Zach Taylor was still fidgeting with his silver medal when he walked into the air-conditioned weight-room-turned-interview-room. A sophomore sprinter for Mississippi State, Taylor had just done something almost no one expected him to do – at the SEC Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Starkville, he beat out competitors from all across the conference and placed second in the decathlon, one of the most difficult events in the game, qualifying himself for the NCAA Championships in Oregon next month.
Those running with – and mostly behind – Taylor, hadn’t calculated him in their plans.