Dontrell Young Bets His College Future on Iowa State

Oswego sprinter Dontrell Young left the 2025 IHSA Class 3A state meet with three medals and a public bet on a triple crown. He did not collect that crown as a junior. He added three more All-State medals, then committed to Iowa State as a defensive back on June 9, 2026.

The track resume is now seven state medals and zero golds. The college decision went to football, the sport that already took a meniscus from him as a sophomore.

Three Medals Were the Goal He Set as a Sophomore

Young already had three All-State sprint medals as a sophomore when Charleston came back around. The first pile came on May 31, 2025, at Eastern Illinois, after a season that started in a brace.

He tore the meniscus in football, first in the summer of 2024, then for good in week 2. Surgery followed in October. He missed the entire indoor season while track coach Jeff Edwards and Young’s father held him out to get the legs even. He was on the track in February and in a meet in April, opening at Minooka in 48.92 for 400 meters and 21.94 for 200.

The state weekend was the goal he had named in public. Fourth in the 100 in 10.57. Eighth in the 400 in 50.55. Second in the 200 in 21.22, behind New Trier’s William Landwer, who ran a Class 3A record of 20.87.

“It just feels great,” Young said that night. “It’s something I was really aiming to do this season. I didn’t get what I wanted in the 400, but I got personal bests in the 100 and 200, so I can’t be mad at that.”

He also said the quiet part. “I really want to go for that triple crown now.” Edwards was already aiming him there. “We’re trying to get Dontrell into the position that he can win the triple crown, all three sprint titles, at state,” the coach said after the season. “Dabbled with it this year, it was cool that he was able to make the finals in all three but realistically he was probably not having it this year.”

As a freshman in 2024 he had already been fifth in the 400 in 49.05, after a 48.48 prelim. The 200 that year died in prelims in 22.19, 18th. The 100 did not make the state sheet. The sophomore three-medal weekend was the first time he lived in all three finals on the same Saturday.

His Fastest 400 Never Arrived on Championship Saturday

The 400 is the race he still calls his best, and it is the one that keeps leaking when the medals are on the line. Two weeks before that 2025 state final he ran 47.63 at the Southwest Prairie Conference meet in Joliet, a school and conference record, 1.24 seconds in front of Bolingbrook’s Bruce Duncan III. He came back with 21.31 in the 200 the same day.

Charleston did not get that 400. The prelim was 48.47. The final was 50.55, almost three seconds slower than the conference night, good for eighth. Edwards said a hamstring was tightening. They stretched him, and he still closed the meet with second in the 200.

The same split showed up in 2026. He ran 47.76 at Lockport on May 8, then 47.96 for second at the Downers Grove North sectional on May 21, behind Lemont’s Nathan Murray in 47.29. At state the prelim was 47.71. The final was 48.68, fifth, behind Belleville West’s Morquez Bulliner in 47.20.

Doing all three sprints on one championship Saturday is a tax. Young said so himself after the 2026 meet. “It’s a lot on the body, but I’m proud of my performance.” The 400, the race that needs the most from the last 80 meters, is the one that keeps paying that tax.

He has liked that event since he was small. His parents put him in track because he was the fastest kid on the football team, and he joined the Aurora Flyers club run by his great-uncle, Tom Boatright. He took third in the 800 at the AAU Junior Olympics in Houston as a sixth-grader. “Something I like about the 400 is it shows how strong you really are physically and mentally,” he said as a sophomore. The strength has shown up on weeknights. It has not yet shown up as a state title.

What Young Ran at the 2026 IHSA State Meet

Young went 4th, 2nd and 5th in Charleston on May 30, 2026, in the 100, 200 and 400. That was a second straight three-medal Saturday and still no gold, with Geneva junior Bennett Konkey taking both short sprints and Belleville West’s Morquez Bulliner winning the 400 in 47.20.

Bennett Konkey won both short sprints, 10.39 in the 100 and 21.08 in the 200. Young was fourth in the 100 in 10.70 after a 10.67 prelim, and second in the 200 in 21.18. Neuqua Valley’s Daniel Robinson (10.62) and Evanston’s Mynard Blake (10.64) also beat him in the 100 final.

YOUNG AT THE IHSA STATE FINALS

The 200 keeps being the highest place. Landwer had 0.35 seconds on him in 2025. Konkey had 0.10 in 2026. Young’s own read after the second silver was blunt. “I know I can beat all the guys who got me in those events, but it is what it is. They can have it for now, I know what i’ve got and I know what I can do.”

The 400 did move. Eighth to fifth is a climb, and 50.55 to 48.68 is a real drop. It is still not 47.63. Prelims keep putting him in the conversation. Finals keep leaving him in the second row.

He had arrived in Charleston already sharp. At the SPC meet on May 13 he swept the three sprints in 10.65, 21.51 and 48.54. At Oswego’s Roger Wilcox Invite on May 1 he won the 200 in 21.12 and the 400 in 48.53, both meet records, and took second in the 100 in 10.74. The sectional on May 21 added a 10.46 in the 100 and a 21.16 in the 200. The state meet asked him to do all three again, and the places froze in a familiar shape.

Young Holds Oswego’s Record in All Three Sprints

The school board is already his. Edwards called him one of the most decorated athletes Oswego has had, and the times back that up even without a state gold. The 2026 sectional 100 and the Wilcox 200 rewrote marks he had already broken as a sophomore. The 400 school record is still the 47.63 from that 2025 conference night.

