John Swabik

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — John Swabik is in prime position to make history after the opening day of the USA Track & Field Hershey National Junior Olympic Championships.

Running for Chautauqua Striders, the Sherman 16-year-old is tied for first in the Boys 15-16 decathlon with 3,259 points after Monday’s action, which included the first five events at Sacramento State University’s Hornet Stadium, where temperatures approached 100 degrees early in the afternoon.

Swabik is tied with Jaxon Bair while Samuel Alves is third with 3,103 points. William Holden-Wingate is fourth (2,879 points) and Anthony Breglio is fifth (2,820 points).

“We are right where we wanted to be points-wise,” Striders coach Dave Reinhardt said Monday evening from Sacramento.

Striders hasn’t had a national champion since Val Waldron of Franklinville won the Boys 15-16 1,500 meters in 1995 and Nolan Swanson of Sherman won the Men’s 17-18 2,000-meter steeplechase in 1994.

In his fourth event Monday, Swabik won the high jump, clearing the bar at 1.90 meters to gain 714 points, nearly 100 more points than Bair and Alves, who both cleared 1.80 meters for 627 points.

“Things started to click and he started to get excited about things,” Reinhardt said. “He was actually jumping for a personal best (1.95 meters) and had three great attempts.”

To finish the day, Swabik ran a 52.32 in the 400 meters, which was good for second place and 711 points. Alves won with a time of 50.42 seconds, good for 795 points, while Breglio was third in 52.93 seconds, good for 685 points.

“Going into the 400 meters, he had one of the top two or three times,” Reinhardt said. “He got a bad lane assignment in Lane 7, but was about a second faster than he did in Durham.”

Swabik also took second place in the shot put, the middle event of the afternoon, with a heave of 11.84 meters that was good for 597 points. Bair won the event with a toss of 12.05 meters, good for 609 points, while Marcus Mittelstadt was third (11.40 meters, 570 points).

“Things really started to click for him in the shot put,” Reinhardt said. “That was a personal best for him.”

Swabik, entering his junior of high school this fall, was fourth in the long jump, his second event, with a leap of 5.96 meters, good for 584 points. Bair took first with a jump of 6.33 meters while Holden-Wingate was second (6.17 meters) and Christopher Domaz was third (5.99 meters).

Swabik, who won the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Division II pentathlon championship this spring, opened the afternoon with a seventh-place finish in the 100 meters with a time of 11.96 seconds. Alves was first in 11.48 seconds while Asher Ogden was second (11.62 seconds) and Bair was third (11.81 seconds).

“He didn’t have a great start,” Reinhardt said. “He finished about two-tenths behind what he did in Durham.”

Today’s competition will begin with the 110-meter hurdles at 8 a.m. PST. That will be followed by three of Swabik’s newest events, the discus, pole vault and javelin throw.

“We’re ahead of pace,” Reinhardt said. “In this short, little training cycle that we’ve been doing, we’ve been spending a lot of time on Day 2.”

The discus, pole vault and javelin are not included in the pentathlon, which Swabik has competed in for the past two years. He only began practicing the pole vault earlier this summer in advance of the USATF National Youth Outdoor Championships in Durham, North Carolina. Javelin isn’t even a legal competitive event in New York state, and Swabik has been working with Less Utegg of Corry, Pennsylvania in that discipline.

“Discus, pole vault and javelin have been events we do at least two or three times a week,” Reinhardt said. “Our strengths are in Day 1. We are starting (today) off with hurdles, which is a good event for him.”

The decathlon closes with the 1,500 meters, arguably Swabik’s best event.

“He’s quiet, but he’s very coachable. Sometimes when you are working with a new athlete you have to find trigger words that are going to click. I think he and I are on the same page with some different things,” Reinhardt said. “He’s a great athlete. You say something and he knows how to correct it.

“He’s a competitor,” Reinhardt added. “It’s going to come down to the 1,500 meters. I’m looking forward to seeing that and I like our chances.”

