Observer-Reporter Athlete of the Week
Name: Darius Spinks
School: Washington
Class: Senior
Sport: Track and Field
Spinks’ week: Spinks won three events and finished second in a fourth at last week’s WPIAL individual championships at Baldwin High School.
He won the long jump with a mark of 22 feet, 7 1/2 inches. Spinks also ran on the first-place 400- and 1,600-meter relay teams, which finished with times of 43.29 seconds and 3:24.79, respectively, the latter breaking a WPIAL record for the second time in the past three seasons.
Spinks’ second-place finish was in the 100 dash, where he trailed only Beaver’s Anthony Keriotis with a time of 11.23 seconds.
Spinks became the first Wash High track athlete to make states in each of his four years since Laura Montecalvo (2003-06).
“It was pretty good,” Spinks said of his performance. “I wanted to be like (former Prexie) Dustin (Fuller) and win four golds, but I wasn’t feeling that great in the 100.”
A special jump: Spinks won’t complain about his gold or silver medals in the running events, but there’s little question which of his wins meant the most.
“The one that got me was the long jump because I’ve been working all year for that,” Spinks said.
That work has included increasing his jump height and refining his landing. Both were a far cry from what Spinks did before.
“I used to just jump,” Spinks said. “I wasn’t really focused on much of anything.”
Special group: The Prexies’ 1,600 relay team of Elijah Ellerman, DeQuay Isbell, Spinks and Quorteze Levy has been nothing short of spectacular this season, and Spinks thinks he knows why.
“We have experience, we practice hard, and we push each other every meet to try and get the best times,” Spinks said. “If we feel like we’re not doing our best, we get on each other.”
Wash High enters this weekend’s PIAA meet with the third-best time in the 1,600 relay.
Making the switch: Spinks used to play baseball and even took part in the Pony World Series, though a lack of playing time led him to give track a try.
Turned out Spinks was actually pretty good.
“The first event I did was the long jump, and I jumped a 20-something,” Spinks explained. “The coaches said, ‘You’re just going to do the long jump.’ “
No way, Spinks told himself.
Spinks raced Bryan Thomas as a freshman, beat him and convinced everyone that he could run a little, too.
“I was pretty excited,” Spinks said of his win over Thomas.
– Compiled by Jason Mackey