by Larry Eder
The decathlon is a celebration and recognition of mental, spiritual and physical excellence. The late Bob Mathias, the 1948 and 1952 Olympic gold medalist once told us that ” you try to keep the little mistakes down, the winner of the decathlon is one who remembers that,”. Bill Toomey, the 1968, relied on a gym bag with extra shoes, spikes, Pedia care, and dry clothes. Plan for the disasters, as they can be lessened. Watch the little things, as those points add up. And watch the injuries…
Photos by PhotoRun.net.
It is the little things that get an athlete in the decathlon. Consider the case of Bryan Clay, 2008 Olympic champion, 2004 bronze medalist, 2005 World Champion. A hamstring injury two days before the start stopped his dream of Berlin.
The decathlon is ten events, requiring the speed of sprinter, the endurance of a distance runner, the agility of a jumper and the technique of a thrower. Ten times to screw up, as several decastars have mentioned. Athletes the like of Jim Thorpe, Bob Mathias, Bruce Jenner, Milt Campbell, Rafer Johnson, Dan O’Brien, Bryan Clay-yes, there is a tradition with this event.
Trey Hardee put together a nice decathlon. Few mistakes, except that 5:16.01 1,500 meters gives this writer apoplexy. Ashton Easton, the Duck star, had another 8000 plus score taking second and Jake Arnold was third.
As a track partisan, it breaks my heart that the decathlon gets so little support anymore. It was the support of VISA, the hard work of many coaches (Harry Marra and Fred Samara) and former decathlon champions, that developed the support structure to give us Dan O’Brien and Dave Johnson in the 90s, and ten guys scoring over 8000 points. It pains me when we have to pay for real estate a second time. Technical events need support, and they make sense for sponsors. For the cost of a few national commercials on the Final four, a sponsor can affect the development of an event and give athletes the time to train and represent their country in the World Champs and Olympics.
Men Decathlon
Points 100 LJ SP HJ 400 Day1 110H DT PV JT 1500
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1 Trey Hardee 10.43 7.41m 14.38m 1.99m 48.49 13.95 44.76m 5.00m 64.12m 5:16.01
Nike w: 3.6 w: 1.7 47-02.25 6-06.25 w: 0.9 146-10 16-04.75 210-04
8261 (992) (913) (752) (794) (886) 4337 (981) (762) (910) (800) (471)
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2 Ashton Eaton 10.53 7.60m 12.63m 2.05m 47.99 14.03 41.33m 4.50m 51.46m 4:35.45
Oregon w: 3.6 w: 3.7 41-05.25 6-08.75 w: 0.9 135-07 14-09 168-10
8075 (968) (960) (645) (850) (910) 4333 (971) (692) (760) (610) (709)
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3 Jake Arnold 11.01 6.95m 14.69m 1.96m 49.49 14.17 45.75m 4.70m 57.82m 4:38.59
Asics w: 1.9 w: 1.8 48-02.5 6-05 w: 3.3 150-01 15-05 189-08
7984 (858) (802) (771) (767) (838) 4036 (953) (782) (819) (705) (689)
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4 Chris Randolph 11.33 7.21m 13.76m 2.02m 49.38 14.88 39.36m 4.90m 55.01m 4:40.78
VS Athletics T C w: 0.9 w: 1.8 45-01.75 6-07.5 w: 0.9 129-02 16-00.75 180-06
7766 (789) (864) (714) (822) (843) 4032 (864) (652) (880) (663) (675)
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5 Paul Terek 11.13 6.57m 14.75m 1.96m 50.62 15.42 44.61m 5.00m 56.11m 4:41.64
unattached w: 1.9 w: 3.4 48-04.75 6-05 w: 3.3 146-04 16-04.75 184-01
7689 (832) (713) (774) (767) (786) 3872 (799) (759) (910) (679) (670)
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6 Lysias Edmonds 11.00 7.07m 11.81m 1.93m 48.39 14.63 36.77m 5.00m 54.59m 4:41.21
Arizona Puma TC w: 3.6 w: 3.3 38-09 6-04 w: 0.9 120-08 16-04.75 179-01
7650 (861) (830) (595) (740) (890) 3916 (895) (599) (910) (657) (673)
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7 Nick Adcock 11.18 6.89m 13.92m 1.87m 49.46 14.16 36.75m 4.50m 60.22m 4:40.81
Missouri w: 1.9 w: 1.4 45-08 6-01.5 w: 3.3 120-07 14-09 197-07
7588 (821) (788) (723) (687) (840) 3859 (954) (599) (760) (741) (675)
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8 Michael Marsh 10.96 6.65m 13.66m 1.90m 50.38 14.55 39.50m 4.90m 53.52m 4:47.63
unattached w: 1.9 w: 2.0 44-09.75 6-02.75 w: 1.6 129-07 16-00.75 175-07
7534 (870) (732) (708) (714) (797) 3821 (905) (654) (880) (641) (633)
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9 Matt Chisam 11.48 6.42m 13.94m 1.90m 52.34 14.60 42.15m 5.00m 53.37m 4:45.78
unattached w: 0.9 w: 1.6 45-09 6-02.75 w: 0.9 138-03 16-04.75 175-01
7385 (757) (679) (725) (714) (710) 3585 (899) (708) (910) (639) (644)
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10 Daniel Keller 11.59 6.80m 13.02m 2.02m 51.31 15.22 38.27m 5.00m 49.70m 4:47.26
North Carolina w: 0.9 w: 2.2 42-08.75 6-07.5 w: 3.3 125-07 16-04.75 163-01
7327 (734) (767) (668) (822) (755) 3746 (823) (629) (910) (584) (635)
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11 Daniel Kinsey 11.87 6.60m 14.48m 1.90m 54.70 15.57 48.75m 4.60m 57.43m 4:55.95
Akron w: 0.9 w: 1.7 47-06.25 6-02.75 w: 1.6 159-11 15-01 188-05
7178 (677) (720) (758) (714) (611) 3480 (782) (844) (790) (699) (583)
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12 Joe Detmer 10.94 7.23m 12.27m 1.96m 47.96 15.13 32.88m NH 51.36m 4:21.48
unattached w: 1.9 w: 2.1 40-03.25 6-05 w: 0.9 107-10 168-06
6809 (874) (869) (623) (767) (911) 4044 (834) (521) (0) (609) (801)
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13 Mat Clark 11.08 6.99m 12.47m 1.90m 50.76 18.41 38.97m NH FOUL 4:28.26
Northern Iowa w: 3.6 w: 1.7 40-11 6-02.75 w: 1.6 127-10
5669 (843) (811) (635) (714) (780) 3783 (486) (644) (0) (0) (756)
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DNF Desi Burt 11.28 7.00m 13.11m 2.17m 50.40 16.80 35.48m 4.00m 38.05m DNS
VS Athletics T C w: 0.9 w: 2.2 43-00.25 7-01.5 w: 0.9 116-05 13-01.5 124-10
(799) (814) (674) (963) (796) (645) (573) (617) (414) (0)
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DNF Rickey Moody 11.16 6.94m 11.11m 1.96m DNF 15.04 42.94m 4.20m 54.60m DNS
Club Northwest w: 1.9 w: 1.2 36-05.5 6-05 w: 0.9 140-10 13-09.25 179-02
(825) (799) (553) (767) (0) (845) (725) (673) (657) (0)
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DNF Mustafa Abdur-Rahim DNF FOUL 12.10m NH DNF DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS
unattached 39-08.5
(0) (0) (612) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0)
—————————————————————————————————
DNF Bryan Clay DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS
Nike
(0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0)
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