OSWEGO RECORDS YOUNG OWNS

• 100 meters: 10.46 seconds in the 100 on May 21, 2026, at the Class 3A sectional, wind +1.0.
• 200 meters: 21.12 seconds on May 1, 2026, at the Roger Wilcox Invitational, wind +0.4.
• 400 meters: 47.63 seconds on May 14, 2025, at the SPC championships.

Those school records in all three sprints are the cleanest picture of what he is when the round is not a state final. The 10.57 from the 2025 state 100 came with a 4.0 wind. The 10.46 is the mark that belongs on a record board. The 21.12 is faster than both of his state silvers. The 47.63 is still faster than any 400 he has run in Charleston.

Edwards, after the 2025 season, put a coach’s ceiling on it. “Dontrell is maybe a once in a lifetime, one in a career type kid as a coach.” The kid still has a senior track season on the calendar. The college letter of intent will not be a track letter.

Why Iowa State Got the Pledge Track Never Did

Young chose Iowa State football on June 9, 2026, while on an official visit in Ames, picking the Cyclones from nine scholarship offers. He said football had the edge over track, after a 4.41-second 40-yard dash at a North Central College camp that produced the Iowa State offer on June 1.

Track and football, I felt like it came down to football had the edge. Why not go with something you like a little more?

Dontrell Young, Oswego defensive back, on his Iowa State commitment

He posted the news from campus that night.

#AGTG After a great official visit, I am proud to announce that I am committed to IOWA STATE!! @Coach_MBanks24 @CycloneFB @CooneyPanthers @AllenTrieu @EDGYTIM @OJW_Scouting @CoachLenti5 pic.twitter.com/MAUOatVKKF

— Dontrell Young (@DontrellYoung9) June 9, 2026

247Sports lists him as a three-star safety in the class of 2027. The named offers around the pledge included Wake Forest, Miami (OH), Central Michigan and Toledo. Western Illinois was the first Division I offer, in January. Iowa State started showing up in late March and early April, with coaches in the Oswego fieldhouse, then at the North Central camp where the 4.41 40 happened. “They pulled me to the side while they were at the camp and offered me,” Young said. “It’s a blessing.”

He visited Miami (OH) on June 5-7 and posted that he was not committed. Two days later he was in Ames, meeting defensive backs coach Mike Banks, looking at the playbook, watching a practice that was not in pads. “What really got me was the intensity of the practice,” he said. “They were not in pads but it was the fast pace and the hunger.” He said Iowa State recruited him at cornerback for the speed and the footwork. Recruiting cards still file him as a safety. Oswego plays him at free safety, jersey No. 1, listed at 6-foot.

FROM A TORN MENISCUS TO AMES

1. October 2024: Has meniscus surgery after a football injury in week 2 and sits out indoor track.
2. May 31, 2025: Medals in the 100, 200 and 400 at the Class 3A state meet in Charleston.
3. May 30, 2026: Repeats the three-medal weekend, still without a gold.
4. June 9, 2026: Commits to Iowa State as a defensive back while on an official visit.

Oswego football coach Brian Cooney said the Western Illinois offer was the dam that moved. “Credit to him for staying patient. Once Western moved, you know how it works, it opened some eyes to others.” Cooney’s selling point on the kid is not a mystery. “Just about every kid I have always had has a spike, a high point, their biggest selling point and it’s definitely his speed.” He also pointed at football IQ, at Young and the other safety running the defense in 2025, and at how he carries himself.

The speed that kept leaving him a step short of a state title is the same speed Ames bought. Two silvers in the 200 are the highest he has finished in Charleston. A 4.41 40 and a 10.46 100 are the product on a football sheet. Track made the film loud. Football got the pledge.

The Football Season Is the Bet He Is Playing

Young was called up as a sophomore in 2024, lasted two games, then spent the fall in recovery. He thought about dropping football after the 2025 track meet and did not. “At one point I did think about it,” he said that August. “But after state I had so much momentum. I thought, might as well do football and keep the momentum going.” He played defensive back on Oswego’s Class 8A runner-up in 2025, the team that lost the title game to Mount Carmel. In July 2026 the program named him a captain with Danny Claycombe, Cam Loghmani and Luke Hernandez.

He has been clear about contact. “You can’t play with fear, can’t have fear, can’t worry about getting hurt. You have to go out there and just play football.” In August he said the Panthers were not worried about a target on their backs after the title-game loss.

Friday, October 2, 2026, against Joliet West, that stance met an ambulance.

WHAT WE KNOW

• The game: Oswego beat Joliet West 62-21 on Friday, October 2, 2026, and moved to 6-1.
• The stoppage: A reporter on the sideline posted that an ambulance was on the field and appeared to be for Young, and that he did not see the play.

WHAT IS UNCONFIRMED

• The injury: No play description, diagnosis, or status update has been released.
• His availability: Whether Young returned, left the stadium, or will play next week is not public.

The same sideline account spent the rest of the night on a blowout, including first varsity touchdowns from the second unit. Nothing further on Young went out with the 62-21 final. The meniscus in 2024 already showed what football can take from a sprinter who still wants the track in the spring. The Iowa State pledge is already on the table. The next public fact is whether he lines up again, and in which sport the body lets him finish the bet.