DECATUR -- Every coach dreams of having that one athlete who excels in the sport he or she teaches in their career. One Decatur coach had the chance to reflect on his experiences with such an athlete during the last sporting event of the 2018-19 school year.
During the May 13 Decatur athletic banquet at the Decatur Assembly of God Church in Decatur, Shane Holland, Decatur track and cross-country coach, took the opportunity to reflect on the day he first met the person who would later become one of his star athletes since coming to Decatur over eight years ago.
"I remember this little bitty seventh grader coming up to me and asking if she could be on the track team," Holland reminisced. "She was standing next to a hurdle at the time and I remember that she was barely tall enough to see over the top of it. It was at that point that I decided to take her on and began building her as a competitor."
The athlete Holland referred to is Desi Meek who, on April 23, brought home three state championships in the 100-meter and 300-meter hurdles (her specialty events), and as a member of the girls 4x400-meter relay team during the 2019 2A state track meet in England.
"She was a natural born athlete and leader," Holland said. "She was one of those athletes that every coach hopes to get in their career."
Holland, who has coached track and cross-country for more than 37 years, took the young Meek under his wing and began training her during her seventh- and eighth-grade years. By the time Meek was in her freshman year, she was more than ready to compete on a higher level than most of her contemporaries.
For the next four years, Holland watched Meek win numerous junior- and senior-high district and state championships, as well as numerous high-point individual titles at almost every meet in which she competed.
So it was no surprise when Holland presented Meek with the Decatur Female Athlete of the Year award at the conclusion of the sports banquet. But Holland had one final chance to see his star runner meet yet one more goal as a high school athlete.
Three days after the Decatur sports award program, Holland coached Meek to a fifth-place finish in the Arkansas Heptathlon in Fayetteville May 16.
Meek competed against 81 of the best track athletes from the seven track and field conferences in the State of Arkansas.
During the six years, Holland trained Meek to be a multiple event competitor, which included the shot put and discus, two events outside of Meek's comfort zones. During the first day of the Heptathlon, Holland watched as Meek set a personal best in the discus with a throw of 90.5 feet. This and a few other stellar performances during day two earned Meek a top-ten performance, which she bettered from last year when she finished 16th.
Meek will enter into the college ranks as she helps John Brown University restart its track program. For Shane Holland, Desi Meek will always be that "little bitty kid" that wanted to run track.
"I will always remember that little kid who was determined to be on my track team," Holland concluded during the Decatur athletic banquet. "Now, instead of looking up over the hurdles, she's jumping over them."
Sports on 05/22/2019