Paso Robles at AAU 2009

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Brenda Wiley

As he rounded the track for the final lap of the race, Paul Denlinger remembers hearing the announcer yelling over the loud speaker that the runner at the front of the pack was close to breaking the current national record in the 2,000-meter steeplechase –– and he just happened to be that runner.

A recent graduate from Templeton High School, Denlinger was competing at the recent AAU Junior National Olympic Games in Des Moines, Iowa held July 27 through Aug. 8.

Denlinger had just come from the USATF Junior Olympic Nationals Track and Field Championships held in Greensboro, N.C., where he competed in the 1,500 and 5,000-meter races and finished seventh and sixth, respectively.

As Denlinger neared the finish line in the steeplechase, he knew he was about to set a new national junior record in an event he was running in for only the second time in his competitive running career. The first time he competed in the steeplechase was at the start of summer during an AAU track and field qualifier competition in Clovis.

Just seconds away from setting that new record, Denlinger said he knew there was no room for error during the final lap. Adding to that pressure was the fact that in the earlier steeplechase he’d competed in, there was no water set up after the barriers.

So while it was technically his second race, it was Denlinger’s first competition with all the obstacles associated with the race in place.

As the race progressed and the last few laps loomed before the runners, Denlinger said the pressure kept building.

“Second to last lap, the announcer started talking about the national record, and that I was on that same pace,” he said. “Then on the last lap, he started saying that if I ran the last lap in a certain time, I’d have the national record.”

Denlinger said he knew it was time for the performance of a lifetime.

“Usually at the end of a race you’re tired and you’re trying to push yourself, but when you’re running for a national record you can’t get tired because you know if you just push a little harder you’ll have [the record],” he said.