Oregon track and field redshirt senior Dakotah Keys won the men’s decathlon at the Oregon Relays Friday afternoon, totaling 7,802 points. After finishing second in the final event, the 1,500, he took some time to speak with members of the media on his performance and what he wants this year.
Your first multi in a while, how did it go?
Mentally I was just trying to stay in it, but overall I thought it went pretty well — except in the 1500. I don’t even know what I ran, but something not very good (Keys finished the 1500 in second place in 4:39.03).
Do you have a pretty good gage of where you are at this point?
I think it’s a little low. I wanted to come in and say that I just wanted to get a national qualifier and get it out of the way, but I’m a competitor and in my mind I thought I would make the cut.
Any event that you leave thinking you need to get better at?
I think pole vault, there is some work to be done there. It’s a little better than in past meets when I no heighted. And just being mentally tough. You know, the decathlon in 30 percent physical and 70 percent you have to stay in it. Especially in the 1500, every 200 meters you just have to be like ‘ok, I’m going to run a little faster’. I just didn’t feel like I was quite there yet. There is almost a month until Pac-12s, so I have some time to work on it.
How many of these issues are just early season jitters for you?
I think that’s a good thing to say, I think it’s a lot of jitters. Not having an indoor season, I don’t know if that hindered me a little bit. Usually I have Indoor Nationals, so I can carry it over. I expect a lot more during Pac-12s, I know I’m going to have to do a lot more, so I just have to get back to practice and work a little harder.
The speed seemed to be there, but maybe lacking on the technical side.
I know there are expectations; I try not to let that put me down. I love competing in front of the fans and I want to show them how much I cared. The speed stuff is there because it’s just competing. The other stuff is just getting a little more comfortable.
Follow Christopher Keizur on Twitter @chriskeizur