STARKVILLE — Zach Taylor has a tough task ahead of him.
Taylor, a decathlete at Mississippi State, will compete today against the top athletes in the country at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
He also will compete against himself.
Three weeks ago, Taylor turned in the performance of his life, emerging from life as an unknown to finish second in the decathlon at the SEC Championships in Starkville. He did so by recording personal bests in eight of the decathlon’s 10 events. His showing was career defining and, with nationals at hand, set expectations for a rousing finale.
“It would be extremely hard to set eight personal records again,” said Taylor, a sophomore who was born in Columbus and is from Rock Hill, South Carolina. “But there are areas where I can improve. I think my jumps can be bigger, whether it’s pole vault, long jump, or high jump. I have focused on that in training. I don’t think I can run a 10.65 or better in the 100, but I can improve my jumps and get a better overall score.”
The performance at the SEC Championships helped Taylor secure one of 24 spots at the NCAA meet, and gives him a chance to improve on his total of 7,466 points.
“There’s a couple of events where it’s going to be tough to duplicate,” MSU track and field coach Steve Dudley said. “But there’s some where we know he’s going to improve a good bit more. Zach’s going to surprise some people. I’m very confident of that.”
Bursting onto the scene
How good was Taylor at the SEC Championships? He was better than he has been. It started with a time of 10.65 seconds in the 100 meters, which Taylor called, “the fastest I’ve ever been in my life.”
Personal bests in the shot put (38 feet, 1 1/2 inches) and 400 (48.57 seconds) followed on the first day. Day two was even better, as Taylor broke his personal record in all five events.
“He was incredibly focused that day, but that’s not unexpected,” Dudley said. “I think he surprised a lot of people at SECs, maybe even he surprised himself. But he didn’t surprise me.”
Taylor’s big day included career milestones in the 110 hurdles (15.24), discus (134-1), pole vault (14-5), javelin (172-4), and 1,500 (4 minutes, 23.51 seconds).
“It was a huge day,” Taylor said. “It was big personally because I knew how much went into it, how much I worked for it.”
Tragedy to triumph
The day Taylor finished second at the SEC championships, he could barely stay composed as he spoke of his showing. Standing among teammates with the meet going on behind him, Taylor reflected on what the moment meant to him. It wasn’t just about running. It wasn’t just about jumping. It was about triumph in the face of tragedy, fearlessness in place of fear.
It was about the memory of the man who made it possible.
Six months earlier, Zachary’s father, James, passed away after an accident back home. After fighting through months of tears, sleepless nights, and countless lonely training sessions, Taylor has started to open up about what drives him now.
“I think about him every day,” said Taylor on the day of the NCAA East Regional Preliminaries, two weeks removed from the SEC Championships. “That will never go away. I know he’s looking down on me, pushing me. He was in Starkville. He will be there with me in Oregon. I know he’s proud.”
James Taylor isn’t the only one proud who is proud of Zachary.
“To see what he has gone through, how that must have affected him and yet he’s still standing … wow,” said MSU sprinter Brandon McBride, the reigning national champion in the 800. “I don’t know if I could do it. As a matter of fact, I couldn’t do it. But he’s fought back and not only continued to work hard, but he’s gotten better. It’s so impressive.”
Taylor said the support of teammates, MSU’s coaching staff, and his mother, Trish, have helped him “maintain focus through the worst time in my life. Obviously it affected me, but my teammates are behind me and my coaches, I’m blessed to have people like this in my life.”
Stepping stone
Taylor doesn’t plan to dwell on the success he had May 14-15 in Starkville. Instead, he plans to use it today to springboard to bigger and better things.
“Nobody is ever satisfied, and I’m certainly not,” Taylor said. “I still think there are people that think it was a fluke what I did, and that’s OK. I plan to show people that it was for real. I may not set as many personal records, but there are definitely points out there for me. I can score better than I did.”
Dudley agrees.
“We have identified some areas of opportunity for Zach, places where he can go a little further, particularly in the field events,” Dudley said. “When you challenge a kid as talented and competitive as he is, good things happen. I think seeing what he’s capable of at SEC, experiencing that, really puts him in position to shock some people out in Oregon.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brandon Walker on Twitter @BWonStateBeat
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