Chapter Text
In gym class, they were running the mile. Percy decided to see what his best mile time was, especially since he was only running one mile, so he ran flat-out for the whole mile. He ended up with a time of less than 4 minutes. Upon seeing his time, his gym teacher, who was also the track coach, immediately started trying to recruit him to the Track & Field team.
“I hear you like relays in swimming, there’s relays in track too, we could use you on the 4 x 400m relay team,” Coach Travers insisted.
“I’ll show up, but no guarantee I’ll stick with it, I find running kind of boring,” Percy eventually agreed.
So, Percy went to track practice. First, they worked through a bunch of warm up stretches, which Percy was already familiar with the importance of stretching. Then the coach had him race at various different distances. He was reasonably fast at the 100m and 200m, though they quickly realized what made him fast at the 200m was that he could keep his 100m pace up for that distance. He was really fast at the 400m and 800m because he could keep up that same pace for those longer distances, which was really impressive on the 800m. He had a slightly slower pace on the 1500m but it was still really fast for the 1500m. Apparently, on the 1500m races normally it was a lot about mind-games of being near the front then “kicking” at the end, but Percy thought that was stupid, if he was going to run he was going to run it properly the whole way through.
Percy found all the running kind of boring and he said so. One of the coaches suggested he try hurdles, and they taught him the proper technique for jumping hurdles. At 6ft tall now, Percy was able to jump the hurdles with only slight difficulty, he found he liked the hurdles more than just the running because it felt more like a real chase because he had to dodge obstacles. The coaches mentioned another race was the steeplechase, which was 3000m but it had obstacles like hurdles, and Percy thought that sounded interesting, even if the name was weird.
Coach Fields gave Percy a considering look, “You look like you have good upper body strength,” he said.
“Well, yeah, I’m a swimmer, a lot of that is upper body,” Percy replied.
“I’d like to see what you can do on the throwing events,” Coach Fields said. They then had him throw a javelin, which Percy found familiar and was able to do with excellent form, getting great distance and accuracy down the middle. They then showed him the technique for the discus and the shotput, he didn’t do great on them but he did decently. The coaches were looking at all the scores he’d gotten on a sheet.
“Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” Coach Fields said to Coach Travers.
“Mmhmm, Decathlon,” Coach Travers commented.
Next they had him try long jump, which Percy was pretty good at. Next was High Jump, which Percy struggled with, hitting the bar.
“So, Percy, we think you would be excellent at Decathlon, we just need to teach you the proper techniques for High Jump and Pole Vault. What do you say?” Coach Travers said.
“Well, sounds more interesting than simply running around,” Percy agreed.
The next day of track & field practice, they focused on getting him to do high jump and pole vault. They had one of the kids, Devin, who did both of them as individual events, demonstrate both of them so Percy could learn the proper technique. Percy concluded his small amount of gymnastics training, which taught him how to fall properly and gave him better sense of his body in the air, would help him with these events.
They had him practice without the bar at first, just getting a feel for the technique for the high jump. Then they added the bar at a height that he should be able to clear and found that he was able to clear it. Then they followed a similar process for the pole vault. He practiced them for a while, seeing what the best he could do on them was and what he could consistently do on them. The coaches were pleased with the marks he was able to achieve in both events; they weren’t particularly good if he were competing the events individually, but as the “weaker” of his decathlete marks they were still really solid marks.
So, Percy decided to officially join the Track & Field team. The wide variety of events they had him practicing for was interesting enough that he wasn’t bored with it, and it was rewarding to work on improving his overall athleticism.
One day they were practicing his sprint starts to prepare him for the 100m, specifically because they wanted him on the relay team for it. They found that he kept false-starting, even though Percy was only going when he heard the gun. Apparently, his reaction time was too fast that it registered as a false start, so he started hesitating a bit instead before starting. He did get a lot better at accelerating up to his top speed in a shorter period of time though.
They wanted him on the opening leg of the 4 x 100m relay because they wanted their fastest 100m sprinter, who wasn’t Percy, to do the anchor leg. For the 4 x 400m relay Percy would be the anchor though because he was the fastest 400m sprinter. They planned to vary which individual events Percy competed in at any given meet, giving him a wide variety.
For the first Track Meet, Percy was running in the 400m and 100m relay events. They also had him running in the 400m individual race, 400m hurdle race, and the 1500m race. They also had him participating in the Javelin throw, apparently he was really good at that. For their 4 x 100m relay race, Percy got a nice clean start and transition and they ended up getting 2nd in the race, which they were satisfied with since it was better than they had typically gotten the previous year. For the 4 x 400m race, they were in a close 3rd position when Percy took over and he turned on the jets, winning by a solid distance. The team was very excited about the relay win.
Percy ran well and won the 400m race. He also did well in the 400m hurdles, he didn’t hit any of the hurdles and he managed to win the race. The coaches were really happy with his times in both as well, Percy didn’t really know what was considered a good time but he did win the races with a decent lead over second place. Percy really enjoyed the javelin throw, he got one throw that hit just perfectly and it went really far and he won that event as well.
Lastly, he had the 1500m. He accelerated quickly to his second-highest speed and then he kept it up for the whole race. He led from the front, a few tried to hang with him but quickly flagged and drifted back with the rest of the pack. He kicked into his fastest speed for the last 300m of the race. He won the race with a good time, a new personal best which he was proud of. After the competition, the coaches informed him he had qualified for the state championships in all the individual races he competed in. Percy had the impression that would probably be a trend, but he’d have to pick and choose which events he would actually compete in at States. Track and Field tired him out more than Swimming did, though the cardio and endurance training from swimming definitely carried over to help him in athletics.
