Donovan Kilmartin at Big XII Outdoor Championships

[kwtxjumps]

In case anyone has forgotten about Kilmartin, he is dominating the Big 12 Decathalon after Day 1. He won the 100m, LJ, HJ, and got second in the shotput. He didn't run the 400m for some reason however, but with pole vault coming up tomorrow, which he is favored to win, he could win this thing by a landslide. All of this for a freshmen and after his sub-par showing at Texas Relays.

[Jon]

Re: Donovan Kilmartin at Big XII Outdoor Championships

He didn't run the 400m, yet he's going to continue with the rest of the decathlon tomorrow..??

[kwtxjumps]

Re: Donovan Kilmartin at Big XII Outdoor Championships

I can only begin to imagine why he didn't compete in the 400, whether it was a choice or injury. He does have a significant lead on the competition.

[Trackshark.com]

Re: Donovan Kilmartin at Big XII Outdoor Championships

From Texas sports info:

"Kilmartin concluded it was in his best interest not to continue competition."

[kwtxjumps]

Re: Donovan Kilmartin at Big XII Outdoor Championships

Is he calling it quits for the entire competition or just for today?

[vaulter83]

Re: Donovan Kilmartin at Big XII Outdoor Championships

He'll never challenge for a Oly medal with an attitude like that. If hes injured then its another story.

[Kurt Francis]

Re: Donovan Kilmartin at Big XII Outdoor Championships

Kilmartin's or his coach's decision is called looking at the bigger picture...as in the NCAA Championships and/or Olympic Trials. Those of you who have never competed in the multi-events will never understand just what these events take out of you.

Kurt

[Trackshark.com]

Re: Donovan Kilmartin at Big XII Outdoor Championships

Just learned that he had a blister and did not want to further promote that "injury"

[Realist]

Re: Donovan Kilmartin at Big XII Outdoor Championships

>>Those of you who
>have never competed in the multi-events will never understand just what these
>events take out of you.>>

Gruelling, just gruelling! C'mon, as Daley Thompson once pointed out (and I paraphrase), "I compete for a total of 12 minutes over a period of 12 hours; how tough is that? Fighting boredom is the hard part."

[trackstar]

Re: Donovan Kilmartin at Big XII Outdoor Championships

>Is he calling it quits for the entire competition or just for today?

>Is he calling it quits for the entire competition or just for today?

The whole thing. Story here: http://www.statesman.com/sports/content ... 7009f.html

[NetCoach]

Re: Donovan Kilmartin at Big XII Outdoor Championships

it's very difficult to determine from the article what Donovan was pulled for. The fact that the Team could lose the Big 12 Championships over it begs to say that the reason for the coach to do this is fairly serious. Donovan has an auto qualifier for the decathlon.
That said, to say he would have scored over 8,000 seems overly optimistic on his coaches part. He was not that far ahead of where he was on his last decathlon, and his next six events are either poor (Discus-jav-400) or mediocre (hurdles-1500) except for the pole vault. He may have set a PR, but he didn't look like he was going to improve 270 points!
And both Uldal and Heikennen are very good second day guys, although I don't think they would have caught him.
Darion Powell of WSU (who beat Trey Hardee, who beat Donovan at Texas Relays) competed in a Decathlon earlier this year with a sore foot, which by the end of the competition became a serious stress fracture. He is out for the year because of it. Maybe the Texas coach was thinking of that when he pulled Donovan. I agree with a previous poster that many people do not understand the beating that an athlete gets from competing in a Decathlon.

[trackstar]

Re: Donovan Kilmartin at Big XII Outdoor Championships

>it's very difficult to determine from the article what Donovan was pulled for.

I think it's very simple to determine: Donovan has a shot at an NCAA outdoor championship, and the championships are in Austin this year. Makes sense to me. If I were Thornton, I would be much more excited about having my star athlete wow the home crowd with a national title than win in front of what I assume is a handful of people in Norman.

[decafan]

Re: Donovan Kilmartin at Big XII Outdoor Championships

I think it's very simple to determine: Donovan has a shot at an NCAA
>outdoor championship, and the championships are in Austin this year. Makes
>sense to me. If I were Thornton, I would be much more excited about having my
>star athlete wow the home crowd with a national title than win in front of what
>I assume is a handful of people in Norman.

There are a few other things going on in Austin that fans simply aren't aware of. Bubba knows he's got an elite freshman with stars in his eyes who came to Texas in large part because of Dan Pfaff. Dan is gone and the kid has not progressed in the way he or his parents expected. (He expects to score 9000 pts eventually, and win 4 straight NCAA titles.) Now things appear to be clicking for him. Bubba has to know that if Kilmartin doesn't show well at NCAA's he may leave Austin. A conference title won't mean much to the kid. Texas will also be hoping to come away from the NCAA's with a trophy. It was probably a safe move by Bubbba, but not for the reasons listed above.

[Ten Bears]

Re: Donovan Kilmartin at Big XII Outdoor Championships

The 400 is a key event for him though--someone with 11 second 100m speed should be faster than 51 in the 400. I'm surprised he didn't do the 400 if he felt right, to check his progress. Perhaps he had a twinge in the HJ.

[RTX]

Re: Donovan Kilmartin at Big XII Outdoor Championships

My two cents ... just in case some of you dont know.. the weather is also horriable in Oklahoma , its a flash Flood warning, Tornado warning with possiable hail... juast something too think about