ARGYLE -- Kyle Thompson did not go on vacation during his summer vacation. He went to work.

The rising Argyle freshman had just overcome a series of nagging hip flexor injuries last year when he set out to spend his summer vacation training for the AAU Junior Olympics on the Eagle Stadium track.

Twice-a-day, four times a week, Thompson shook off the summer sweat, or occasionally rain, and hit the track to train for the 100 meters, the pole vault and the javelin. In the morning, Thompson would go through a grueling two hours of conditioning work with coach Pete Abbey, who has recently started the track club Cates’ Athletics. In the afternoons, he work to hone his form with Abbey, a former LSU coach, and vault coach Bill Payne, a former All-American vaulter at Baylor.

“All summer, I’ve been doing it,” Thompson said. “Some kids think, ‘Oh summer’s here,’ and they slack off all summer long. It’s been hard to commit, but it’s been worth it.”

After competing in only the pole vault last summer and sprinting for Argyle middle school, Thompson has qualified for the national AAU Jr. Olympics in the 100 meters, the pole vault and the javelin. At regionals, he finished third in the 100 in 11.73 and the pole vault with 11-6, while taking fourth in the javelin with 130-10. However, his personal best of 11.39 in the 100 ranks him 30th in the country in his age group, he’s regularly vaulting 13 feet in practice now -- and that would be a new national record -- and his javelin ranks ninth overall with huge possibilities for improvement.

“It’s breathtaking,” Thompson said. “I didn’t even think I’d qualify in two events, and I’m going in three.”

Thompson competes in the 100 preliminaries at the AUU Jr. Olympics today at 2 p.m. at Tom Black Track in Knoxville, Tenn., followed by the semis on Wednesday and the finals on Saturday, along with the pole vault and javelin.

Color Abbey impressed.

“This is basically his second year for track and field,” the coach said. “He just keeps on getting better and better.”

Thompson was already used to pushing himself. Recurring hip flexor injuries had him on the verge of giving up on track and field and his other love, football, when he re-aggravated the injury on the gridiron in the fall. He had already hurt it so many times he lost count.

“It was terrible,” Thompson said. “As soon as it would get better, I would hurt it again.”

However, six months of rehabilitation with Sean Deusing at Denton Orthopedic Therapy Center finally got the problem under control, allowing Thompson to concentrate on track in the summer time and building toward his goal of eventually becoming a decathlete or multi-event track star in Texas high schools where decathlon is not offered. That sent Kyle’s mom, Dawnelle Thompson, out looking for a private training coach to help him get in better shape and hone his form.

“We knew he had a lot of potential based on his numbers in seventh grade and eighth grade,” Dawnelle said. “Pete is an excellent all-around track and field coach. He can coach every event. Kyle is a multi-event athlete, so that’s special to find someone in our area who is a multi-event coach.”

Abbey had recently started Cates Athletics, named for UNT track great A.D. Cates, a family friend of Abbey’s, and though he specializes in throwing events, he immediately saw Kyle’s potential. He was already vaulting more than 10 feet last summer as an eighth grader.

As soon as Abbey found out that Kyle’s dad, Scott Thompson, a former University of Washington inside linebacker, could throw a baseball 90 mph, and Dawnelle used to play fast-pitch softball, the coach had a javelin in Kyle’s hands.

Then, the coach and athlete spent the summer perfecting mechanics in the 100 and javelin, with Payne still concentrating on the vault.

“He has a lot of upside to him,” Abbey said. “He’s got a lot of potential. He obviously had some talent, but he had some technical things to clear up on his running mechanics. There’s a right way and a wrong way to do everything. … People don’t realize that the hundred is a very technical race. It’s a lot more than just getting out there and running fast.”

Even when Kyle is posing for pictures, Abbey wants to see perfect form with the javelin.

Up the hill in the Argyle Fieldhouse, athletic director Todd Rodgers took notice.

“I’m so excited that he spent the entire summer busting his guts and preparing for such a high level of competition,” Rodgers said. “Kudos to him for going to all of these competitions and having such a high level of success in track and field -- even something that is not a Texas sport like the javelin. He’s met national standards to qualify for the Jr. Olympics -- that says it all.”

And hey, while Kyle isn’t ready for varsity football as a freshman, those skills will probably translate pretty well into the receiving corps of Argyle’s football team in the not-too-distant future.

“He has good size and very good speed. If you have to look for two things in a football player, that would be it wouldn’t it?” Rodgers added.

Kyle isn’t satiated by his success. Ever since he started in track, he’s wanted to eventually go on to the real Olympics -- as a decathlete. He is hoping to continue to add events to his repertoire, with the hurdles and long jump expected to come along in the coming year -- skills that will be utilized on the varsity, giving track coach Steve Chancellor a versatile athlete he can throw into several events.

For right now, Kyle is throwing himself into the Jr. Olympics.

“My goal is another medal, but a national one,” Kyle said.

“I thought he was a long-shot to make it in the 100 meters, and he ended up third in the state of Texas in the AAU hundred meters,” Abbey added. “Nothing he would do would surprise me.”