16-year-old John Swabik of Sherman, running for Chautauqua Striders, earned a silver medal in the decathlon Tuesday at the USATF National Junior Olympic Championships at Sacramento State University’s Hornet Stadium.

SACRAMENTO — A near-personal best in the 1,500 meters Tuesday afternoon would’ve clinched John Swabik a gold medal.

Unfortunately, Swabik’s top time never came after nearly eight hours of competition, consisting of five events on the second day of the decathlon.

Running for Chautauqua Striders, the 16-year-old from Sherman had to settle for silver with 6,029 points in the Boys 15-16 decathlon at the USA Track & Field Hershey National Junior Olympic Championships at Sacramento State University’s Hornet Stadium.

By finishing in the top eight, Swabik can now call himself an All-American.

Jaxon Bair of the TNT Track Club took home the title with 6,103 points after entering Day 2 in a tie with Swabik. Bair proceeded pick up 2,844 points with a fifth-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles, third-place showing in the discus, first-place performance in the pole vault, third-place finish in the javelin and sixth-place showing in the 1,500 meters.

“I’m pleased with the second place. I got my point goal of 6,000. I really respect the guy who won,” Swabik said. “I didn’t know what he was good at, but he was very solid at everything. He ended up being very, very good at pole vault.”

Swabik opened Tuesday with a fourth-place showing in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 16.40 seconds, good for 688 points and a 29-point lead over Bair.

“The hurdles could’ve gone better,” Swabik said, “but they went good enough.”

The two were nearly even in the discus as Swabik finished sixth with a heave of 30.13 meters to add 467 points. Bair closed the overall gap by 5 points with a toss of 30.40 meters, good for 472 points.

“I hit a personal best by about 20 feet,” Swabik said, “so that went very well.”

Bair took the lead for good in the pole vault, an event Swabik just picked up over a month ago in preparation for the USATF Youth Outdoor Championships in Durham, North Carolina. Bair cleared 4.00 meters, good for 617 points. Swabik, whose high school team at Clymer/Sherman/Panama doesn’t even have a pole vault pit, cleared a personal-best 3.40 meters, but only picked up 457 points to fall 136 points behind Bair.

“I definitely could’ve cleared more height after that,” Swabik said. “The height I went out on, my mark was off on the last two attempts. I didn’t even get a chance to try and clear it.”

In the javelin, another event Swabik had never competed in until Durham due to New York state restrictions, the soon-to-be Sherman junior picked up 413 points with a toss of 38.01 meters. Bair, on the other hand, picked up 502 points with a dart of 44.14 meters and took a 225-point lead into the final event.

“I can improve on that for sure. … My second throw was 28 meters or something, it was terrible,” Swabik said. “I ended up hucking one up and it went 38-something.”

Swabik’s personal-best time of 4:16.23 would’ve given him 838 points in the 1,500 meters, but that time was not part of the pentathlon or decathlon, which can be very taxing on the body over two days, especially in the extreme heat competitors felt in California on Monday and Tuesday.

“I was super dead. My legs were very tired. I almost felt like I had no energy,” Swabik said. “I’m super sun-burned. It’s 100 degrees so that doesn’t help anything, especially the distance.”

All that said, it was a stellar showing by Swabik, who comes home with the top performance by a Striders runner since Franklinville’s Val Waldron of Franklinville won the Boys 15-16 1,500 meters in 1995 and Sherman’s Nolan Swanson won the Men’s 17-18 2,000-meter steeplechase in 1994.

“This got me more amped. It’s the whole United Sates and not just New York,” Swabik said when comparing this week’s action to the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Championships in June. “There’s more people watching at states, but I’m an All-American now. This really means a lot.”