McMorris Wins Decathlon With 8,258 points, Juskeviciute Scores 6,295 To Take Heptathlon,  Concluding Multi Competition

Story and photos by Keenan Gray of DyeStat

INTERVIEWS

WALNUT, Calif. – Hakim McMorris and Beatrice Juskeviciute both celebrated lifetime best performances in the decathlon and heptathlon, respectively, at the 65th Mt. SAC Relays on Thursday.

Alongside their own personal feat, both of them also achieved world-leading scores to conclude the second of a four-day meet from Hilmer Lodge Stadium.

Former California standout McMorris, representing VS Athletics, earned 8,258 points in the men's elite decathlon competition, improving his previous best score by 95 points.

"Today it just kind of lined up for me real nice," McMorris said. "Not perfectly, but real nice. I'll always take a PB."

McMorris earned wins in the long jump (7.55 meters/24-9.25) and 400 meter (46.82 seconds) on day one while holding a 16-point lead. He followed up with another pair of wins in the pole vault (4.80m/15-9) and 1,500 (4:21.08) on day two.

Former Iowa Hawkeye Austin West, competing unattached, finished second with 8,049 points. Bahamian Kendrick Thompson, representing Good Squad, finished third with 8,009 points.

Duke’s Maxwell Forte, competing in his second decathlon ever, scored 7,853 points to finish fourth as the top collegian, achieving a lifetime best total by 667 points.

Arkansas State’s Colby Eddowes tallied 7,861 points for fifth.

Juskeviciute, who led by 81 points in the women's heptathlon after day one, redeemed a second-place finish from last year’s competition, scoring 6,295 points to get the win in the elite division.

The former Vanderbilt standout, by way of Lithuania, improved her previous best by 103 points, which was scored at this meet last year.

Last summer, Juskevicitue missed representing Lithuania at the Paris Olympic Games by three spots based on world ranking. This fall, she hopes to meet the Tokyo World Championship standard, which is 6,500 points.

"First heptathlon, still feeling a little rusty," Juskeviciute said. "I think I am really happy to PB this early in the season. I believe I'll be a lot less tired when time comes to compete in August or September."

Oklahoma’s Pippi Lotta Enok, third after day one, remained the top collegian on day two, finishing second overall with a personal best score of 6,258 points, the second highest score in the NCAA this season.

Allie Jones finished as the top American with 6,058 points for third. Erin Marsh, another American representing VS Athletics, finished right behind in fourth with 6,031 points.

Washington freshman Sofia Coscullela rounded out the top five with 5,817 points, ranking her fifth in the NCAA.

Chandler Ault, former Washington thrower who won the final Pac-12 outdoor title in the javelin last spring, won the men’s elite competition with a throw of 70.45 meters (231-1).

Nevada's Lilly Urban threw 55.45m (181-11) in the women's elite javelin field, earning the win over UCLA's Jana van Schalkwyk.

On the track, Mario Pacay, representing Guatemala, won the men's elite 10,000 in 28:37.81, and California's Amelia Wardle-Stacey held off Sandra Raxon Siquiej, another athlete representing Guatemala, by a margin of 34:21.09 to 34:21.40.

Utah Valley's Adbulsalam Farah won the men's elite steeplechase in 8:40.47. Loyola-Chicago's Roisin Treacy ran 10:18.78 to win the women's elite steeplechase.