Good isn’t good enough for Derrin Couch.
That’s why the Crete-Monee senior wasn’t satisfied with what would be a big night for most athletes at Sandburg’s Pete Struck Invitational on May 1.
Couch won the 110-meter hurdles on a chilly night, running a season-best 15.03 seconds. He also was runner-up in the 300 hurdles at 40.18, also a season-best.
“I’m not very happy with my 110 time only because I know that my sophomore year I was running a faster time,” he said. “I had a gap year my junior year breaking my leg (in) football.”
Couch finished fifth in the 110s and seventh in the 300s at Class 3A state as a sophomore. He was able to return to action late last season, but didn’t qualify for state.
“We try to teach them that your only competition is the clock,” Warriors coach Rory Lee said. “And so him fighting the clock tonight, he didn’t win. And that’s his main concern right there. … So you know he’s going to correct himself harder than we would anyway.”
Getting back to Eastern Illinois in Charleston and putting up the times Couch knows he can are the goals this season.
Lee empathized with Couch’s situation last spring.
“That was really hurtful for him and we missed him, too,” Lee said. “But Derrin is a complete blue-collar guy. He’s gonna work all day, he’s gonna work all night and that’s just one thing you can’t take away from him.”
Couch also set a number of passing records for Crete-Monee’s football team. At the moment, he’s not sure if he’ll pursue track or football at the next level. But dropping his times can only make him more attractive to colleges.
Lee thinks Couch, who also is a thrower and pole vaulter, could have a future as a decathlete.
“There’s so many things that the kid can do,” Lee said.
Couch isn’t the only football/track standout for Crete.
Cornerback Jayden Marshall took second in the 100 (11.35) at Sandburg, while receiver Dorian Patterson, a New Mexico recruit, was fifth in the 100 (season-best 11.65).
And the Warriors, who finished third behind Hinsdale Central and Downers Grove North, won the two sprint relays. Caleb Askew, Jayden Franklin, Israel Graves and Malik Hernandez ran 43.15 in the 4×100, while Askew, Graves, Hernandez and Isaiah Jordan had a 1:31.34 in the 4×200.