University of Missouri
USA Track & Field Championships
Adcock Strikes Gold in U.S. Junior Decathlon
6/21/2007 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
June 21, 2007
INDIANAPOLIS - America's greatest athlete under the age of 20 attends the University of Missouri. That's the title now given to Tiger freshman Nick Adcock as a result of his winning performance in the men's decathlon Thursday in the FinishLine USATF Junior Championships in Indianapolis. Adcock, a native of Kansas City, Mo., won with a score of 7,293 points, toppling the field by 145. Adcock's performance was the seventh-best in the 58-year history of the event and earns him a spot on the U.S. Junior National Team that will attend July's Pan-American Junior Games in Brazil.
"I really can't even describe my feelings right now," said Adcock following the last event of the decathlon, the 1500-meter run. "I've had a great month of solid training from after the Big 12 meet and this is the best I've ever felt as an athlete. Having trained since the fall, this is by far the longest season I've ever encountered, but following the great advice from our coaching staff and sticking to the training, it all came together."
Adcock attended Oak Park High School before coming to Mizzou and was high jumper and hurdler, but never before March had the Tiger competed in the decathlon or three of the events that occur on day two, the discus, pole vault, and the javelin. Before the meet, Adcock was the youngest person in the World this year to score over 7,000 points in the regular decathlon, doing so at the Big 12 Championships.
Entering day two, Adcock was 51 points behind Oregon's Ashton Eaton for the lead and still trailed by 208 points heading into the ninth event, the javelin.
However, with a mark of 181 feet, 3 inches (55.26m) with the spear, Adcock leapt to the lead by 87 points as Eaton mustered a mark of 115-3.
Adcock had a 14-second cushion heading into the final event, needing only to finish the 1500 within that margin behind Eaton to win the national championship. But, Adcock once again showed his competitiveness, clocking 4:49.77 to Eaton's 4:58.35, separating the two's scores even farther.
Eaton as a result finished as a bronze-medalist with 7,155 points, Houston's Wesley Bray came from behind to capture silver with 7,158 points.
Adcock started the day with a 14.43 clocking in the 110-meter hurdles (set at 39 inches for the junior meet), four-tenths of a second faster than his previous best with the 42-inch hurdles. Adcock continued to rack points in the discus, throwing to 116-2 with the junior implement, 20 feet farther than his previous best using the collegiate disc. Eaton, who led the decathlon for the first eight events marked 133-4 in the event, widening the gap between the Tiger and the Duck.
Eaton widened the gap some more in the pole vault as he cleared the bar with three personal bests to settle at 14-1¼. Adcock also had a two-inch personal best in the event with a 13-5¼ clearance.
Adcock automatically earned a spot on Team USA that will travel to the Pan-American Junior Games in Sao Paulo, Brazil, competing July 6-8.
Adcock is Missouri's first decathlete to capture the crown in the event and the first Tiger since Ashley Patten in 2003 to win a Junior National Championship.
Qualifying Heats of Track Events Several current and former Tigers were also busy today in the first day of the open USATF Championships.
Junior Trisa Nickoley (Topeka, Kan.) set a new personal best in the women's 800-meter run with a 2:04.77 clocking to qualify for tomorrow's semifinals of the event. Nickoley's time was the fastest among all of the time-qualifiers into the semis as she finished fourth in her heat, one spot, and only two hundredths of a second from automatic qualification.
Post-collegian Neville Miller (St. Louis, Mo.) qualified for the semis in the men's 800-meter run with a personal best time of 1:47.08. Miller finished sixth in the fastest heat of the day.
Senior Marcus Mayes finished 24th overall at 1:49.57, post-collegian Derrick Peterson was 26th at 1:49.62, and post-collegian Timothy Dunne was 30th at 1:50.13.
Post-collegian Amanda Bales finished 20th overall in the women's 1500-meter run with a 4:23.12 time.
Junior Heptathlon Competiton also concluded in the junior women's heptathlon on Thursday. Freshman Lauren Begany was 10th with 4,591 points, setting a new personal best of 76-7 in the javelin. Frosh Lindsey Boldt was 13th with 4,468.
Friday's Events On Friday, post-collegian Fiona Asigbee will begin her quest for a bid to the IAAF World Championships in the women's heptathlon. A repeat of her top-three finishes from the past USA Championships will earn her a spot on the national team that will travel to Osaka, Japan, in August.
Nickoley and Miller will also run in their semifinal rounds of the 800 meters tomorrow night. Live coverage of the meet can be found tomorrow on ESPN2, starting at 7 p.m. (CT).
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Players Mentioned
