TRACK & FIELD

Golding raising his bar at P-O

By Gordon Brunskill

It started out as some basic pestering, like a child bugging his mom for an ice cream cone.

CDT file photo/Christopher Weddle

Philipsburg-Osceola’s Dusty Golding has shown his versatility on the track and in the field this spring, having his sights set on competing in the decathlon in the future.

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Except this was a 6-foot-5 17-year-old needling his coach.

Dusty Golding wanted to give the high jump a try.

Over and over last spring Golding told Philipsburg-Osceola track and field coach Doug Perry he wanted to give the event a whirl, that he thought he would be good at it.

“I was like, ‘Let me high jump, let me high jump,’” Golding recalled, though Perry rebuffed the plan because he didn’t think Golding was good enough in the event at the time.

Two weeks ago in practice, Golding was having some fun in the high jump pit, having a jump-off with fellow senior Brad Rocco, and Perry finally relented.

The next day, Golding sailed over a bar at 5-8 to win the event in a meet at Central Mountain.

It seems Mr. Golding has a Midas touch in track and field.

That is why the P-O senior has his eyes on running track in college and being a decathlete — which demands versatility.

So far, his events have included the 110-and 300- meter hurdles, the shot put, discus, javelin and long jump along with the high jump.

Golding competed only in the throws his first two years, but Perry wanted a fourth event last spring. They searched around, prompting the begs for high jumping, before the suggestion was made to try the 110 high hurdles.

“The first time we put a hurdle in front of him he three-stepped them like they weren’t even there,” Perry said. “He picked it up the first day we put the hurdles in front of him.”

It was that immediate success that planted the decathlon seed.

“I thought about it last year, when my coach asked me to do the hurdles and it turns out I was good at it,” said Golding, who also was second on the basketball team this past winter averaging 7.0 points a game. “I thought, ‘I can run and throw, I can try to jump.’”

How good was Golding? Strong enough to finish second in last spring’s District 6 Class AA championship in the 110 hurdles, qualify for the PIAA championships and miss making the semifinals by two places and two-tenths of a second, barely two months after trying it for the first time.

He has already surpassed his best time of last season in that event, covering the distance in 15.5 seconds in a meet at Bald Eagle Area last week — although he also was beaten for the first time by friendly rival Jon Gingrich of BEA, who was a tenth of a second faster. Golding is also battling shin splints, which prevented him from giving the high jump another try.

Gingrich, by the way, is also versatile enough to be competing in the hurdles and three throws, with the pair splitting 2- 2 head-to-head last week.

Golding has his eyes on competing in the decathlon in college. He has been accepted at Edinboro but he is holding out hope to attend Slippery Rock, which has a strong tradition in the decathlon with head coach and former decathlon All-American John Papa.

So with all that experimenting in other events, should we look forward to seeing him pole vaulting in the near future, like at this weekend’s Mountain League meet back at BEA’s Alumni Stadium?

“We haven’t messed with pole vault recently,” Perry said, noting the injury. “That may happen this year before it’s all said and done. We have a couple meets toward the end of the season and we’ll see how it goes.”

Golding is just glad all this work, and all that pestering, has given him a shot at competing in college.

“I haven’t really set any expectations for that — it’s a completely different thing,” Golding said. “Hopefully I’ll be one of the leading decathletes for Slippery Rock. That’s really strong for the decathlon there.”

Gordon Brunskill is a sports writer for the Centre Daily Times. He can be reached at 231-4608 or gbrunski@centredaily.com.