GUNNISON, Colo. – The University of Colorado Colorado Springs' three decathlon competitors fought through three lightning delays and finished the final event as another was called on the second day of the 2017 RMAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
Kyle Rex led the group with a season-best 5,755 points in a sixth-place finish in the field.
The first lightning delay occurred shortly after noon, with action underway in the pole vault for the decathlon. A second delay was called at the start of the javelin throw portion, and again after a few attempts were completed during the second round of throws. Officials suspended all events except for the decathlon in attempt to finish all 10 events within the mandated two-day window.
The athletes resumed competition at approximately 7 p.m., finished the javelin, and finished the 1,500-meter run as another strike forced competitors to finish cool-down routines in the Mountaineer Fieldhouse. The decathlon athletes spent 12 hours at the track today from the arrival this morning before the first events through the conclusion of the final events.
Rex used a season-best 110-foot discus throw to post his best decathlon score of the season. He also finished third in the pole vault with 13-9 ¼, and fourth in the 1,500-meter run in 5:07.93.
Jake Goggin improved his decathlon score from earlier this season by more than 200 points with 5,329, with top-five performances in the 1,500-meter run (5:00.54) and discus (107-6).
Matt Hanson will be in the finals for the 110-meter hurdles on Tuesday after he lowered his personal-best by more than a half-second with 14.92 in today's preliminaries. He ran the fifth-fastest time in the prelims and improved by .56 seconds from the Colorado Mines meet two weeks ago.
Conor Bertles turned in his best discus performance of the season with 146-11, and placed No. 11 today. He improved in each of the three meets this season.
The final lightning delay came in the middle of the high jump and after the completion of the preliminaries of the 110-meter hurdles. The preliminaries of the 200-meter dash and 400-meter hurdles will be contested as timed finals on Tuesday. The remaining athletes in the high jump will resume at the same height of 6-2 ¾. they left off today.
Action for Tuesday will take place an hour earlier than originally scheduled, with men's javelin at 9 a.m., and the men's 4x100-meter relay at 10 a.m.