USATF Hershey National Junior Olympic Championships

Sacramento State University

Decathlon

John Swabik (3,259), Jaxon Bair (3,259), Samuel Alves (3,103), William Holden-Wingate (2,879), Anthony Breglio (2,820), Kenneth Moore (2,774), Marcus Mittelstadt (2,761), Asher Ogden (2,719), Loucas Xeankis (2,685), Payton Cunningham (2,611), Josiah Gonzales (2,562), Mitchell Reading (2,448), Jack De Francesco (2,407), Leland Lieberg (2,340), Christopher Domaz (2,266), Ash Webber (2,251), Colin Monsen (2,126), Tobias Jeralds (2,079), Maurice Wyche (1,912)

100m: Alves (11.48, 757), Ogden (11.62, 728), Bair (11.81, 689), Gonzales (11.85, 681), Domaz (11.93, 665), De Francesco (11.94, 663), Swabik (11.96, 659), Holden-Wingate (11.97, 657), Mittelstadt (12.14, 624), Cunningham (12.16, 620), Reading (12.18, 616), Moore (12.26, 601), Xenakis (12.36, 582), Breglio (12.45, 565), Webber (12.55, 547), Wyche (12.68, 523), Lieberg (12.70, 520), Monsen (12.81, 501), Jeralds (13.18, 438)

Long jump: Bair (6.33m, 659), Holden-Wingate (6.17m, 624), Domaz (5.99m, 584), Swabik (5.96m, 584), Mittelstadt (5.83m, 550), Moore (5.65m, 512), Ogden (5.56m, 494), Alves (5.52m, 485), Lieberg (5.49m, 479), Gonzales (5.48m, 477), Cunningham (5.47m, 475), Xenakis (5.44m, 469), Reading (5.43m, 467), Breglio (5.24m, 429), Monsen (5.03m, 388), De Francesco (4.95m, 373), Jeralds (4.76m, 337), Webber (4.69m, 324), Wyche (3.97m, 201)

Shot put: Bair (12.05m, 609), Swabik (11.84m, 597), Mittelstadt (11.40m, 570), Cunningham (10.85m, 537), Ogden (10.71m, 528), Moore (10.69m, 527), Webber (10.64m, 524), Breglio (10.47m, 514), Domaz (9.79m, 473), Jeralds (9.66m, 465), Xenakis (9.51m, 456), Monsen (9.43m, 451), Alves (9.22m, 439), Holden-Wingate (9.05m, 429), De Francesco (8.90m, 420), Gonzales (8.69m, 407), Reading (8.12m, 373), Lieberg (8.03m, 368), Wyche (7.71m, 349)

High jump: Swabik (1.90m, 714), Breglio (1.80m, 627), Bair (1.80m, 627), Alves (1.80m, 627), Lieberg (1.75m, 585), Holden-Wingate (1.75m, 585), Xenakis (1.70m, 544), Domaz (1.70m, 544), Moore (1.65m, 504), Monsen (1.60m, 464), Mittelstadt (1.60m, 464), Cunningham (1.55m, 426), Wyche (1.50m, 389), Reading (1.50m, 389), De Francesco (1.50m, 389), Gonzales (1.50m, 389), Webber (1.45m, 352), Ogden (1.40m, 317), Jeralds (1.40m, 317)

400m: Alves (50.42, 795), Swabik (52.32, 711), Breglio (52.93, 685), Bair (53.16, 675), Ogden (53.70, 652), Xenakis (54.13, 634), Moore (54.23, 630), Gonzales (54.77, 608), Reading (54.90, 603), Holden-Wingate (55.36, 584), De Francesco (55.94, 562), Cunningham (56.16, 553), Mittelstadt (56.17, 553), Jeralds (56.98, 522), Webber (57.44, 504), Wyche (58.93, 450), Lieberg (1:00.76, 388), Monsen (1:02.82, 322), Domaz (DQ)