NU's Waltman Third in Decathlon in Virginia
LYNCHBURG, Va.- Northwest U. Senior Jason Waltman made the long trip to Virginia worthwhile as he finished third in the decathlon at the Multi Events Meet at Lynchburg College setting an NU school record, a personal best and hopes his score will qualify him for the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field Championships held in Indiana in later this month. Waltman finished with 6315 points for the two day event.
Waltman is now ranked no. 13 in the NAIA multi events and the top 16 decathletes will qualify for the NAIA Outdoor Championships.
Waltman came into today’s final events after recording his best first day ever with 3189 points and sitting in 6th place out of 19 entrants. He ran a 12.09 in the 100m dash (633 points), long jumped 6.44m (684 points), had a distance of 13.06 in the shot put (671 points), high jumped 1.74m (577 points) and ran the 400m dash in 52.09 (721 points). Three out of his five events were season best efforts.
In today’s final five events Waltman won the discus earning 652 points as he threw the disk 39.38m winning by over two meters. In the first event of the day, Jason ran a 16.32 in the 100m hurdles (697 points), pole vaulted 3.26m (421 points), took second in the javelin with a distance of 53.48m (640 points) and then finished the day with a second place finish in the 1500 meters breaking the tape at 4:34.39 (716 points). He was just two points out of second place.
Said Eagle coach, Mark Mandi, “Jason had great performances. He'd be the first to say that there are things he can improve on and I agree, but you can't argue that it was the best multi performance of his career. He has good momentum going forward and I hope that his new PR of 6315 gets him in (NAIA nationals). Whether or not he goes, it was definitely worth it to come over to Virginia as Jason put on a great performance. The staff at Lynchburg College treated us very well and everyone at the meet was so supportive and encouraging. We were blessed to be at a meet like this and you could see God's grace shine all over the place.”