Going into his final event, BYU decathlete Ben Barton knew exactly what stood between him and a national championship.
To claim the title, Barton knew he needed at least a seven-second win over Louisville’s Kenneth Byrd in the 1,500 meters.
Barton won the race, but with no clock in sight, he was left waiting to see if he had built a large enough lead.
Seeing his brothers-in-law screaming in the stands let him know that he had done well.
“After I finished, I had no idea if I won, and I just heard hysterical screaming next to me, and it was [my brothers-in-law] screaming with a bunch of other BYU fans," Barton said.
The results came in, and Barton was 9.73 seconds ahead of Byrd, 2.73 more than what was required. Barton scored his personal best of 8169 points in the meet.
“Afterwards, I didn’t realize how close it was until I was on the podium after the fact, looking at the scoreboard, I won by nine points, which is only like a second.”
Going into the race, Barton’s expectations for himself were clear.
“I just had to run as fast as I could and see if that was enough," he said. "So, I put together a race plan with [Coach Hogan] on how I could maximize my abilities to run as fast as possible.
"When a guy's behind you, you can’t really see him and know what he’s doing, so you just have to run your own race and hope it’s enough.”
Barton’s coach, Tiffany Hogan, said, "Here’s what we got to do, and Ben said, ‘My game plan is I’m going to run a 4:35,’ then we broke it down into what times he needed to hit per lap, and I gave him my cues on strategy of how to run per lap. Byrd was within three to five seconds most of the race. Every time we timed the difference between Ben and [Byrd], it was close.
“We didn’t know it was going to happen until right at the very end cause even in the last hundred, I didn’t know if Ben was going to win it," she added. "With a hundred meters to go, Byrd was within striking distance.”
Hogan knew what her next step was after Barton crossed the finish line:
“I started my stopwatch and just watched it, watched the seconds counting up," she said. "And then I turned and looked at Byrd, and Byrd started dying, tying up.”
That’s when Hogan started to celebrate when she saw the time, knowing that Barton had just won the decathlon national championship.
Although it all came down to that time spread in the 1,500 meters, the other events were critical in getting to that final race and a chance at a national championship.
Barton finished first in the 100 and high jump and ended the day with a first-place finish in the 400 meters. Even with 4,414 points and a 130-point lead after the first day, Barton’s mindset didn’t get complacent.
“I felt like I was doing pretty good after the first day," he said. "It’s kind of hard for spectators to totally understand how athletes are doing. I knew that KJ Byrd was going to have a freakishly good pole vault and make a comeback there.
"I honestly felt like, after day one, I was still in second place based on where the points were probably going to land. I knew I had to come back on day two and really perform.”
The pole vault was the main area of focus for Barton and Hogan leading up to the event.
“Pole vault was the one where we were lacking for him,” Hogan said, “and he knew that (Louisville’s Kenneth Byrd’s) strength was pole vault. It was a matter of how good Byrd was going to do and how many heights below Ben was going to be, and we wanted to close that gap.”
Barton finished 16th in the pole vault with 4.31 meters, but made up for it in the other events on day 2. Barton finished third and 12th in the 110-meter hurdles and discus, respectively.
Barton ended up reaching his goal of 4:35 in the 1,500 meters with a personal best of 4:32.61
But through it all, Barton’s teammate Jaden Roskelley knows the challenges he has faced to get to this point.
“I’m slightly emotional because of how much of a fight it has been for him, not just this past year but for the past four years," Roskelley said. "I really was happy for him because he’s been so helpful, so kind, so hardworking.”
Roskelley trained less down the stretch because of his injuries.
“The main thing that training less affects is cardiovascular, and the 1,500, yet he PR’s in the 1,500 to win without training for the 1,500," he said. "That blows my mind because at that point it’s pure grit.”
Barton said that he hopes that the lessons he has learned in the decathlon will impact his family.
“Hopefully, it can show my son and show my future kids that if you put your mind to something, you can do it. My freshman year, I stunk at the decathlon. I was really bad. Midway through the season, my coach said that I think you should focus on the high jump and forget the decathlon because it was not going well.
"But I kept working at it and getting better each day. Hopefully that sets a good example for my kids to keep working for what they know they can do.”