July 31, 2009
SEATTLE – If he'd followed his own instincts, he might be flinging fastballs somewhere – maybe in the relative obscurity of the minors, perhaps in the bright lights of the bigs.
Instead, Chris Randolph followed the instincts of a couple track and field coaches – one at Denver Christian High School, one at Seattle Pacific University.
Those instincts – theirs, not his – turned out to be right on the mark.
Now a world-class decathlete, the 25-year-old Randolph is well familiar with both obscurity and bright lights: His sport of choice usually flies under the radar; yet when he competes, it's often on a big stage with big stakes.
Quite a trek to the top for the guy who spent most of his youth counting to three (three strikes, three outs) and now specializes in counting to 10 (the number of events over the course of a two-day decathlon).
“Baseball was really my first love,” said Randolph, a former pitcher. “Junior year of high school, I had to choose between baseball and track, and I remember I was going to choose baseball because track wasn't going too well.
“But my coach convinced me to come out one more year.”
Randolph did, and never looked back. By the time he left Denver Christian, he was one of Colorado's top track and field athletes, capped by a second-place state meet finish in the high jump as a senior.
By the time he left Seattle Pacific, he was a back-to-back NCAA Division II decathlon champion and the school record holder in that event, winning it as a junior under then-head coach Jack Hoyt, and repeating as a senior under current head coach
Karl Lerum.
“My sense is that when Chris arrived at SPU, he was just another good athlete,” said Ken Foreman, the Seattle Pacific legend who had retired from coaching before Randolph came, but had been Hoyt's coach here. “Somewhere along the way, Jack observed something special in this young man. Together, they set goals and had dreams, and the journey was on.”
The journey continues. Last month, Randolph took fourth place at the USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Ore. Next week, he'll be in Marburg, Germany, for the annual Thorpe Cup, a U.S-Germany dual meet. And in September, there's the prestigious Decastar Decathlon in Talence, France, although his spot in that one isn't a sure thing yet.
“From (the Thorpe Cup) on, I feel like I want to do another one,” said Randolph, who started his competition schedule a little later than usual this year because of a hamstring injury. “The Decastar is one of the best competitions in the world. You have to be invited to go -- that's how big it is.”
DECATHLON? WHAT'S THAT?
After choosing track over baseball, Randolph knew he wanted to continue beyond high school. And after talking to older sister Beth, who was a nursing student here, Randolph knew he wanted to come to Seattle Pacific.
“I called Jack and told him my marks, and he gave me a scholarship to come out,” Randolph recalled. “He said to try the decathlon. I had no idea what it was. (But) he was so strong in believing it was something I would be really good at.
“So I latched onto him and did anything he told me to do.”
Randolph already had the high jump and long jump down, and had run the 400 meters in high school. But that still left seven events not in his repertoire: the 100 meters, 110 hurdles, 1,500 meters, shot put, javelin, discus and pole vault.
“I looked and said, 'He has the mental toughness to be a great runner, and the ability to high jump, as well,'” Hoyt recalled. “(But) even if you have the physical attributes, you have to have the desire.… When I talk to decathletes, I'll say, 'Is this what you want to do?'”
It was. So together, he and Hoyt focused on the events with which Randolph had little or no experience. And progress was quick.
“After his freshman year, you start thinking, 'This guy is definitely on a big course. He figured everything out in one year,'” said Hoyt, himself an experienced decathlete. “There's usually still a weak event or two after freshman year. We tried hard to knock those out so no one could get a 300-point lead on him in one event.”
RISING RAPIDLY
From 6,533 points as a freshman, Randolph climbed to 7,030 as a sophomore – good for third place in the NCAA championships. As a junior in 2005, Randolph won it all, scoring 7,309 points at NCAAs.
Then, with his senior season looming, he was hit with an unplanned change: Hoyt left Seattle Pacific to coach at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Randolph wondered if he should leave, too.
But this time, he followed his own instincts – and stayed in Seattle.
“I always felt like SPU was the place where I was supposed to be,” Randolph said. “I just loved to compete for them. Karl (Lerum, the current Falcons head coach who took over from Hoyt) came in, and I was good friends with him. For some reason, I just knew I was supposed to finish my college career here.”
Hoyt knew it, as well.
“I was just glad that Karl was chosen to be head coach,” Hoyt said. “When (Lerum) got in there, Chris was like a machine, and Karl did all the right things to keep it going and feed that machine.”
Randolph finished his college days in style, piling up 7,872 points to win another NCAA title as a senior in 2006. That also smashed the 36-year-old school record of 7,520 points set in 1970 by Steve Gough, who's now a Falcon Legend.
“One of the hardest things to do in athletics is win when you're supposed to,” Randolph said. “I came in junior year as the underdog, so it's easier. My senior year, I had a target on my back.”
AND HE'S STILL ON THE RISE
After graduating with a major in psychology and a minor in communications, Randolph did move to California to link up with Hoyt again. And at June's USA nationals in Eugene, he climbed from sixth place after the first five events to fourth place in the final standings with 7,766 points, about 200 points shy of the bronze.
“I actually felt I could have done better,” Randolph said. “But, it is my highest placing at a USA meet, so that says a lot.”
From Hawaii, where he now lives, Foreman's smile was apparent, even in an e-mail.
“I could not be more pleased than to have watched Chris and Jack accomplish so great a thing together,” Foreman said. “Chris is among the best of the best. Nothing was or is easy for him. Limited facilities, the need to study and then work, the necessity of moving to be with his coach – these are tough decisions to make, tough obstacles to overcome.”
Randolph now lives in San Luis Obispo, Calif. He works part-time as a chiropractic assistant and competes for VS Athletics Track Club out of Santa Monica. He trains six days a week, focusing on two or three events each day.
“The big thing about the decathlon (events) is you love each one of them – and you hate each one of them, too,” Randolph said. “You're able to move on if you do horrible in one of them.
“That's what makes the decathlon so great.”
And it's what makes Chris Randolph so grateful for following those instincts.
Even if they were someone else's.
