFORD, Miss. -- Before Arkansas assistant coach Dick Booth would let junior Jimmy Duke enter the decathlon at the 2004 Southeastern Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships, he had to do one in Fayetteville.
Duke performed the task and the order in which he did it convinced Booth to give him a shot at the brand new Ole Miss Track and Field Complex.
Duke was impatient waiting on the pole vaulters last week during his mock decathlon in practice and jumped ahead two events to the 1,500 meters -- the final, grueling stage of the competition.
After knocking out a decent time around 4 minutes, 50 seconds, the pole vaulters showed up.
Duke headed over and cleared 16 feet, 6 inches, better than any height he's made at a competition since being at Arkansas.
"Well, nobody does that," Booth said. "The 1,500 wipes you out and he ran a 4:50, which isn't bad. But he came back and pole vaults 16-6, which is as good as he's ever vaulted. He's got that going for him.
"He's not afraid. That's a real plus."
Fear wasn't a factor Thursday at the SEC Outdoor Championships as Duke finished the day in scoring position in eighth place with 3,466 points and ahead of experienced multi-event competitors like Fred Townsend of South Carolina and Alex Hrictu of Tennessee.
Collegiate leader and world-ranked No. 4 Maurice Smith of Auburn holds the first-day lead with 3,996 points trailed closely by Mississippi State's Tre Hardee, just two points back with 3,994.
Duke, who hasn't done a decathlon since the summer before his senior year of high school at Parkway West in Baldwin, Mo., had personal-bests in the 100 (11.33 seconds), the high jump (5-11.25), the long jump (21-8.25) and 400 meters (51.0).
He was just off his first-day goal of 3,500 points.
"The thing I like about Jimmy is that he's a very competitive guy," Booth said. "He doesn't try to outstyle you or outclass you. He just says, 'I have to do well.' The thing I liked about it was as well as he did today, he wasn't surprised. It wasn't like, 'Oh my God.' He just did it and I really appreciate that. That's a real legitimate competitive nature."
Duke will start today with his two toughest events -- the 110-meter high hurdles and the discus -- and finish with his best three.
Booth said he didn't know much about Duke's plan to try the decathlon again and hadn't coached him much in the last couple weeks.
"I haven't been paying attention because he's such a squirrel," Booth said. "He's over there trying this and trying that. He's like a little kid or you brought your son to practice and he's saying, 'I'm going to long jump, daddy. I'm going to throw this thing, daddy.' That's kind of how Jimmy is."
Duke said he's been having fun with the variety of his practice lately.
"Hurdles could be really good or kind of rough," Duke said. "Same deal with the discus. The vault, I can score more than 900 points. The vault is an event a lot of people aren't very good at. I'll make up so much ground and I can run a good 1,500."
Hahahaha....If you know Jimmy...he is really like that!!
