AUSTIN (KXAN) — It was time for Texas junior Leo Neugebauer to do something amazing, and he knew it.
Neugebauer set an NCAA record in the decathlon with an eye-popping 8,836 points to win the national title Thursday at Mike A. Myers Stadium.
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Neugebauer held off Georgia’s Kyle Garland, the previous NCAA record holder at 8,720, with strong second-day performances in the discus and pole vault. Neugebauer’s throw in the discus sailed 180 feet, 8 inches to score 976 points, and that’s where he separated himself when Garland scores 782 points with a throw of 150-1. Neugebauer went from trailing by 52 points to leading Garland by 142 with the big throw.
Neugebauer tacked on 63 points to his lead after a mark of 17-1 in the pole vault, and then 30 more in the javelin with a throw of 188-6.
Neugebauer led by 21 points after the first five events Wednesday, but Garland made a big move in the 110-meter hurdles with the competition’s only 1,000-point score. Garland sped to a 13.54 and scored 1,035 points to briefly move in front of Neugebauer, who finished the event in 14.10 for 962 points. From there, Neugebauer dominated the field.
Garland finished second with an otherwise impressive score of 8,630 and Iowa’s Austin West finished third with 8,054.
Thursday was also the start of the women’s meet with semifinals on the track. The Longhorns improved on their own NCAA record with a time of 41.55, shaving 0.34 seconds off their previous record. Kentucky finished in second place with a 42.30.
Julien Alfred, Ezinne Abba and Kevona Davis all qualified for the 100 finals with their semifinal runs. Alfred was the only runner to turn in a time under 11 seconds at 10.99. Davis finished third at 11.04 and Abba was seventh at 11.11. The top nine times from the semifinals qualified for the finals that are scheduled for 8:52 p.m. Saturday.
Alfred, Davis and Lanae Thomas all qualified for the 200 finals. Alfred and Davis finished in 22.33 and Thomas clocked a 22.42 to advance to Saturday.
In the 400 semifinals, Texas’ Rhasidat Adeleke finished second with a time of 49.86 to comfortably advance to the finals. Arkansas’ Britton Wilson, who is trying to become the first woman to pull off a double gold in the 400 and 400 hurdles, qualified first with a time of 49.36. The duo were the only runners to turn in sub-50 times. The 400 final is set for 9:02 p.m. Saturday.
Wilson qualified first with a time of 54.67 in the 400 hurdles, setting up her shot at the double.
Valery Tobias qualified second in the 800 with a time of 2:00.68. She’ll run in the final at 9:14 p.m. Saturday.
The first four events of the women’s heptathlon get things started at 2:45 p.m. Friday, followed by the men’s finals.