2021 multi-event

[olorin]

Today in the "geriatric ward".
Couple of second level conferences bring good and bad news.
TJ Lawson competes in mid-American only in the DT rather than the decathlon. Maybe he will mount a comeback next year for the WC in Eugene, but as he is a senior I think that this is the last time he will appear in these forums.
Aaron Booth now representing Long Beach st. is competing in the Big-West conference. The Kiwi so far is showing good form in the first three events (~7900 points). Still early days and I already jinxed him, but with no disasters he is likely to join the potential 8,000 club towards the NCAA final.

Edit: and a below par 400 ensure that the road for 8000 looks that much longer.

[olorin]

Johannes Erm is not on the starting line up for the upcoming SEC.
This suggests that he will probably will not compete as a collegiate this season.
Tilga is also not competing, but obviously he already has a qualification marks.
A some what deflated line up compered with previous years with Garland (still not qualified) and Ballengee as the favorites.

[miketandf]

Johannes Erm is not on the starting line up for the upcoming SEC.
This suggests that he will probably will not compete as a collegiate this season.
Tilga is also not competing, but obviously he already has a qualification marks.
A some what deflated line up compered with previous years with Garland (still not qualified) and Ballengee as the favorites.

8000 for the favorites olorin, weather permitting?
Ballengee recently said he was hoping to get the Oly Trial Q mark of 7900 (just missed it last time), although I suspect he would be good enough to get in.
It looks like it'll take about 7500 to get to the NCAAs.

[miketandf]

With a multi-meet called "Last Chance" at a nice/well-known facility like Azusa Pacific, with good SoCal weather expected, I would have guessed a lot of the multi men/women would have been here in search of the Q, with a good 5 weeks rest before the Trials. Yet, of the all the men/women with any chance at the Q, only Zamzow is here at AP. It appears it may be 8350Q/6420Q or bust for those non-Q folks at the Trials, maybe with the exception of one or two who could slip in as a top 24-er... and that's assuming a bunch of Euro guys/gals don't slip past the SS/ZZ/Annie Kunz types in the Road-to-Tokyo rankings.

And... Two that have the Q, Bougard and Williams, are supposedly competing at Gotzis 3 weeks before Trials.

Hmm... but I just hope the US get 3 good men, and 3 good women, to Tokyo.

https://athletics.apu.edu/documents/...5_11_21_v5.pdf

[trailrun]

Half-joking, half-serious... 2-3 per year sounds good with the following qualifiers: a) add 1 if you are an American or college kid, b) subtract 1 if you have the 'Q' and c) exclude training-session decas/DNFs from calculations, which is becoming more popular these days.

One athlete who deserves a significant mention in this type of debate is Roman Sebrle. In my opinion he was the fittest, toughest decathlete of the modern era. He usually did 4 decathlon’s a year, even in his peak years. I count 81 decathlon’s entered in his career, with only 7 DNFs, 74 completed between the years 1991 and 2012, retiring at 37.

7 entered, 6 completed in 93

6 decathlon’s completed in 1997, setting 3 PBs.

4 or more decathlon’s entered in each of the following years: 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07,

[olorin]

Conference weekend
The conference weekend in multi-events is a weird event. On the one hand, almost all the top athletes compete. On the other hand, in most competitions the wonderful head-to-head on paper, turnout to be less wonderful as many of the elite athletes that already (practically) qualified conserve energy to the upcoming NCAA final and for some the American trials. The most interesting feature about this weekend is the fight for qualification spot across all the conferences. However, following this drama unfold requires one to follow simultaneity dozens of athletes, which is extremely time consuming.
So, for this weekend I will provide preview one conference for the men and one to the women.

