Dakotah Keys of Sweet Home won two national titles last week at the USA Youth Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Lisle, Ill., outside of Chicago.
Keys, who will be a high school sophomore in the fall, won the intermediate boys javelin with a throw of 173 feet, 3 inches.
This year’s runner-up was Danel Rodely of Jonesboro, Ark., who threw 157-1. Keys was the runner-up in the javelin at the USA meet last year.
He also won the intermediate boys decathlon on Tuesday and Wednesday, scoring 5731 points, well below his best and school-record 6395, which he posted three weeks ago at the Junior Olympics state championships.
The runner-up was Steven Robillard of the South Orange County Wildcats track club from Southern California, who scored 4812.
Keys also competed in the pole vault (third place, 11-09 3/4), the 400 hurdles (seventh place, 1:00.51) and the 110 high hurdles (ninth place, 15.94).
He and three other Sweet Home athletes, Hannah McClaskey, Land Florek and Maria Kropf, have qualified to compete in the regional Junior Olympics at Stealth High School in Seattle July 12-15.
The top three from that meet, with the exception of the decathlon, will qualify to advance to the national Junior Olympics meet July 24-29 at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, Calif., east of Los Angeles.