At the second track meet, they had him in the two relays again, then they had him do the 200m and 800m races. They also had him do long jump, high jump, and discus throw. They won the 400m relay again though they got 3rd in the 100m relay. For the 200m race, the faster acceleration he’d practiced for the 100m really helped him and he managed to get a close 1st place win in the race. For the 800m, he ran just as fast as he’d done in the 200m, maintaining that top speed for the whole race, and he not only won by a landslide, he got a really good time.
The discus throw was difficult, he fouled on his first throw. Then he settled in and focused on his technique and got a good throw on his second. He tried a few more times and was able to get a good mark. It wasn’t exceptional, but it got him a solid 3rd place in the competition. Considering a lot of the other discus throwers were taller and bigger than him, and also competing in shotput, he was proud of what he was able to do with the discus. The long jump went pretty well, he had practiced and gotten his strides dialed in that he knew when to jump on the board to maximize his distance, and he did have a pretty solid jump distance. He ended up placing first in the long jump.
The high jump was difficult, he reached the mark he could consistently get easily, which was a mediocre mark. He then went higher and fouled on his first try before getting it on his second. Then they raised the height and he ended up not able to get the next highest mark, which is about what he expected. He ended up placing 4th in high jump, but Devin got 2nd and was happy with that. Percy was informed that his performance in the 200m, 800m, and long jump were all good enough to meet the qualifying mark for the state championships. The coaches said his 800m mark especially was really good and he should compete in that event.
At his third track meet, he was once again competing on the two relays, he was a team player like that. He was also competing in the 3000m steeplechase and the 110 meter hurdles. Lastly, he was competing in the pole vault, which he was a bit nervous about. He’d found that with the pole vault, he preferred competing in his full-body swim suit because it was skin-tight and fit him well, so he didn’t have to worry about any loose fabric snagging on anything.
For the 4 x 400m relay he once again ensured they won and they got a solid second place in the 4 x 100m relay. For the 110 meter hurdles, Percy had a nice clean run, really accelerating at the end after the hurdles, and he managed to get a close 1st place win. For the 3000m steeplechase, Percy ran slightly slower than his 1500m pace, a pace he had worked out through practice which lined him up well with the jumps on the hurdles. His long jump ability really helped him at jumping over the water trap and he enjoyed the realism of the race as if he was actually running away from something. He didn’t hold back, he ran his own race, leading from the front the whole race and winning easily with a good time. The coaches were really pleased with his time on that race as well.
Lastly, he was competing in the pole vault. He ran, planted the pole, and flew through the air, arcing his back to go over the barrier smoothly. He fouled a few times but got the mark on his second try. He ended up posting a new personal best on the pole vault, which he was proud of. The new personal best led to him winning that particular event. He figured that the adrenaline of being at a real meet helped him jump that little bit higher. His coaches informed him he’d made the state championships in the 110 meter hurdles, the steeplechase, and in the pole vault.
For the last regular season track meet of the year, he was putting it all together and competing in the Decathlon. He had learned that in the decathlon, what mattered was the point table, so he should do his absolute best in every event to achieve the highest score in the event. Even if he was winning a race, he should still run as fast as he could to get the better mark for the overall point total. He was also competing in the 4 x 400m relay though he was getting a break from the 4 x 100m relay. He once again won the 400m relay for his team.
First for the decathlon, he ran the 100 meters. He had a clean start and accelerated quickly, winning the race against the other decathlon competitors. Next was the long jump, he launched off the board cleanly and got a good mark. Next was the shot put, which was difficult for him, but he executed his technique cleanly and got a pretty good mark on one of his throws. Next was the high jump, he got his normal mark cleanly, then the next height up. Then he fouled but on his next try he was able to get the higher height. Then he fouled again but on his second try was able to get the next height, which was a new personal best for him in competition. Then he fouled out at the next height. Then he did the 400 meters run, accelerating as fast as if it were a 100m sprint and running flat out for the full 400m, he beat his competitors by a significant amount on that.
Then they had a break for lunch and he got to rest for a bit. After the break, he had the 110 meter hurdles which he was able to do cleanly and he was faster than the other decathletes. Next he had the discus throw, he fouled on one of his throws but the rest were clean, and one he hit perfectly and set a new personal best. Next was the pole vault, where he managed to match his personal best with only one foul. Next was the javelin throw, which was one of his favorite events. He hurled the javelin really far, getting an excellent mark.
He was leading the points table going into the final event, the 1500m run. His coaches still encouraged him to run his absolute best to see how high of a score he could post in decathlon, they seemed excited about something. So Percy ran the 1500m with his second fastest speed then broke into his top speed sprint for the last 400m, even though he was far in front of the others, he ran as hard as he could to see how fast he could go. He ended up setting a new personal best for himself on the 1500m run. He was rather tired by the end of it too, but tired in a way that was satisfying.
His coaches were ecstatic. Apparently, with 8110 decathlon points, he had set a new high school national record. Percy was astounded, he knew he was consistently qualifying for the state championship in various events but he had no idea he was doing that well nationally. Then again, this was the first time he had actually brought everything together to compete for decathlon.