July 8, 2007
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Just two weeks after winning the national junior championship in the decathlon, University of Missouri freshman Nick Adcock (Kansas City, Mo. / Oak Park HS) will bring home the Silver medal after his performance in this weekend's Pan-America Junior Championships in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Former Tiger Hans Uldal was also busy in the decathlon on a different continent this weekend, striking Gold in his winning at the European Cup Combined Events Second League event in Slovenia.
Adcock lead after day one in the Pan-Am Junior Championship by 13 points with a score of 3,815 over Brazil's Diego de Araujo. A foot personal best with the junior-implement (6 kg) shot and a new Mizzou decathlon school record with a 48.57 clocking in the 400 helped the Tiger to the lead after five.
Day two started for Adcock with another personal best, a 14.26 time in the 110-meter hurdles (39 inches). But, inexperience in the discus event proved crucial as Adcock mustered a throw of only 88 feet to be pushed to third with a 55-point deficit to climb.
A fair effort with a clearance of 12-9½ (3.90m) in the pole vault kept Adcock in the long-term ball game, but de Araujo was able to clear 13-9¼ (4.20m) on his third attempt to push the Tiger to a 138-point deficit after eight.
Adcock, who first competed in a decathlon in March, was in a similar position to what he experienced at the USATF Junior Championships, having a significant hill to climb with two events to go.
With a javelin throw of 174 feet, Adcock came within 20 points of de Araujo with one event remaining as he tossed to 148 feet.
Despite running to a five-second personal best in the 1500 with a 4:37.49 clocking, Adcock succumbed to de Araujo who ran 4:36.58 to capture the title with 7,100 points to Adcock's 7,074. Jose Matagira of Columbia won the Bronze with 6,778.
Uldal wins Big 12 Alumni Battle at European Cup
It appears the toughness of the Big 12 Conference has carried itself overseas as former Tiger Hans Uldal and former Kansas State Wildcat Josef Karas battled for supremacy in the men's decathlon at the European Cup Second League Championship in Maribor, Slovenia.
Uldal (Arendal, Norway) scored a total of 7,963, a season's best and a career-best with non-windy conditions. Uldal entered the day in second place, behind Karas, with a lifetime-high pace of 4,013 after five events.
Uldal started the meet by cracking 11 seconds for the first time in his career in the 100-meter dash with a 10.95 clocking. His long jump measured 23-8½ (7.23m) and his best shot put was significantly under his personal best, reaching only 45-6¼ (13.88m). But, Uldal bounced back, tying his personal best in the high jump with a 6-4¾ (1.95m) clearance. Uldal also shaved time off his all-time best in the 400 with a 50.47 time to close out the first day of competition.
Day two began with a solid time of 14.59 in the hurdles, but started to turn south with sub-par performances in the discus and pole vault. However, the last two events of the day again surged Uldal to greater heights. With a six-foot personal best in the javelin (209-4, 63.81m), Uldal eyed the 8,000-point mark.
The effort towards 8,000 was very apparent as Uldal took more than five seconds off his all-time best in the 1500 in running 4:31.77.
Karas ended the meet in second with 7,708. Fellow Norwegian Benjamin Jensen was third at 7,402.
Team Norway won the combined title among the eight, full four-man teams with over 22,000 points, as Tiger senior Bjorn Sommerfeldt and former Tiger Knut Sommerfeldt placed 11th and 12th, respectively with scores of 6,915 and 6,870, respectively.
It was the first team title in the European Cup Combined Events for Norway since 1999 and promotes the country to next year's First League competition.
Uldal is still a strong candidate to represent Norway in the upcoming IAAF World Championships.
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