Emporia State freshman Tony Granillo collapsed under the goal posts at Welch Stadium after finishing the decathlon.
Exhausted from trying to pull off a minor miracle in the 1,500 meters, Granillo finally had a chance to appreciate what he had accomplished, a second place finish in his first-ever decathlon.
“I didn’t expect it,” he said. “I was just hoping to get in the middle somewhere. Coming out top two, I’m kind of still in shock a little bit I got that high. I didn’t really know what to expect, how tired I was going to be and what I needed to do.”
Granillo knew what he needed to do to win the decathlon entering Friday’s final event, and he was determined to do so. He trailed Central Missouri’s Shawn Boss by 178 points going into the 1,500 meters, and to make up the difference, Granillo estimated that he needed to finish the race with Boss still 150 meters out.
Granillo raced out into the lead in the first lap and finished the first lap in 60 seconds.
“I came across at 60. I heard him say 60, and I was like, ‘Oh man,’” Granillo said. “That’s a lot faster than I wanted to come out. I wanted to come out in like 65-68.”
Teammate Cole Davis watched from the middle of the pack as Granillo took off.
“He was real pumped up, and he got out real fast,” Davis said. “So I was like, ‘All right, Tony, you do your thing.’ ... When he puts his mind to something, he goes out there and does it.”
Granillo slowed a little during the second lap when Iowa Western’s David Trubnikov took the race lead.
“I did kind of hit a wall that second lap, but I had to push through it and third lap I kind of tried to step it up and go from there,” Granillo said.
Granillo and Trubnikov ran a good distance ahead of the field, and he led Boss by about 70 meters going into the final lap, and his lead would not get much bigger. Granillo finished in second in the race with a time of 4:39.21 and Boss came across 13.1 seconds later, finishing 98 points ahead of Granillo.
“It was a rush just knowing I had a chance still to come out and compete and I do pretty well with long distance, so I figured maybe I could get up there, but I came up just a little short,” Granillo said.
The 1,500 meters was not where Granillo came up short. He led after seven events and his struggles in the pole vault helped Boss take the lead. Granillo pole vaulted 10 feet, 8 inches, while Boss went 12 feet, 7.5 inches.
“I wanted at least 11 or 12 feet,” Granillo said. “I came up big-time short.”
Boss added to his lead in the javelin. Granillo was throwing the javelin for the first time. He had not even practiced before Friday, and he struggled. His javelin went end over end on one throw. On his final throw, which was his best, he stepped on the line.
“The one I scratched on it was out there and it would have helped me greatly, but I barely got my toe on the line,” he said. “I didn’t know what to expect being my first time out there just throwing.”
Granillo and Davis were one-two after the first day, and Davis ended up finishing in fifth place. He was hurt by the 110-meter hurdles, which was the first event of the day on Friday. He also struggled in the pole vault, also jumping 10 feet, 8 inches.
The Division II Challenge continues today on Witten Track at Welch Stadium with field events beginning at 11 a.m. Finals on the track are schedules to go from noon to 4 p.m.