NCAA Men’s Decathlon — Neugebauer Charges To CR 8961

ENTERING AS THE seasonal leader by a massive 684 points, Leo Neugebauer of Texas could have hit autopilot and easily repeated as champion.

It was the opposite.

“I’m here to score points,” the German senior said.

Indeed, the 23-year-old — who raised the Collegiate Record by 116 points in this meet last year to 8836 — added 125 more digits, and his 8961-point rocket is now in orbit with the event’s über-elite. By event:

100: Mississippi State’s Peyton Bair was fastest with a meet record 10.30 — taking down Ashton Eaton’s 10.37 — and was followed by Edgar Campre of Miami, who PRed at 10.56. Neugebauer was next at 10.64, his second-fastest ever and near his PR 10.61 from last year’s CR.

Long Jump: Neugebauer got on record pace here, landing at 25-9½ (7.86), his best in a decathlon collegiately. It could have been farther except for a hand drag, but he was up 38 points on his 8836 score. He was tops by a foot and a half and led by 102 points.

Shot: Bombs away! Neugebauer smashed his own deca CR with a first-round 57-3½ (17.46). That would be his best, although his second-round foul appeared to land near 59-0 (18.00). The field’s best by more than 6ft, he was at 2909 points, 112 up on his CR as his projection was at 8948 (only 6 decathletes have ever surpassed 8900).

High Jump: Neugebauer won his third-straight event as he cleared eight heights — avoiding a potential bummer with a third-attempt clearance at 6-4¾ (1.95) — to match his outdoor PR of 6-9½ (2.07). He was now 140 points up on his CR, projecting to 8976.

400: Looking strong until the last 40m, Neugebauer clocked 48.03, almost a second off his PR 47.08 in his CR. His Day 1 total of 4685 bettered the CR of 4660 by Kyle Garland, and he was still on record pace, now projecting to 8930.

The battle for 2nd was narrowing to Bair (4428), Iowa’s Austin West (4272) and Campre (4249). Unfortunately it was the last event for West, who injured an ankle during the high jump and wouldn’t start Day 2.

110 Hurdles: Neugebauer was nearly flawless — clipping only the 9th hurdle — to clock 14.36, just off his 14.33 PR. However, he actually lost points on his record score, which included a wind-aided 14.10, as his projection dipped down to 8897.

Discus: It was record time again, and Neugebauer’s platter went farther than anyone…