Reigning U.S. champion Garland scheduled to compete in decathlon for first time since last year’s World Athletics Outdoor Championships; American all-time heptathletes Bougard and Kunz returning to competition, along with 2022 indoor pentathlon champ Hawkins and Mt. SAC winner Eikeng
By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor
The top competitor in collegiate decathlon and heptathlon history, last year’s U.S. national champion Kyle Garland from Georgia, headlines an exceptional elite decathlon competition starting at 10 a.m. PDT Wednesday and Thursday at the 63rd Mt. SAC Relays at Hilmer Lodge Stadium in Walnut, Calif.
The women’s elite heptathlon field, also scheduled to compete Wednesday and Thursday, features a trio of U.S. champions in Erica Bougard, Chari Hawkins and Annie Kunz, along with last year’s winner and NCAA runner-up Ida Eikeng of Washington, in addition to Division 1 second-place finisher in the indoor pentathlon Allie Jones of USC.
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Garland produced the collegiate record in May at the USATF Combined Events Championships with 8,720 points in Arkansas, elevating to the No. 16 all-time global competitor.
The decathlon meet record of 8,727 points established by American Dave Johnson has stood since 1992.
Garland achieved the collegiate indoor heptathlon record March 10-11 at the NCAA Division 1 Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, N.M., with 6,639 points. Ayden Owens-Delerme of Arkansas, last year’s Division 1 indoor heptathlon and outdoor decathlon winner, placed second with 6,518 points.
Owens-Delerme won the Mt. SAC Relays decathlon last year with 8,528 points, the top collegiate performance in meet history, and Iowa’s Austin West elevated to the No. 25 all-time NCAA competitor by finishing runner-up with 8,179 points, with Cal’s Hakim McMorris taking third at 7,941 points.
Steven Bastien, who represented the U.S. in 2021 in Tokyo and captured the USATF Indoor heptathlon title in February in New Mexico, is entered with a decathlon personal-best 8,485 points.
Harrison Williams, another American athlete who competed at the 2019 World Athletics Outdoor Championships in Qatar, is also in the field with a lifetime-best 8,439 points.
Ryan Talbot, the reigning Big Ten champion at Michigan State, is entered with a personal-best 8,064 points and Jack Flood, a former NCAA Division 3 champion at Cortland State, is scheduled to compete with a lifetime-best 8,038 points.
Bougard and Kunz are the Nos. 5 and 6…
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