Saturday, Jul. 11, 2009

Injury couldn't keep Forrest Knight from being a state champion

East senior took home top honors in 300 meter hurdles

A hamstring injury forced Belleville East senior Forrest Knight to sit out the final regular season track and field meet of the spring season.

But it didn't keep him from becoming the state champion in the Class 3A 300-meter intermediate hurdles.

The injury to his right hamstring, which came during practice, was the first major injury of his career.

"I had smaller injuries before, but this was the first time I wasn't able to run,'' Knight said. "It was frustrating for me, the team, everybody. The team kept going and winning. It wasn't like they weren't going to do it without me, because they did.

"I did what I could do. Now if anything comes up, I know that I'll be able to overcome it. It was a good season.''

Knight, who also placed fourth in the 110 high hurdles at the state meet, finished the 300 hurdles with a time of 37.96 to edge Belleville West junior Jarvis Patterson for the title.

For his accomplishments, Knight has been honored as the News-Democrat Class 3A track and field athlete of the year.

Knight, who placed ninth in the 300 hurdles as a junior, will compete in track and field at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville beginning in the fall.

Knight has been running the hurdles for just two years. But with the help of assistant coach Jermaine Jones -- a former Lancer who won the Class AA 300 hurdle title in 2000 -- Knight quickly became the best in the state.

"Forrest had a lot of talent, but his freshman and sophomore years he was just one of those kids that kind of got lost in the mix. Then his junior year he ran the hurdles and just got better and better with each meet,'' Lancers coach Jim Loyet said. "He'll go down as one of the top track athletes we've had.

"Forrest worked hard in the weight room and was a hard worker in practice. He's just a good kid who did everything we asked him to do.''

Knight was just one of several outstanding athletes on a Lancers team that eventually tied for sixth in the Class 3A meet.

Competing with high caliber athletes everyday in practice and a talent-rich Southwestern Conference helped take at least some of the pressure off Knight.

"I put pressure on myself to do well but because I was having such a good year, I wanted to do even better,'' Knight said "The team had a lot of talent and so you get better by just being out there every day competing with each other.

After sitting out two straight meets, Knight was ready when the postseason rolled around. A solid performance at the Moline Sectional set the tone for an even better state meet.

But in the finals of the 110 hurdles in Charleston, Knight did something he hadn't done before -- he went over one of the hurdles with the wrong leg.

"I didn't lose my balance or anything, but it kind of freaked me out,'' Knight said. "I got out of the blocks pretty good. But in my head I thought I messed up because I went over one of the hurdles with the wrong leg. It was the first time I had done that.

"I think if my leg hadn't been hurt I could have run faster. It was a good race though.''

In the 300 hurdles final, Knight wasn't about to be denied.

"I remember thinking you've got to win this. It was like everybody wanted me to win it because they knew I could,'' Knight said. "At the end, I was very happy that I had won. At that time, you don't really feel anything, though. You're just glad its over. I was glad it was over.''