Michigan
NCAA Outdoor Championships
Owens Earns NCAA Championships Silver in Decathlon
6/10/2021 10:12:00 PM | Men's Track & Field
Site: Eugene, Ore. (Hayward Field)
Event: NCAA Outdoor Championships (Day 2)
U-M Result: 5th Place (13 points)
Next U-M Event: Season Completed
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EUGENE, Ore. -- In one of the greatest field event performances in school history, University of Michigan men's track and field decathlete Ayden Owens finished as the national runner-up in his signature event to conclude the Wolverine men's week at the NCAA Outdoor Championships on Thursday (June 10) at the renovated Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon.
Though he came up short in his goal of achieving the Olympic qualifying standard of 8,350 points, he lived up to his billing as the second-ranked decathlete in the country with a silver-medal performance of 8,114 points.
The decathlon is considered a field event for awards purposes -- six of the 10 components of the two-day competition are field events -- making his effort the highest field event finish for the Wolverines since Michael Whitehead was the national triple jump runner-up in 2006. Never before had a Michigan decathlete finished so high, as he improved on the fourth-place finishes posted by Steven Bastien and Jack Lint in 2017 and 2019, respectively.
His national runner-up finish came with All-America first team honors, and he was joined as an All-American by teammate Heath Baldwin. In his first-ever NCAA Championships appearance, Baldwin scored 7,522 points for 11th place overall and second-team honors. The Wolverines were one of four teams that qualified two decathletes to nationals, but were the only program to have both of them earn All-America honors.
Between Owens' eight points for his runner-up finish and the five points earned by Andrew Liskowitz on Wednesday for his fourth-place shot put effort, Michigan will finish the championships with 13 points. Michigan does not have any competitors for Friday's finals, and will have to wait until Friday evening to see where that 13-point total ultimately shakes out in the team race.
Just as he did on Wednesday, Owens opened Thursday with the fastest time in the field on the homestretch, this time in the 110-meter hurdles as he clocked 14.19 seconds (-0.7m/s) for 950 points. The performance was well short of his personal best, but only two of the remaining 20 men either achieved a personal record or a season's best. Baldwin also was strong in the event as he crossed in 14.58 (-0.7m/s) for the third-best time of the day.
Few in the field achieved their seed marks in the discus, but Owens came within six centimeters of his season's best at 43.02m (141 feet, 2 inches) for 726 points and the fifth-farthest throw in the field. Baldwin struggled in the ring, falling five meters short of his best at 32.72m (107-4) for 518 points.
Both men were strong in the pole vault as the competition started to enter its homestretch. Owens navigated two consecutive third-and-final attempt situations to add 59 points to his total, first clearing 4.51m (14 feet, 9.5 inches) on his last try, and then getting his terminal height 4.61m (15-1.5) on his third run at it, good for 793 points. Sitting in second entering the event, Owens also pulled within 40 points of leader Karel Tilga of Georgia, who did not vault well and gave back more than 100 points off his projected score.
Baldwin was one of three men in the field -- which had whittled down to 17 by the end of the pole vault -- who achieved personal bests, as he cleared 4.51m (14 feet, 9.5 inches) for 763 points to move into ninth. Based on projections, he moved up to eighth with a realistic shot at chasing down fourth place over the course of the final two events as a result of the performance.
Neither man was able to take full advantage of the momentum in the penultimate javelin competition, though both posted solid efforts. After opening with a 46.66m (153 foot, 1 inch) heave that fell nearly 10 meters shy of his personal best, Owens salvaged the event with a 51.77m (169-10) worth 615 points -- 76 points better than his next-best throw.
Baldwin had an opportunity to make a push up as high as the top five in the overall standings in the javelin -- arguably his strongest event relative to the rest of the field -- but came up over five meters shy of his PR with a 58.67m (192 feet, 6 inches) in the second round worth 718 points.
Entering the 1,500-meter finale, Owens was comfortably in second place with 7,344 points -- 210 behind Tilga and 135 clear of third-place Markus Ballengee of Arkansas. Baldwin carried a 6,857-point tally into the last event, trying to make a push into the top-eight for first team All-America honors and team points.
Just as he had in all three previous track events over the past two days, Owens claimed the individual victory at 1,500 meters as he clocked 4:26.21 to chase down BYU's Dallin Vorkink, who had passed him with 300 meters to go, and hold off Marquette's Joseph Keyes. The run earned him 770 points to bring him to 8,114 points for the second-best score in school history.
Baldwin came through in 4:42.48 to secure an 11th-place overall finish with 7,522 points for the second-best effort of his career.
Full Michigan Results by Event
Q = automatic qualifier to quarterfinals; q = at-large qualifier to quarterfinals
1,500 meter run
Semifinals
--. Tom Dodd / DNF
Steeplechase
Semifinals
15. Christian Hubaker / 8:39.09 [New PR] [second-team All-America]
--. Joost Plaetinck / DNF
110 meter hurdles
Semifinals
--. Josh Zeller / DNF
4x400 relay
Semifinals
--. Roland Amarteifio, Austin Lin, Ayden Owens, Dubem Amene / DNF
Shot Put
Final
4. Andrew Liskowitz / 20.07m (65-10.25) [first-team All-America]
16. John Meyer / 18.37m (60-3.25) [second-team All-America]
Decathlon
Final
2. Ayden Owens / 8,115 points
100 meter dash / 10.64 (+0.3m/s) (942 pts) / Place: 1
Long Jump / 7.17m (23-6.25) (-0.1m/s) (854 pts) / Place: 6
Shot Put / 14.13m (46-4.25) (736 pts) / Place: 7
High Jump / 1.98m (6-6) (785 pts) [New PR] / Place: 8
400 meter dash / 47.30 (943 pts) / Place: 1
110 meter hurdles / 14.19 (-0.7 m/s) (950 pts) / Place: 1
Discus / 43.02m (141-1) (726 pts) / Place: 5
Pole Vault / 4.61m (15-1.5) (793 pts) / Place: 8
Javelin / 51.77m (169-10) (615 pts) / Place: 12
1500 meter run / 4:26.21 (770 pts) / Place: 1
11. Heath Baldwin / 7,522 points
100 meter dash / 11.28 (+0.6m/s) (799 pts) / Place: 21
Long Jump / 6.87m (22-6.5) (+2.3m/s) (783 pts) / Place: 16
Shot Put / 14.34m (47-0.5) (749 pts) / Place: 6
High Jump / 2.07m (6-9.5) (868 pts) / Place: 2
400 meter dash / 51.25 (758 pts) / Place: 18
110 meter hurdles / 14.58 (-0.7m/s) (901 pts) / Place: 3
Discus / 32.72m (107-4) (519 pts) / Place: 20
Pole Vault / 4.51m (14-9.5) (763 pts) [New PR] / Place: 11
Javelin / 58.67m (192-6) (718 pts) / Place: 4
1500 meter run / 4:42.48 (665 pts) / Place: 11
Players Mentioned
