PUEBLO, Colo. – Chadron State College sophomore
Courtney Williams finished the first half of the decathlon in second place just 10 points behind the leader at the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Track and Field Championships on Friday in Pueblo, Colo.
The remaining five events will take place Saturday. There are 15 men entered in the decathlon.
Williams had the best marks in both the 100 meter dash (10.86 seconds) and the long jump (7.13 meters/23 feet, 4.75 inches) that opened the competition. He also had the fourth best mark in the shot put (11.66 m/38-3.25), the fifth highest high jump (1.85m/6-0.5) and ran the third best time in the 400 meters (50.16).
Those marks give Williams, a native of Jamaica, an even 3,800 points on the decathlon charts. The leader halfway through the competition is Evan Atkin, a junior at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, with 3,810. Two more UCCS contestants, Dillon Arvayo and Broden Cahoon, are third and fourth with 3,699 and 3,682 points, respectively.
Another Chadron State sophomore,
Ethan Norris of Burns, Wyoming, is in eighth place so far with 3,246 points. His highest placing through the first five events was sixth in the 400 meters that he ran in 51.86 seconds.
The first half of the women's heptathlon also took place Friday. Kathryn Rust of MSU Denver is the leader through the first four events with 3,067 points, followed by Lisa Sutherland of Colorado School of Mines with 3,035 and Kyla Ruzch of CSU Pueblo with 2,839.
Two women from Chadron State are among the 20 contestants.
Kailey Klein of Harrison is 14
th with 2,147 points and
Brenna Fackrell of Evanston, Wyoming, is 17
th with 1,825 points. That competition will also resume Saturday morning.
Klein's best event result was a tie for sixth place in the high jump, clearing 1.49 meters (4-10). Klein is also entered in the open high jump event at the RMAC Championships later this week. Fackrell finished 16th in both the 100-meter hurdles and the 200-meter dash.
Alongside the continuation of the multis, the rest of the meet will also begin on Saturday. Track events, starting with the 10,000 meters, start at 8 a.m. while the first field event, the men's shot put, starts at 9 a.m.
