Sweet Home decathlete Dakotah Keys has announced that he will sign with the University of Oregon to compete in track and field in the fall of 2010.
Keys, 17, who won the USA Track and Field Junior Olympic national championship and placed fifth as the youngest competitor in the junior nationals last summer, said he picked Oregon because of its “coaching, facilities, reputation and location.”
Keys cannot actually sign a letter of intent until Feb. 4, 2010, and a verbal commitment is nonbinding. But he said he has heard from schools all over the nation, including “all of the PAC-10 schools and the Ivy League schools, all the major Division I schools” and he decided that the Ducks would be his best choice.
He made a verbal commitment Sunday with U of O Associate Head Coach Dan Steele, who oversees the school’s decathletes and heptathletes.
NCAA regulations prohibit coaches from commenting until athletes sign a letter of intent.
Keys and his mother, Lela Danforth, said he considered several programs but decided that Oregon was a good fit for him after watching the Pac-10 decathlon championships at Hayward Field and then winning three events and placing second in another at Hayward last month during the state 4A track and field championships.
Keys set school records in the 110 hurdles (14.66), the long jump (23-8 1/2), the pole vault (15-7) and the javelin (197-9) this season.
“He felt it would not be right to have other programs use money on him that they could use on another athlete, nor did he want to take up their valuable time since he was 100 percent sure Oregon was the fit for him,” Danforth said.
“We have watched the coaching system in place at Oregon for over a year now and believe that their coaching staff will be the next step in helping Dakotah achieve his athletic goals as a decathlete.”
Keys said he has talked with Oregon athletes and “liked their attitude.
“When I was down there one of the Oregon girls came up to ask about a pair of shoes and she asked me if I had any questions,” he said. “She definitely seemed to like being there.”
Danforth said she’s gotten the same feeling.
“Watching the Ducks’ successes, I can see that the coaches must be doing something correct,” she said.
Keys said he also liked Oregon because he’s interested in the medical field and the school has a strong academic program in areas that could help him reach his goals.
Keys said another reason he likes Oregon is because he already knows Marshall Ackley, a freshman decathlete from Nyssa who has competed at the Sweet Home Decathlon. He also knows Danny Staats, a freshman high jumper and sprinter from Henley who he competed against at state the last two years.
Danforth said the Ducks’ financial offer is “right” and “the fact that Oregon is close to home and in an area that is familiar to him is a bonus.
“He loves the support of his family and friends and feels he will be more successful in his college career closer to his support system,” she said.
Keys is scheduled to compete June 25-26 in the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships junior decathlon competition at Hayward Field.
He’ll be tested by Curtis Beach, an Albuquerque, N.M. senior who won five events in the New Mexico high school state championships last month and has a decathlon best of 7,909 points set with high school implements at the Arcadia (Calif.) Invitational in April. Another challenger will be Gray Horn, a University of Florida freshman from Wapakoneta, Ohio, who won the SEC decathlon this year 7,389 points.
Keys said he is hoping to up his decathlon score to 7700 points this summer.
“I know I can get more points in events I’ve been working on, like the pole vault and the hurdles,” he said.
Keys’ high school coach, Billy Snow, said “if that’s what he wants and he’ll be happy there, I’m happy for him.”
“Boy, you can’t ask for a better program, especially in his chosen area.”
Snow noted that Keys is comfortable at Hayward field and “he’s thought it through and looked at it from different angles.”
Ashton Eaton, the Ducks’ current decathlon star, will be graduating the year Keys arrives and “Dakotah will be right there,”
Snow said.
“I’m kind of excited about it.”