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Cougars Lead Decathlon, Second in Heptathlon
Meet runs through Saturday.
May 14, 2003
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - After the first day of competition at the 2003 Mountain West Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Albuquerque, N.M., BYU's Curtis Pugsley and Devin Scoresby lead the decathlon after five events, while senior Anna-Lee Walcott is in second in the heptathlon. Pugsley, who started the day with a first-place finish in the 100-meters, with a personal-best 10.93, holds a 110-point lead over Scoresby, and a 231-point advantage over the third-place competitor, Dan Feltman of New Mexico. In addition to winning the 100-meters, the Park Valley, Utah native won the long jump (22-11.25) and high jump (6-07.5) and placed second in the shot put (42-00.5) and 400-meters (50.84) to rack up 3,941 points on the day. Scoresby, an Idaho Falls, Idaho native scored 3,831 points to finish the first five events in second place behind Pugsley. Scoresby ended the day with a personal-best 50.44 in the 400-meters to pull within 110 points of Pugsley. Scoresby tied Pugsley and Feltman for first in the high jump with a mark of 6-07.5, and finished second in both the 100-meters (11.21) and long jump (6.84). Fellow teammate Erik Rasmussen is currently in eight place after five events with 3,419 points, but with his best events still to come, will look to gain additional points during the second day of competition. This is Rasmussen's first decathlon since his freshman season, nearly five years ago. "Overall, I think we're where we thought we'd be after the first day," head men's coach Mark Robison said. "All three of the guys had a solid day. Pugsley is in good shape to win the competition, and Scoresby will be close to a qualifying mark. Also, Erick, for only having two days to prepare for his first decathlon in five years, is doing a heck of a job. He'll have a solid finish, especially since he'll be pole vaulting tomorrow, which he should win easily."
In women's action, Walcott held the lead in the heptathlon after two events, winning the high jump with a leap of 5-07, and finishing second in the 100-meters with a time of 14.70. However, the Trinidad native who had reconstructive knee surgery 14 months ago, struggled in the shot put (36-00) to drop to second place overall. In the final event of the day, Walcott turned in a personal-best 25.38 in the 200-meters to pick up 852 more points, and record a first-day personal record, 3,182 points.
Walcott, who holds a slim two-point lead over San Diego State's Shanon Meyer is expected to close the gap behind leader Leslie Miller of SDSU and contend for the overall title, but more importantly, is looking for a qualifying mark for the NCAA championships. "Anna-Lee had a terrific day," head women's coach Craig Poole said. "After having a full knee reconstruction just over a year ago, she's come back in great shape and is stronger then ever. We think she will have a good day on Thursday and is capable of scoring 5,200 points. If she does that, then she's headed to the NCAA's. "She put a lot of pressure on herself today, and I think that's why her shot put kind of fell apart. There's still a lot of room for her to improve." The MWC Championships will resume on Thursday with the final five events in the decathlon and final three events in the heptathlon. Competition is slated to begin at 12:30 p.m. (MDT) at the Great Friends of University of New Mexico Track Stadium. |
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