With four Youth Modern Pentathlon national titles and two Colorado High School Activities Association state championships, Durango’s Seamus Millett is preparing himself for future competition on the international stage.
Once again, Millett dominated the U.S. Youth Pentathlon National Championships at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs last week. He’ll bring home a whopping five medals after competing in six categories, none of which mattered more than his fourth national championship in the Youth A group. In the process, Millett etched his name on the roster of pentathletes heading to Limerick, Ireland, for the Youth A World Championships next month.
“The goal going in to the week was to defend the title and earn the right to compete in Ireland,” Millett said in a phone interview with The Durango Herald. “I also wanted to see how everything was coming together and test myself against the old competitors to see where I’m at against some of the best competition.”
If the weekend was a test, the 17-year-old incoming freshman at Colorado School of Mines passed with flying colors. He won the combined run and shoot competition with a blazing time of 12 minutes, 13 seconds, and was second in the fencing portion of the competition. Millett finished third in the Men’s Senior division (ages 25-35) and second in Men’s Junior (ages 19-21) before punching his ticket to Ireland with his fourth Youth A title.
It won’t be the first trip Millett makes to the Youth A World Championships. Last year, at the Youth World Championships in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Millett finished as the top American. Earlier in the summer, he was the youngest top finisher at the 2015 Pan-American Games. The continued improvement Millett showed last week against elite competitors of all ages, and the persistent domination of those in his age group, proves that he’s right on track for the 2020 Olympic Games.
“A big part of this sport is confidence and comfort level and you only get that by getting repetitions against the best competitors out there first,” Millett said. “I know (U.S. Pentathlon committee) feels like I’m one of the potential rising stars, and they’re interested in supporting me for 2020. I can’t rest on that. It only means that I need to continue to work hard and compete at a high level. I still have to qualify and earn international ranking points, just like anyone else.”
Millett might need experience at the international level, but he hasn’t been short on experience in the winner’s circle this year. After last summer’s success, the Durango Demon came home to lead the cross country team to a CHSAA 4A state championship in the fall. He added another state championship as a member of the DHS 4x800 team that broke the school record and claimed state supremacy last month.
“A pentathlon national championship doesn’t have nearly as much hype as the state meets, but it’s very important to me,” he said. “It’s the same feeling of accomplishment when you realize that you won. This is more rewarding to me though because the running is part of my training for the pentathlon. I’ve spent countless hours preparing to be a pentathlete. It’s just my sport.”
jfries@durangoherald.com
