EUGENE, Ore. -- At Clayton High, Johnny Dutch proved he was one of the top prep athletes in state history. On Sunday, Dutch, 19, nearly proved himself one of the top hurlers in the world on USA track and field’s biggest stage, the Olympic Trials.

The rising sophomore at South Carolina almost realized his Olympic dream with a fifth-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles final in a personal-best time of 48.52, just one tenth of second behind third-place qualifier Angelo Taylor (48.42), who will be going to Beijing as a member of the U.S. team.

Dutch said he was happy with his personal-best time, but he said Sunday’s results were bittersweet because he raced well, but still fell short of his ultimate goal, which was to make the Olympic team. “I really wanted to make the team, but I guess it wasn’t God’s will so I have next year to make the World Championship team,” he said.

Dutch said the pressure was so great in the final that he had a bad start.

“I was really nervous to the point that I couldn’t believe it when he shot the gun,” Dutch said. “I stutter-stepped really bad to the first hurdle, so that threw my game off a little bit. And it was really windy in the backstretch.”

Running against many of the best intermediate hurdlers in the world, Dutch proved he belongs among that group.

“Just bringing it home everybody wanted it, and it mattered who could get there first,” he said.

Racing on three consecutive days, Dutch, the freshman of the year in track in the Southeastern Conference, almost missed his shot at advancing when he finished fifth in his opening heat last Friday, qualifying 15th out of the 16 advancers with a time of 49.96.

In Saturday’s semifinal, Dutch was on top of his game, running a nearly flawless race to easily qualify with a second-place finish in his heat in a then-personal-best time of 48.71.

Dutch came out Sunday, having run two pressure-packed races, but he still had something left, running yet another smooth, controlled race.

“This is a great experience,” Dutch said, as sweat poured off of his head about 15 minutes after the final. “It was a good opportunity to expose myself and get to race people that are on my level or that I’m on their level.”

In the stands watching Dutch race were his parents, Johnny and Deborah as well as Ashley Dutch, a former state hurdles champion for Raleigh’s Broughton High and a former North Carolina hurdler.

“We were so blessed to be there,” Deborah Dutch said. “We’re honored just for him to have the opportunity to go to the trials at such an early age. We were ecstatic. We’re proud of him, very proud.”

Deborah said she was not surprised her son rose to the occasion at the trials.

“I knew he would handle it well,” she said. “He handled it very well, and I knew he would come through as usual.”

Next up for Dutch is the World Junior Championships, for competitors aged 19 and under, in Poland from July 8-13. At juniors, Dutch will run the 400 hurdles against kids his own age.

“Right now I have the No. 1 time as a world junior,” he said. “I don’t feel any pressure right now being that I just ran against the best in the world. I’m just going to go and have fun.

“It’s good too being in this type of environment so when I go back, step on a collegiate track, it will be a little easier and I won’t be as pressured.”