NO ONE EXPECTED A BLOWOUT, but Peyton Bair wound up cruising to victory by 435 points – the third-highest in meet history – in becoming the event’s first American-born winner since ’11.
The Mississippi State junior didn’t even enter as the favorite – Nebraska’s Till Steinforth topped the formchart, understandable as the yearly leader with 8265 points. But Bair started with the pedal to the metal and Steinforth never looked near his best, eventually withdrawing with an injury.
100: A year after setting the meet record at 10.30, Bair blasted to 10.25, taking down the decathlon CR 10.27 by Ayden Owens-Delerme from ’22 in the process. His start had some scratching their head as he appeared to be moving before the gun, but there was no recall. Steinforth, who had the second-fastest PR in the field at 10.41, ran just 10.72 and was in 5th.
Long Jump: Steinforth made up ground, but not nearly as much as expected as his 24-2½ (7.38) was more than a foot down from his yearly best of 25-10¾ (7.89) set indoors. While he moved into 2nd overall, Bair actually improved his lead by 6 points after an outdoor PR 23-10¾ (7.28).
Shot: Ditto here for Steinforth, whose best of 48-2 (14.68) was nearly 2ft off his PR 50-1¾ (15.28) from the Drake Relays, where he scored 8265w. He knocked Bair’s lead down to 59 points after the Bulldog hit a solid 46-8 (14.22). Marcus Weaver of Arkansas was tops with an outdoor PR 50-8¾ (15.46).
High Jump: Bair tied his outdoor PR, 6-7 (2.01) to increase his lead to 141 over Steinforth, who managed 6-3½ (1.92) — far below the 6-7 he cleared while earning bronze in the World Indoor heptathlon in March. Projections were now showing Weaver to be Bair’s top threat after the Razorback tied his PR at 6-9½ (2.07) as co-leader in the event.
400: Bair flashed his speed again, running 46.00 to take down another Owens-Delerme deca CR (46.10). Meanwhile, Steinforth fell to the track in pain with a leg injury on the second curve. Bair’s lead ballooned to 287 points with a first-day score of 4479, which was 167 points ahead of the 8131 PR he set in finishing 2nd last year. His nearest pursuer was Brad Thomas of UCSB, although Weaver remained the only other projecting over 8000.
110 Hurdles: Bair finally lost ground to his PR score, but not by much as his 14.27 was 27 points fewer than the…
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