Divine qualifies for Junior Olympics

Marion County High School track standout Brooks Divine participated in the USA Track and Field region five competition in Cedarville, Ohio recently. 

Divine placed first in the decathlon events and fourth overall in pole vault. 

These two finishes allowed Divine to receive an invite to compete in the national USA Track and Field Junior Olympics in Baltimore, M.D. The Junior Olympics will be held July 23-29 at Morgan State University. Divine will compete in the decathlon events on the July 23-24, and will pole vault as an individual on the July 29.  

Divine scored 5,405 points overall in the decathlon events. 

He placed second in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.77 seconds, first in the long jump with 6.09 meters, fourth in shot put at 9.86 meters, tied for first in high jump with 1.65 meters, and first in the 400-meter dash with a time of 52.32 seconds. 

At the end of day one, Divine had accumulated 2,995 points.

On day two, Divine competed in the final five events of the decathlon. In the 110-meter hurdles he finished in first place with 15.97 seconds, fourth in the discus throw with a distance of 28.59 meters, third in pole vault by clearing 3.66 meters, first in javelin throw with a distance of 38.95 meters, and second in the 1500 meter run with a time of 5:55.04. 

Divine tallied up 2,410 points on the second day of the competition.

In the decathlon portion of the competition, Divine competed in the highest age group at the event. Five other 17-18-year-olds competed against Divine in his age group, and 11 athletes participated in total.

Divine also competed in the pole vault event as an individual. He placed fourth by clearing 14'0". With this finish, Divine also qualifies for the Junior Olympics in this event.