June 20, 2007
INDIANAPOLIS - University of Missouri freshman Nick Adcock (Kansas City, Mo.) sets in second-place in the men's decathlon after day one of the USA Track & Field Junior Championships in Indianapolis. Adcock's score of 3,869 points is only 51 points from Oregon's Ashton Eaton who scored 3,920 points on the first day and positions him well for a run at the American Junior title with five events down and five to go.
Adcock appears to be in a five-way horse race for the title with Oregon's Eaton, Michael Ayers of Nashville, Tenn., who sits third with 3,769, Wesley Bray of Houston who is in fourth with 3,749 points, and Southeastern Louisiana's Cory Roberts who sits seventh with 3,553 points but is a superb day-two competitor.
Adcock surged within nine points of the overall lead heading into the day's final event, the 400-meter dash, after clearing a Mizzou-decathlon record of 6 feet, 7 ½ inches (2.02m) in the high jump, topping his previous collegiate best by a centimeter and winning that portion of the event. Adcock had the field's third-best clocking in the 400 with a time of 49.36.
Earlier in the day, Adcock started the competition by running a 11.20 100-meter time and followed that with a 20-9¾ mark in the long jump. In the third event, the shot put, Adcock threw the six-kilogram implement (the collegiate shot is almost three pounds heavier) 45-9¼, the third-best mark of the day amongst the field.
Adcock and the rest of the 20 remaining competitors have five events remaining on Thursday: the 110-meter hurdles (39"), the discus, the pole vault, the javelin, and the 1500-meter run. Adcock in the past has performed well in the hurdles, javelin, and 1500. Amazingly, Adcock is only in his first year of learning the discus, pole vault, and javelin.
Adcock has come on the decathlon scene quickly in his first year of ever trying the event. He became the youngest person to score over 7,000 points in the regular decathlon, doing so in placing eighth at the Big 12 Championships. Adcock finished in the top-35 among Division I collegiate athletes in his freshman year.
Women's Junior Heptathlon
Freshmen Lindsey Boldt (Mt. Pleasant, Iowa) and Lauren Begany (St. Louis, Mo.) also competed Wednesday in the first day of the USA Junior Heptathlon Championships.
Boldt stands in eighth place with 2,847 points after running 15.38 in the 100-meter hurdles, leaping to 5-3 in the high jump, throwing 37-5¾ in the shot, and clocking a 27.19 in the 200.
Begany is in 10th place with 2,828 points with marks of 14.62 in the hurdles to tie a personal best, 5-½ in the high jump, 30-3½ in the shot put, and 26.07 in the 200.
Both the decathlon and heptathlon will continue tomorrow. Also on Thursday are the first rounds of the 800-meter run with several current and former Tigers taking to the track.
###