Redemption: Layton wins PIAA gold in 110-meter hurdles
SHIPPENSBURG – This opportunity nearly never came for Daniel Layton.
It didn’t just start over the past few weeks, when a WPIAL controversy turned into a state-wide conversation. The journey back to the same starting line in Seth Grove Stadium at Shippensburg University, which he stared down last year, started well before that.
The 110-meter high-hurdle finals ended for Layton quickly after it began this time last year. He fell over the first hurdle and finished in eighth place.
Layton left the track bloodied, beaten, battered and most of all, angered.
He started with the exact same seed, exact same lane and exact same stare one year later during Saturday afternoon’s finals.
Trailing early, Layton picked up steam and didn’t let anything get in his way to a first-place finish in the Class 2A 110 high hurdles with a time of 14.53, redeeming himself from last year’s finals collapse and winning PIAA gold for the first time.
“It was more about proving it to everyone else,” Layton said. “I knew I could do it. Everybody around me knew I could do it. I just needed the world to know.”
But it wasn’t a typical race for Layton. A slower start for him and faster by others forced him to come from behind in the second half of the race, which was a surprise because he was the only hurdler in the Class 2A finals to finish the semifinal heats in under 15 seconds. Layton won both of his preliminary and semifinal races and, similarly to last year, had the fastest time of any competitor in both.
Littlestown’s Derek Herr led through the first few hurdles with Layton on his left hip.
“I was way behind at the beginning,” Layton said. “One of my biggest strengths is that second half. After I finished, I just kind of let it sink in that it’s over. This was the end of my high-school career.”
A clerical error prior to the WPIAL championships came close to preventing Layton from defending his district title and trying to redeem himself for state gold.
Layton’s father, Rick, who is also Waynesburg’s coach, mistakenly took him off the list to compete in his best race by clicking the wrong box when submitting a form to the WPIAL. Rick Layton didn’t notice the mistake until the final heat sheets were finalized and made public.
Multiple attempts to convince WPIAL officials to allow Layton to compete, including a denied appeal by a vote of 12-3, was overturned by the PIAA by a unanimous vote, 5-0, 24 hours before last week’s district championships at Slippery Rock University.
If it wasn’t overturned, Layton’s season would have ended in the 110 hurdles.
He didn’t record a height in the pole vault by failing to eclipse 13-6 in his other event.
“I’m glad it’s over,” he said. “It takes a bunch of weight off my shoulders. I started feeling the stress at the end of the season. It’s been building up. I then dislocated my shoulder last week and broke a (pole vault) pole this week. I can now relax for a little while.
“I knew what I did wrong last year. I wasn’t going to do the same this year.”