O-R Athlete of the Week: Daniel Layton, Waynesburg

Name: Daniel Layton
School: Waynesburg
Class: Senior
Sport: Track and field
Layton’s week: In a rain-soaked 46th Annual Baldwin Invitational, Layton put together his best performance in the 110-meter high hurdles.
Running against rival Jared Bannon of Hempfield, Layton won the event with a personal and school record of 14.46 seconds.
“It was surprising because I wasn’t expecting to do that in those conditions,” Layton said of the wet track at Baldwin High School. “I knew that when I got up against (Jared) that we’d have a good race. It pushes me so much more. I’ve been wanting to race him all season, but we’ve just been missing each other.”
The time only betters his Layton’s own top mark on the heat sheets in Class AA. He is the only boys hurdler in the classification to run under 15 seconds in the 110 high hurdles and is more than one second faster than the second-best time.
Layton’s time at the Baldwin Invitational gives him the fastest time in the entire WPIAL, better than Bannon’s Class AAA-best time (14.48) by .02 seconds.
“In that race, competition is important,” said Waynesburg coach Rick Layton. “He’s had some competition but knew Jared was going to be there. We knew that would push him. Those two competed against one another during (the indoor season).”
Unfinished business: There is still plenty of incentive over the next month for Layton.
The senior will try to defend his 110 high hurdles championship and improve on last year’s second-place finish in the pole vault when the WPIAL Individual Championships are held May 16 at Slippery Rock University.
“I want to win both,” Daniel Layton said.
He is the favorite in both events because former teammate Will Behm, the 2018 pole vault champion, graduated. Layton’s height of 14-7 is more than 1 1/2 feet better than the next-best height in Class AA.
At the PIAA Championships, set for May 24-25 at Shippensburg University, Layton wants to avenge a fall over the opening hurdle that caused him to finish in eighth place last year. He had the best time in the preliminary heats.
“He is focused. He knows what we has to do,” Rick Layton said. “It’s right in front of him. What happened to him last year was he got overly intent. He has worked real hard on getting consistent with his steps and as long as he gets a good, consistent start, I feel like he’s going to win every race. He gets stronger as the race goes on.”
Compiled by Luke Campbell