Oregon takes lead in men’s decathlon, women’s heptathlon in Day 1 of Texas Relays

Oregon excels in first day of Texas Relays

AUSTIN, Texas — Oregon decathlon coach Harry Marra couldn’t have been much happier with his athletes’ results after the first day of the Texas Relays on Wednesday.

Marra has held his position at Oregon less than five months, but he’s already seeing results at the meet.

His main decathlon competitor, senior Ashton Eaton, who has four NCAA championships, set three personal bests on Wednesday in the 100 meters, long jump and shot put. Eaton’s 4,494 points gave him a sizable lead over second place, held by Texas A&M’s Trinity Otto who has 4,187.

On the women’s side, Oregon junior Brianne Theisen, who has two NCAA championships, also holds a commanding lead over the heptathlon field. Both Eaton and Theisen posted first-day personal bests, and Eaton is on pace to challenge the collegiate record of 8,465 points set by Trey Hardee of Texas in 2006.

Sean Zurko of TCU won the men’s 800-meter run with a time of 1:50.03, and Andrea Nussey of Angelo State won the women’s with a time of 2:09.51.

UTEP dominated the 5,000 meters in both races. On the men’s side, senior Robert Menjo surprised the field with a time of 14:54.15. In the women’s race, sophomore Risper Kimaiyo posted at 16:52.79, edging her teammate Kathya Garcia’s time of 16:54.31.