LAUREL — Layne Duncan's senior year was nearly over before it got kicked into gear.
"By the time I got to basketball my leg felt 100%. It didn't bother me at all and I didn't think about. Just played basketball," Duncan said.
Duncan tore the ACL in his right knee in the season's opening football game against Strawn, Texas. He shrugged off surgery and was able to return for Custer-Hysham-Melstone's playoff thriller against Hot Springs.
He continued to grit it out through basketball, realizing this was likely his final chance in scholastic athletic activities.
"It kind of made me real upset. I wanted to go through the football season. It was going to be a good year," Duncan said. "I just had to play football this year, so I went with it. It turned out good. My knee feels great. Doesn't feel like anything ever happened to it."
Duncan thought basketball was his swan song in a Custer jersey, but he decided to pick up the javelin at the beginning of May. Good choice, as Duncan is among Class C's best in the event. His season-best toss of 161 feet, 2 inches is currently No. 6 in Class C.
"This is my third meet," Duncan said of the District 5C meet in Laurel last week. "I just wanted to come and try to get a state championship and maybe go to college for track. I didn't think about it because of my knee, but now I figured why not? Let's do it."
Duncan said surgery still isn't a consideration as he prepares to embark on the next stage of his life where he'll major in mining engineering at Montana Tech. But he hopes a javelin title comes before the end of May.
