Decko overcomes nerves for strong finish
Accomplishments: Pamela Decko plans to graduate from Lodi High as a three-sport athlete.
One of the sports she shined at the Sac-Joaquin Section Cross-Country Championships at the Willow Hills course on the Folsom High campus on Nov. 17. As a member of the Lodi High girls cross-country team, Decko, a sophomore, had the best time out of all Lodi area runners competing at the championships at 21 minutes, 28.2 seconds in the Division I girls’ race.
The 2.1 miles course features a combination of hills and flat lands that can enhance or slow down the best of long-distant runners. Decko took 31st place.
“At first I was really nervous,” said Decko of performing at the championships. “I didn’t think I was going to make it.”
But Flame teammate Ruth Hernandez, a senior who has led Lodi in most races during the season, ran in the race helped Decko compete against the best D-I girls running at the championships. Hernandez finished in 46th place at 22:37.8.
“Ruth is usually in front of me,” Decko said. “I just knew she was going to be there.”
The section championships were run with good air quality. The race was originally scheduled to take place Nov. 10. But bad air quality from the smoke that came from the Camp Fire in Butte County led to section officials postponing the championships for one week.
“I feel it affected me and a lot of the girls,” Decko said. “We’re all distance runners, so we are used to running outside.”
According to Lodi coach Greg Wright, Decko and the Flames, plus Lodi’s lone boy representative at the section championships in Lucas Fonda, the runners prepared for the
championships by running inside The Inferno.
There’s more to running different type of courses and workouts that Decko likes about being a part of the Lodi High cross-country program.
“I love the family, the bond that I have with the girls,” Decko said. “I love running by itself. It’s a way to clear my head most of the time.”
At the start of her freshman year entering the 2017-18 school year, Decko tried out and made the Lodi High cheerleading squad. But she quit the squad after making the team.
Decko was going to shift her focus toward preparing to try out for the Lodi High frosh-soph girls basketball team. Wanting to be in good shape for tryouts, she went out for the Lodi High froshsoph girls cross-country team after leaving the cheerleading squad.
“I needed (another) sport so I tried cross-country,” said Decko, who was on the Lodi High girls track and field team last spring.
This winter, she’s on the Lodi High girls wrestling team.
“I decided to do wrestling because I feel basketball wasn’t the sport for me,” Decko said. “I wanted to try something new.”