by John Dye

From Idaho, which gave the track world Dan O'Brien and Stacy Dragila, we now have another athlete on a meteoric rise. Only a sophomore in high school, he is already making a big mark. In 2000, he was intermediate boys decathlon champion at the USATF Junior Olympics at Buffalo with 6,687 points. Recently, he won four events at the Idaho State Meet (high hurdles, long jump, high jump, and pole vault). He is a member of the US team for the World Youth Games in Hungary this year.

Kilmartin is a rangy young man with unabashed confidence. After an 8-inch PR (23-11.75w) on his first long jump in the decathlon here, he came back to his coach and said, "It wasn't really a good jump. I can do better."

Kilmartin on the long jump runway

A strong (6.2 mps) wind helped

Consulting with coach Mark Murdock