Plum's Owen Proskin wins Nike Indoor National championship in pentathlon

Proskin, a multi-sport standout at Plum, is hoping to use the momentum to build into a strong ourdoor season.

Plum high school's Owen Proskin, who also stars in basketball won a national championship in the Pentathlon, earlier this month, at the Nike Indoor Nationals in New York. / Matt Proskin

Owen Proskin enjoys the strategy that comes with competing in the pentathlon. Once the results come in, event by event, the path to victory becomes clearer.

During the Nike Indoor Nationals earlier this month at The Armory in New York City, Proskin, a junior at Plum High School, knew the math he needed to earn a spot on the top of the podium.

Proskin had to stay within 20 seconds of North Texas’ Kingston Williams in the 1,000-meter run to win the national title in the championship division. He found the energy to get the right time to win the national championship with a total score of 3,772. 

Williams finished second with 3,668.

“It’s cool because you don’t see that aspect come to fruition during track when you are doing multiple events,” Proskin said. “It’s cool to see that side of it, what his points were and what are my points. Can I hold onto extra points to stay in first? You have to expend some energy in different events to make up for some events you weren’t good at.”

Proskin finished the 1,000-meter run in 2 minutes, 53.64 seconds to place sixth. Williams finished in first, 13 seconds in front of Proskin.

“Throughout the race, he pulled ahead of the competition,” Proskin said. “I prepared for that and knew that. I kept thinking in my head ‘Keep pushing, keep pushing.’ I fought hard and I knew I had it.”

Proskin did his best in the high jump portion of the competition. He placed first with a leap of 1.95 meters. Proskin also finished second in the 60-meter hurdles (8.31 seconds) and sixth in the shot put (12.22) meters. 

Proskin qualified for the 110-meter PIAA Class AAA championships last season in the hurdles. He’s hoping to use a strong winter season to build toward having a good spring and summer.

Proskin has drawn interest from High Point, Lehigh and Missouri, among other schools. Proskin placed fourth in the decathlon at the Adidas Summer Nationals. He has earned All-American honors in the Adidas event twice.

Proskin said he varies his training to be well-rounded enough to compete in the pentathlon.

“It’s definitely a lot different if you were focusing on one or two events,” Proskin said. “I have an acceleration day, coming out of the blocks. I have a top-end speed day to help with the 100 and 400. We have a jumps day or throws day mixed in there. You have to find a way to be different.”

--Josh Rizzo | rizzo42789@gmail.com | @J_oshrizzo