Heptathlon – SEC
As always SEC as the highest quality even though the event is less spectacular after the demise of the powerhouse of Arkansas. Still, Hall vs. Gittens is always a delight and if both decided to take it seriously then there could be fireworks. It is important to note that Gittens competes also in three individual events (and already competed in 12 competitions compared with Hall’s seven) so advantage Georgia.
Behind the big two a lot of talented heptathletes are vying for qualification for the NCAA final. Two of those transferred from and to Georgia and both showed a promise pre-Corona. Sterling Lester moved from Georgia to Florida and slowly regaining her past shape. She is very good in the running events and extremely bad in the throwing events. She is unlikely to be the 6,000 athlete I thought she would be pre-Corona, but she should be able to qualify. Asia Reynolds transferred from Michigan to Georgia. She had a no-jump in the LJ in her only heptathlon this year. Usually, she is very good long jumper (6.41) and one of only eight heptathletes to have sum of PBs higher than 6,000 points. Lastly, Natosha Jordan a frosh from Auburn is on the bubble with PB of 5521 and should get closer to 5,600 to ensure qualification.
Honorable mention – not enough? The ACC present the ever-improving Atherley, two smart and talented heptathletes from Duke (Marsh and Hughes), O’Brien a frosh from Notre-Dame (PB 5505) and several lower ranked heptathletes with an outside chance for qualification.

The men will be completed after the starting line-up from Big-10 will be posted

[olorin]

Decathlon – Big 10
While Garland is obviously the most intriguing performance this weekend as he still does not have a qualification mark, the field in SEC is somewhat deflated so I will shift my attention to Big-Ten, which has a good depth this year.
After Erm injury Ayden Owens should be considered as the favorite for the Bronze medal in the NCAA final. Owens is the most “Eaton-like” decathlete in the current crop of NCAA. Very fast (10.43, 47.10, 13.76) good in the 1500 (sub 4:30). He is relatively weak thrower although not horrible (15-43-53) but his main weakness is the jumps (7.53-1.94-4.68) that are really not good enough for someone so fast. With a PB of 8130 in the decathlon and a qualifying mark this season Owens is likely to save his best to the NCAA finals, but an improvement in some individual events will be great (LJ-7.53).

Daniels (Iowa) is the second decathletes that have the qualified marks. He is a strong in the HJ (2.11) but his greatest assets is that he does not have a disastrous event. Issiah Martin is also in a good position to qualify with a PB of 7576. His best event in the JT (62m) while the weakest is the PV (4.40). No less than four decathletes have a chance to qualify for the NCAA final. The Freshmen Austin West (Iowa) is good in the JT but weak in the other throws. Needs to improve on his 7458 points in order to qualify. Noah Swaby (Penn State) is on the bubble with 7517. Swabi is likely to be the best thrower in the NCAA (15.6-50.5-59) but he is also one of the slowest (11.28, 50.27, 14.71). If he wants any chance in this event, he must improve his jumps. A lot of good throwers were also a good jumper and below 7m & 2m PBs is simply not good enough. Wade Walder a senior from Michigan State is also a recent transfer. Good in the PV (5m) and JT(59m) he should be able to squeeze in. Finally, Peyton Haack (Iowa) is furthest away from qualification mark (7,300). However, he is fast improving and I need to justify why I selected Big-10 over SEC.

[miketandf]

thanks - good stuff olorin - looking forward to the next couple days...

[aaronk]

Garland 10.89
Ballangee 11.14

[Atticus]

Garland LJ 7.58 (24-10½)

I'm going with an 8250 PR prediction!

[miketandf]

Garland LJ 7.58 (24-10½)

I'm going with an 8250 PR prediction!

I am with you... but by far, I am most curious of his 400... h.ave not seen that for a couple of years..

[gm]

ACC has 10 men's teams and six entrants in the dec. Pathetic.

[Atticus]

Oof!
Anna Hall out after only clearing 1.77.

Gittens clean thru 1.86 so far.
Now over 1.95 (6-4.75) !!

[miketandf]

Oof!
Gittens clean thru 1.86 so far.
Now over 1.95 (6-4.75) !!

With that, she's right back on 6420 Oly-Q pace...

[donley2]

Gittens
Now over 1.95 (6-4.75) !!

Shoot, with a 1.95 she is on the hairy edge of an Olympic HJ spot.