AUSTIN – In becoming Texas A&M’s first Texas Relays decathlon champion, Aggie senior Lindon Victor broke the collegiate record by seven points with a score of 8,472 points. It’s the eight collegiate record the Texas A&M track and field program currently holds.
“Breaking a collegiate record is hard,” said an exhausted, but jubilant Victor after finishing the 1,500 meters in a time of 4:48.89 to earn 625 points. Anything slower than 4:50.02 would have missed the record.
The previous collegiate record of 8,465 points was set in the 2006 Texas Relays by Longhorn Trey Hardee, who was in attendance on Thursday after competing in some of the decathlon events on Wednesday. Hardee had clocked a 5:06.73 in the 1,500m when he finished his collegiate record decathlon.
“I think if everything had gone to plan today, I wouldn’t have run the 1,500 like this,” noted Victor. “I’m in better shape than I was last year, but I haven’t run a 1,500 since the Olympics. Going into the 10th event I was a little bit tired. I wasn’t taking in any food or any fluids this morning, so that’s something I’ll have to work on for the next one.
“If I’m to be honest, I didn’t like the score because I think I was on pace to do something really good. But, you know, that’s the multi. I’m just learning from my first one of this season and trying to get better.”
The 90th Texas Relays started in fine fashion for the Aggies. Victor’s stellar performance is the eighth collegiate record currently held by Texas A&M. He joins the men’s 4×400 relay and women’s 800m set during this indoor season. Other collegiate records include the women’s javelin and men’s 800m set in 2016 along with the women’s 4×100 (2009), 4×200 (2010) and shuttle hurdle (2010) relays.
“We’re so proud of him setting a collegiate record,” stated Coach Henry. “Besides being the best ever, what else can you say. We’ve had a lot of decathlons in college for a long time and to say you’re the best that’s ever done it is a huge accomplishment. To beat Trey Hardee’s record is huge too. Trey is a fantastic athlete.”
After scoring a collegiate best of 4,516 points during the first day of the decathlon, Victor added 3,946 points from the second day. Finishing behind Victor was Scott Filip of Rice with 7,915 points while Wolf Mahler of Texas placed third at 7,897 points.
Victor started the second day of the decathlon with a 14.94 in the 110m hurdles to score 857 points. In the discus a pair of fouls preceded a final attempt that reached a distance of 173-11 (53.00) for 933 points.
“Practice has been going really good in discus, believe it or not,” noted Victor. “I think I was trying to throw it too hard. My coach said ‘I trust you’ on the last throw. I went out there with a lot of confidence.”
Opening at 14-1 ¼ (4.30) in the pole vault, Victor cleared on his first attempt. However, he was unable to get over 14-5 ¼ (4.40) and had to settle for 702 points.
Following the discus Victor’s tally of 6,306 points moved him ahead of Hardee’s score of 6,233 at that stage of the collegiate record. After the pole vault, though, Victor’s production of 7,008 points through eighth events trailed Hardee’s 7,205.
In the javelin, Victor led the field with a throw of 218-9 (66.69), which scored 839 points and left him trialing the collegiate record by 618 points. Victor’s nine-event score of 7,847 still trailed Hardee’s tally of 7,943.
Gutting out the performance he needed to break the 11-year-old collegiate record, Victor was asked afterward if his record will last as long as Hardee’s.
“I don’t think my record will last as long as Trey’s did,” Victor quipped. “I think it will only last a few months, until I do my next one.”
Shaina Burns totaled 5,332 points to place 11th in the heptathlon, just short of her career best score of 5,363 points from 2014. Her tally at the Texas Relays moves her to No. 8 on the Aggie all-time list from the No. 12 position she held with a score of 5,056 from the 2016 SEC meet.
Alison Ondrusek finished fifth in the women’s hammer, reaching a distance of 197-4 (60.14) while Carissa van Beek placed 15th with a toss of 177-1 (53.99). Ondrusek’s mark is the No. 4 performance on the Texas A&M all-time list.
In the men’s hammer Austin Cook had a pair of fouls before hitting a mark of 209-3 (63.78), which is the No. 5 performance on the Aggie all-time list, as he placed ninth in the field of 24 throwers. Carl Johansson tied for fifth in the B section of the men’s pole vault, clearing 17-1 (5.21).
Racing in the evening Ashton Hutcherson finished sixth in the 3,000m steeplechase with a time of 10:47.13 while teammate Hannah Campbell placed ninth in 11:13.67. Hutcherson’s time ranks as the No. 3 performer and No. 8 performance on the Texas A&M all-time list while Campbell moved to No. 7 performer.
Separate 1,500m races had Taylor Clayton clocking 3:50.77 to finished third in the final while Jon Bishop placed sixth in the B section with a 3:57.94.
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics