ELLENSBURG, Wash. (March 27) — By putting up one of the top marks in the school's outdoor track and field history, Central Washington University's
Justin Peterson won the men's decathlon at the two-day Mt. Hood Community College Multi-Events meet in Gresham, Ore.
Peterson's mark of 6,401 points exceeded the NCAA Division II provisional national qualifying standard, and also made him eligible for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships. It was the third best event mark by a CWU athlete in the NCAA Division II era, eclipsed only by Gunner Argo's 6,430 points in 2005 and Jason Caryl's 6,412 in 2012.
"That's just a really exciting first decathlon of the year to have under his belt—to have the overall decathlon provisional with the high jump provisional in there as well," said CWU head track and field coach
Kevin Adkisson said. "He's just a sophomore but he's really growing into the event."
On Thursday, Peterson exceeded the provisional national qualifying mark in the high jump, clearing 6-8 ¼, just off his GNAC record for the decathlon high jump (6-9), which he set last season. Peterson entered day No. 2 of the competition in second place.
"He had a solid day today," Adkisson added. "His pole vault was pretty good and he had a really good 1,500 [meters]."
Peterson actually won the 1,500 (4:34.38) and long jump (20-6 ½), while finishing second in both the pole vault and 400 meters.
The only other Wildcat participant at the meet,
HarLee Ortega also had a strong performance, finishing fourth in the women's heptathlon with a total of 3,949 points, which Adkisson labeled a "very respectable score."
"For a freshman coming in, that's pretty impressive," Adkisson acknowledged. "She had a few strong events as well. She had a really good high jump yesterday (5-3). For a decathlon mark, that's solid. She's a great athlete, who's still learning quite a few of the events."
Ortega won the high jump and, with her overall mark, also qualified for the GNAC championships. In addition, she placed second in the 800 meters and third in the long jump. Adkisson says he expects even higher point totals from her in the near future.
"As we go through the season, she's going to have the opportunity to definitely be over 4,000 [points]," he predicted. "That would be really good for someone coming in as a freshman, to be up at that level."
It's likely that Peterson and Ortega won't compete in their events again until the GNAC Multi-Events outdoor championship meet April 27-28.
"It's really nice in that first event of the year—the main one for the regular season—that they prepared well, had good weather and both got marks that are going to place them in a good spot going into conference," Adkisson added. "Now they can concentrate on training for three or four weeks to really get ready for that next one."
