Isiah Pantiere closed out his high school track and field on a high note after a disastrous start Thursday at the KHSAA State Track and Field Championships in Lexington.
Pantiere committed a false start in his first race of the day, the 100-meter dash, and was subsequently disqualified. He rebounded to win the 200 and 400-meter runs to become the first UHA male athlete to win a state track and field title. Even more impressive, he set a new Class A record in the 200-meters, crossing the finish line in a time of 21.67, which broke the 2013 record of 21.92 set by Owen County’s Collin Trammel.
Pantiere won both races in the rain, which was present for most of the meet at the University of Kentucky Track and Field Complex.
In the 400-meter run, Pantiere got out to a fast start and won the race in a time of 49.40, just one second off the 39-year-old state record set by Harrodsburg’s James Jones.
The University of Louisville signee holds the school record in four events. He was a scratch in the long jump Thursday because of how the race schedule fell for his other three events.
Tomas Duncan also reached the podium for UHA, finishing seventh in the 1600-meter run in a new school-record time of 4:37.36. The sophomore distance runner also finished ninth in the 3200-meter run in a time of 10:12.97.
Freshman Connor Dill finished 10th in the 300-meter hurdles in a time of 44.02.
As a team, UHA scored 22 points to finish 13th out of 39 schools. Louisville Holy Cross won the state title with 68 points, while Owensboro Catholic was second with 58 points.