AUSTIN – Texas A&M’s Daniel Martin completed the Texas Relays decathlon in grand fashion, winning the final event by 23 seconds in the 1,500m as he placed third overall with a career best score of 7,154 points at Myers Stadium on Thursday.
Heading in the final event of the decathlon stationed in 11th place, Martin won the 1,500m in a time of 4:08.73 to produce 890 points. His finally tally of 7,154 points propelled him into third place overall. The next fastest finisher in the final event of the decathlon was 4:31.82 for 733 points.
During the indoor season, where the 1,000m finishes off the men’s heptathlon, Martin scored 1,020 points at the SEC Championships when he ran 2:27.30 to record the second fastest time by a collegian in a mutli-event.
“It’s not like I enjoy running the 1,000m or 1,500m more than any of the other guys, but it’s nice to know at the end of the meet there is an event that I’m stronger in,” noted Martin, whose previous best in the 1,500 was 4:15.50. “If I do happen to be in a hole, then I have an event where I can get some points back at the end. So that’s always comforting to know.”
Harrison Williams of Stanford won the multi-event with a score of 7,842 with Roman Garibay of Monterrey Tech the runner-up with a tally of 7,446. As Martin moved into third place he finished ahead of Reese Thompson of Texas (7,136) and Akron’s Quentin Cieslinski (7,109).
Martin scored 3,528 points on the second day of the decathlon, topping his previous best tally of 3,385 from 2014. He started with a 15.19 in the 110m hurdles (827 points), followed by a discus throw of 105-4 (506), and 14-1 ¼ (702) pole vault. A javelin throw of 167-2 produced 603 points heading into the 1,500m.
“It’s great to come out here and compete for Texas A&M,” said Martin. “Coming out here and getting this atmosphere at the Texas Relays is great, because it sets you up to know what is coming ahead at SECs. I’ve got a great set of coaches who have believed in me going on five years now. Without them I definitely wouldn’t be here. Especially Coach Grimes, his giving me confidence means everything.”
In the women’s hammer throw, Alison Ondrusek finished fourth with a toss of 191-5 (58.34). Stationed in eighth place after the first three rounds of competition with a 186-2 (56.74), Ondrusek moved into third place when she turned in her top mark during the fourth round. Carissa van Beek‘s best mark of the day was a 171-5 (52.25) that placed her 18th among the field of 24 throwers.
Oklahoma’s Julia Reedy won the hammer with a first round effort of 205-5 (62.61) as Jermisha Frazier of Southeast Louisiana claimed the runner-up position with a final round mark of 199-9 (60.89). In third place was Sam Houston State’s Ashley Jenkins with a 198-11 (60.64).
Finals in the 1,500m had Aaron Murray generating a career best of 3:52.07 for third place in the B division.Nathan Ricketts placed fourth in the A section with a time of 3:54.52, behind Texas Tech’s Evans Tuitoek (3:49.76), UTEP’s Comas Boit (3:49.95) and Quinlin McGregor of SFA (3:53.09).
Hannah Campbell produced a personal best in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase as an 11:29.78 placed her eighth in the race and moved her to No. 6 on the A&M all-time list. Post collegian Rachel Johnson, who competed for Baylor, won the race in a meet record 9:55.16 as UT-Arlington’s Katelyn Hayward finished as the top collegian in 10:36.42.
The 5,000m final had a pair of Aggies competing as Christian Farris clocked 14:35.68 for seventh place andJuan Uribe finished 15th in 14:50.41.
Ebony Crear posted a career best time of 59.66 to place fourth in her heat of the 400m hurdles, placing 14th overall in the prelims. Lauren Bedrich fell at the 10th hurdle in the same heat as Crear and finished with a time of 1:08.79. The top nine times advanced to the final with a 58.94 serving as the cutoff.
A 51.86 for DeWitt Thomas in the prelims of the men’s 400m hurdles placed him 11th overall after he finished fourth in his section. Aikan Graham clocked 52.21 as runner-up in another section to place 13thoverall. Kris Brander ran 53.40 for sixth place in a heat to finish 30th overall. With the top nine reaching the final, 51.78 was the last qualifying time.
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics