Hobbled champion: Rhea's Sholl wins state decathlon with hurt hamstring

The terrible pop Chase Sholl heard might as well have been the sound of his heart breaking.

More than a year spent training for the chance to compete in the Class AAA state decathlon seemingly came to a crashing halt Tuesday when the Rhea County junior felt his right hamstring pop, then begin to tighten as he landed in the sand of the long jump pit at Middle Tennessee State University.

Sholl had entered the second day of the grueling 10-event competition with the lead and was maintaining that advantage through the seventh event. But with his hamstring tightening to the point that he could barely walk, Sholl was advised to remove himself from competition.

Instead, he managed to limp through the final three events and hold off Ravenwood's Carter Sorenson by 45 points (6,097-6,052) to become the Chattanooga area's first state champion decathlete since Brainerd's Orlando Harris in 2008.

Despite suffering a pulled hamstring during Tuesday's competition, Rhea County's Chase Sholl claimed the state champiosnhip in the Class AAA decathlon.

"Honestly, the scoring was so close that I didn't know I had won until they were calling out the names and places for everybody," Sholl said. "I was sitting there waiting, and when they got to second place, I thought they were going to call my name. Then all of a sudden I realized I had won and I was just ecstatic.

"This race beats you up, mentally and physically. As soon as I took off I felt it pop, and when I landed my heart sank, because in my head I thought there was no way I could finish. I thought I had lost for sure. But since we were so late in the competition and I still had the lead, I decided to just try it and see what I could do."

Sholl began the two-day competition by winning Monday's first event, the 100-meter dash, and followed that with a third-place finish in the pole vault, eighth in the discus, sixth in the triple jump and first in the 400 to lead going into Tuesday. He began the second day just as strong as he won the 110 hurdles and finished second in the long jump.

But after suffering the injury in the long jump, he struggled to a tie for eighth in the high jump, clearing 5 feet, 1.75 inches in an event he normally clears 6-2 and was fifth in the shot put before gutting out the grueling 1500-meter finale, finishing eighth in a time of 5:07.82 -- just enough behind Sorenson to maintain his lead.

Sholl was to compete in four other events Friday in the boys' state track meet, including the 110 hurdles and 300 hurdles where his qualifying times made him a favorite, as well as the 200 dash and anchoring Rhea's 4x100 relay. He admitted his injury may force him to scratch from each of those events now.

"We knew it was a risk, having to compete in that many events in two days, but he was determined to be a state champion decathlete," said Rhea County coach Doug Keylon. "To run the 1500 in 5:037 with a bad leg and after completing nine other events, that's awfully impressive.

"I'm not surprised he gritted it out. He fought through it just like I would expect him to, because that's just who he is. He's battled through a nagging back injury all year, but he's never let being hurt stop him, and now he's reached his ultimate goal."

Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293.

Photo Gallery

Concert for "Safe Places"

a concert to benefit "Safe Places" was held at the Governor's Mansion Grand Hall Tuesday night.