March 27, 2013
Results
AUSTIN - Washington State track and field competitors Spencer Wordell and Sean Harris are 11th and 17th, respectively, after the first day of the decathlon Wednesday at the 86th Clyde A. Littlefield Texas Relays at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin.
"I think it was a good day all-around but anytime you do a decathlon with ten events there are going to be some highs and lows and that was the case today," Cougar Head Coach and multi-events coach Rick Sloan said.
Wordell, a junior from Spokane, scored a PR total of 3,673 points in the first five events which was tied for 11th out of the 21 men. Wordell ran the 100m dash in a lifetime-best time of 10.85w, long jumped a wind-aided PR of 21-feet 10 1/4 inches (6.66m), threw the shot put 36-4 1/4 (11.08m), cleared a high jump bar at 5-11 1/4 (1.81m), and ran a PR time in the 400m dash of 49.08.
Harris, a senior from Kent, Wash., tallied 3,527 points which is a PR for the first day, and is in 17th place. Harris opened the day running the 100m dash in a time of 11.49w which was just off his PR time of 11.46, reached a long jump PR distance of 22-1w (6.73m), threw the shot put a season-best 42-6 3/4 (12.97m), high jumped 6-1 1/2 (1.87m), and ran a 400m time of 53.28.
Duke junior Curtis Beach is the decathlon first-day leader with 4,219 points.
"Both Spencer and Sean did not have good starts in the 100 but both came back strong in the end," Sloan said. "They made good adjustments in the long jump even though it was breezy today. Shot put was a little bit of a downer but they didn't get hurt badly on points. Sean did well in the high jump warm-ups but then struggled and probably lost 100 points there. Spencer was off and on with his high jumps, coming off an Achilles problem that limited his training. They ran the 400m with wind right in their faces in the backstretch. Sean started strong but struggled in the last 50 meters while Spencer ran a lifetime-best after moving from the back of the pack to the run away from everybody in the last 100 meters. After the guys ice, get dinner and rest they will be ready to have another solid day tomorrow, get a few more PRs and hopefully get up over 7000 points.
The Texas Relays decathlon resumes Thursday morning with the remaining five events: 110m hurdles, discus throw, pole vault and 1500m run. Live results are available at www.texassports.com.
