Mountain View High School graduate and three-time NCAA decathlon champion Ashton Eaton autographs the shirt of Hershey’s Track and Field Games participant Race Cockman, 8, of Bend, Thursday at Bend High School.

The girls and boys who competed Thursday in the local Hershey’s Track and Field Games received a special treat when a superstar in the sport also showed up.

Ashton Eaton — a 2006 graduate of Bend’s Mountain View High School and three-time NCAA decathlon champion — volunteered at the meet at Bend High School. He spent the afternoon taking marks at the standing long jump and timing the running races. He also signed autographs and posed for photographs with kids while parents snapped pictures with their cameras and cell phones.

“It’s pretty special,” said meet director Rich Ekman of Eaton’s appearance at the competition. “Decathlon and heptathlon athletes are the best athletes in the world, and he’s the best of the best. So really, if you look at it, he’s the best athlete in the world. For him to be here in Bend, Oregon, and interacting with these 9-to-14-year-old boys and girls, that’s very positive.”

Eaton competed in the local Hershey’s meet as a youngster, though neither he nor his mother, Roslyn Eaton — who was also volunteering — could recall much in terms of details. Roslyn did say that her son, a star at the University of Oregon and the world record holder in the indoor heptathlon, did not advance to the Hershey’s state meet. Every event winner in Thursday’s competition moves on to the state meet, which will be held July 2 in Eugene.

What Eaton does remember about competing as a youngster may have been a harbinger of the future direction of his athletic career.

“The thing I remember about being little is wanting to do everything,” Eaton said.

Everything is exactly what Eaton does these days. Decathletes compete in one event that is actually 10 — the 100 meters, long jump, shot put, high jump, 400, 110 hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1,500 — packed into a two-day competition. Decathletes’ marks are converted into points based on event tables, and the competitor with the most points after all 10 events is declared the winner.

Eaton is considered a favorite to qualify for the United States teams that will compete at this summer’s world championships in Daegu, South Korea, and next summer’s Olympic Games in London.

Central Oregon fans can watch him in action much closer to home, as Eaton said he will compete in the 110 hurdles and the long jump at the Prefontaine Classic, scheduled for June 4 in Eugene.

“I think I’m going to get my butt kicked,” Eaton said of competing in those events against specialists.

But on Thursday, for Eaton it was about the kids, the significance of which was not lost on Jeff Ellington, whose daughter Sofia, 13, was competing in the 200 and 4×100 relay.

“Anytime you get a high-caliber athlete back with kids, it makes it accessible,” said Ellington. “It lets them believe that they can get there from here, and belief is half the battle.”

Sofia, a seventh-grader at Bend’s Cascade Middle School and a fan of track and field, posed for a picture with Eaton before the races got started. She said she had designs on achieving a specific effect on Eaton with her performances.

“I just hope I can get his attention.”