Layton defends WPIAL title in 110 hurdles
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Daniel Layton clears the final obstacle on the way to defending his WPIAL Class AA championship in the 110-meter high hurdles.
Eleanor Bailey/The Almanac
Waynesburg’s Daniel Layton clears the bar to win the pole vault during the WPIAL Class AA Track and Field Championships Thursday at Slippery Rock University.
Eleanor Bailey
Daniel Layton of Waynesburg reacts after clearing the bar to win the pole vault at the WPIAL Class AA Track and Field Championships.
SLIPPERY ROCK – All eyes, even those that would typically be uninterested, settled in as workers of the WPIAL Track & Field Championships at Slippery Rock University raised the height and adjusted the location of the hurdles.
It was a long process, about 10 minutes, which allowed the anticipation to build. The 110-meter high hurdles, a race that gained an immense amount of momentum well before the preliminary heats or the finals, was about to begin.
And as Waynesburg’s Daniel Layton settled into the fourth lane, adjusting his stance like he’s done thousands of times before, he knew all those eyes were fixated on him.
“I had strangers coming up to me today and be like, ‘Hey, we saw you on the news. Good luck. We are rooting for you,'” Layton said.
The only thing standing in Layton’s way – a day after the WPIAL could no longer do so – were nine hurdles.
Leading from the start, Layton convincingly won the 110 hurdles in 14.58 seconds, more than a half-second faster than the rest of the field, to defend his title with authority and win his second gold medal of the day. He also won the pole vault on his third, and final, chance with a height of 13-6, minutes after dislocating his shoulder in warmups.
“This week took on a life of its own,” Layton said. “It felt like coming into the (110 hurdles) there was more pressure than normal. The news of me not being able to compete became huge and I was completely shocked. I tried to stay away from it as much as I could. It was more about having the chance of getting back to states than defending my gold medal.”
Layton’s two gold medals were only part of the success for local boys. In Class AA, Waynesburg’s Scott Benco took first place in the javelin, McGuffey’s C.J. Cole won the triple jump and California’s Jelani Stafford and Monessen’s Darnel Howell – two newcomers to the sport – won gold in the shot put and high jump, respectively.
A clerical error nearly prevented Layton from defending his title. Layton’s father, Rick, who is also Waynesburg’s coach, mistakenly took him off the list to compete in his best race by clicking the wrong box when submitting a form to the WPIAL. He meant to remove his son from the 300 intermediate hurdles, a decision Daniel made to preserve his energy to help Waynesburg’s 1,600-meter relay team qualify for the state meet. Rick Layton didn’t notice the mistake until the final heat sheets were finalized and made public.
Multiple attempts to convince WPIAL officials to allow Layton to compete, including a denied appeal by a vote of 12-3, was overturned by the PIAA Wednesday morning by a unanimous vote, 5-0.
“Obviously, we have been stressed for a few days,” Rick Layton said. “My fear was that stress might carry over. We talked about that on the drive up. I told him, ‘Just remember why you are here.’ There might have been a little anger built up inside him that he had to go through all that. I think he was motivated.”
Prior to the Thursday’s finals, Layton was the only hurdler in Class AA to have a time under 15 seconds in the preliminaries, finishing in 14.81. His personal-record time of 14.46 was nearly a full second faster than the field entering the district championships.
His gold-medal-winning time this year was 0.25 seconds faster than last year’s winning time of 14.73.
“I was honestly relieved,” Daniel Layton said. “I’ve been really trying to work towards this for a while and the whole not letting me run was kind of devastating but here I am. I raced. I won.”
If Layton would not have been able to compete in the 110 hurdles Thursday, it would have prevented him from competing at the PIAA Track & Field Championships next Friday and Saturday at Shippensburg University. Layton had the fastest preliminary time at the event last year before stumbling over the first hurdle and finishing eighth.
“(The state meet) has been circled on our calendar since he fell in the finals last year,” Rick Layton said. “To get that chance to redeem himself, and potentially becoming a state champion, it’s amazing.”
“That is what I’ve been working for all year,” Daniel Layton said. “It’s been about being able to get back there.”