As athletes hit the first straightaway while running the 400 meter relay at Southeast Bulloch, there’s an inconspicuous plaque sticking maybe four inches out of the ground over by the infield grass — nearly unnoticeable unless you’re standing right on top of it.
    Of the text on the plaque, the most notable words on it read “Derrick Plankenhorn” — a young man at the center of a tragedy still too touchy for some of the people who were around when it happened in 2003. Mike Sparks was the head track coach at the time, and still struggles to talk about Plankenhorn’s untimely passing.
    “My son who came out to all of the practices pulled me aside and said ‘Derrick is sick’,” Sparks said. “I saw him convulsing on that turn at the old track. I was giving him CPR, but even by then it was too late.”
    Derrick “White Shadow” Plankenhorn was a state finalist in the 200 and 400 meter dash, and still stands as a dream unfulfilled within the Brooklet community. However instead of being memorialized in a cloud of sadness, his legacy as an exemplary student athlete is honored every year at the Plankenhorn Invitational — one of the biggest track meets in the coastal Georgia area.
    16 teams showed up this year, among them Effingham County, Bradwell Institute, Liberty County and local schools Statesboro and Portal. SEB head coach Jeremy Gantt had to put a cap on the number of teams this year so that he didn’t run into the chaos of the 2016 Plankenhorn where SEB had to run a meet with 24 teams.
    “By the end of the night we were just trying to get teams out of here at a decent time,” Gantt said. “I was scratching 4x400 teams left and right at the end of the night. 17 was definitely less stressful.”
    17 teams started at 3:00 and were done by 8:30 — by all means a resounding success for a big track meet. It also stood as a success for Statesboro High School, whose boys and girls teams each placed third and when combined had the second most points of all schools behind Liberty County.
    Liberty won the meet on the girls side while Bradwell Institute won the boys portion of the meet.
    Statesboro was the only school in Bulloch County who had individual winners, with Dayonna Henry and Noah Caplinger being the only individuals to win multiple events.
Henry won both the 400 meter dash and the long jump, while Caplinger won the 800 and 1600 meter runs.
    Henry also had a second place finish with the 4x100 meter relay team. Jaden Adams won the 200 meter dash and placed third in the 100. Iyana McKeever was the runner up in the girls long jump.
    For SEB there were no individual winners as the boys team or girls team, who finished fifth and eighth respectively. Emma Britt and Jaden Scott were both runners up in the girls 100 meter hurdles and boys shot put respectively, while Cierra Jordan placed third in the girls pole vault.
    Portal finished dead last with six points between both teams, five of them coming from Dashonda Morgan’s fourth place finish in the triple jump.
    It was unfortunate none of the local teams had a chance to stand next to Don and Billie Jean Plankenhorn — Derrick’s dedicated parents who present the trophies for second and first place winners. Both still find it a bit overwhelming that kids who come race at the meet seek the couple out to have a picture with the namesake of the meet.
    “It’s still a strange feeling when these young people approach you just because your name is Plankenhorn,” Don said. “Neither did we ever think the meet would get this big. It’s all very humbling.”
    With Gantt continuing to put a cap on the event’s participation — while subsequently retaining every participating team when the meet was moved from Friday to Wednesday because of projected rain  — the Plankenhorn looks to keep running hard, just like the young man it’s named after.