Montana
Big Sky Multi-Events
Emry holding day one decathlon lead
5/8/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track and Field, Outdoor Track, Women's Track and Field
May 8, 2013
Decathlon Results 
| Heptathlon Results
Montana junior Austin Emry placed in the top two in four of five events Wednesday and holds the decathlon lead after the opening day of the multi-events at the Big Sky Conference outdoor track and field championships at Forest Grove, Ore.
Emry, who is seeking his first Big Sky title, scored 3,838 points and holds a 67-point lead over Idaho State's Justin Critser, who also finished in the top two in four of five events. Emry and Critser are more than 200 points clear of the rest of the field.
Junior Lindsey Hall, hindered but unbowed by an achy Achilles, finished day one of the heptathlon in third place with 3,103 points. Portland State's Joenisha Vinson, the 2013 indoor pentathlon champion, scored 3,360 points, Southern Utah's Shaye Maurer, the pentathlon runner-up, 3,318.
Emry won the long jump Wednesday with a distance of 23-2.5 and finished second in the 100 meters, shot put and high jump. His season-best time of 51.64 in the 400 meters in the day's final event placed sixth.
"Today went really well for Austin," UM multi-events coach Adam Bork said. "He had a lot of good, solid marks, and that's what the decathlon is all about. You need to be consistent and avoid the peaks and valleys, and he did that today."
Emry finished second to Critser in the 100, running an 11.30 to Critser's 11.20 in opposite heats. Emry took the lead in the long jump, then held it while going 43-3 in the shot put and 6-6.25 in the high jump before closing with a season-best quarter mile.
Thursday will open with one of Emry's strongest events, the 110-meter hurdles, then conclude with the discus, pole vault, javelin and 1,500 meters. Emry will likely need five PRs if he wants to finish with a score that qualifies him for nationals.
"Austin's body is feeling good, and he's staying positive," Bork said. "He should increase his lead in the hurdles, and I don't see anyone catching him after that. Nationals is a bit more iffy, but with a huge day he could post the kind of score he needs."
The top five decathletes all scored 3,435 or more points, and then there is a big drop-off to sixth place. Junior Keith Webber, competing in his first decathlon, sits in the next group and has a chance to move up to sixth by the end of the day Thursday.
Webber went 11.95 in the 100, 20-3 in the long jump, 31-4 in the shot put, 5-11.25 in the high jump and 54.69 in the 400 to score 2,991 points, with his primary event, the pole vault, still to come. Four more solid marks Thursday, plus a big effort in the pole vault could be enough to land him in the points.
"Keith had a good day today, and his body seems pretty fresh, so I see him moving into sixth by the end of the day tomorrow and scoring around 6,000 points," Bork said. "He's having a good time, and it helps having him out there cheering for Austin."
Hall, who injured her Achilles three weeks ago in the high jump, is fine when she's going in a straight line, which is why she was right with Maurer and Vinson in the 100-meter hurdles.
The trio makes up three of the top five hurdlers in the Big Sky Conference, heptathletes or otherwise, and they blew away the field in the opening event, with Maurer clocking a 13.72, Hall a 13.86 and Vinson a 13.87.
Hall, who has a career-best high jump of 5-8.75, has had to adjust her approach because of her injury and was only able to go 5-3.75 Wednesday. That allowed Vinson, who went 5-6, and Maurer, who went 5-5, to open a gap on the three-time Big Sky multi-events champion.
The shot put is just as bothersome to her Achilles, and Hall's 34-10.5 landed well back of Vinson's 40-3.5 and Maurer's 37-0.25.
"Lindsey is hanging in there, but she is definitely hurting," Bork said. "She moved up to an eight-step (approach), and she was still close at 5-5. The corner on the high jump approach aggravates it, and the shot put is hard on it too."
Hall closed her day with a season-best 26.26 in the 200 meters, though Maurer (24.95) and Vinson (25.37) finished one-two to up their lead heading into day two.
With the straight-forward movements of the long jump and javelin Thursday, followed by the 800 meters, Bork is hardly giving up on Hall's chances to rally for the victory.
"Lindsey is a little behind, but I'm expecting tomorrow to be a battle," he said. "The long jump and javelin are events she should be comfortable doing, and if she is solid in those, she could position herself to win."
Vinson and Hall are both 19-foot long jumpers, Maurer mid-18. Hall has a big potential edge in the javelin. Her season-best throw of 160-4 dwarfs Maurer's best of 113-10 and Vinson's 108-11, and every 10 feet in the javelin is worth approximately 60 points.
Freshman Lindsey Dahl is sitting 16th in the 19-athlete field. She had day-one marks of 16.36 in the hurdles, 4-11 in the high jump, 32-7.5 in the shot put and 27.62 in the 200 meters. Her best event finish was placing 11th in the shot put.
