Thursday, June 07, 2012

Kurt Felix of Grenada leads NCAA Decathlon

DES MOINES, Iowa - Boise State's Kurt Felix had a solid first day of competition in the decathlon at the 2012 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships held at Drake University. The redshirt senior leads the 10-event competition with 4,187-points after five events, sitting 10-points ahead of Arkansas' Gunnar Nixon heading into day two on Thursday. 
"I got a good start with the 100-metres," explained Felix. "But going into the long jump we had to jump into a head wind and that affected everybody. I was hoping to get a better first day score, but it was a pretty good performance." 
Felix, of Grenada, got off to a stellar start Wednesday morning, clocking a .12-second personal record in the 100-meters. He won the second head of the competition in a time of 10.90-seconds; good for 883-points and a second-place finish overall in the event. 
"The 100-metres was a PR for me (10.90, 2nd fastest in event) and it put me in good place," said Felix. "My first day has to be really strong because my second day's not as strong as some of the other guys - like in the pole vault and the hurdles. So I'm always trying to get a quick start in the first day." 
The Boise State record holder in the decathlon went on to collect the long jump win with a mark of 24'-3.50" (7.40m) on his first of three jumps. Felix won the event with 910-points and moved 41-points into the overall decathlon lead. 
Event three of the day was the shot put where Felix garnered a 12th-place finish and 672-points after throwing 42'-11" (13.08m) on his third and final throw. He fell to second-place in the overall standings, just 12-points behind Arkansas' Kevin Lazas, who led the competition after three events.

Felix regained the decathlon lead after placing second in the high jump, the day's fourth event. He collected 850-points after clearing 6'-8.75" (2.05m) moving to the overall lead ahead of Nixon by three-points.

In the day's final event, Felix recorded his second career-best effort, clocking a time of 48.77-seconds in the 400-metre dash to place fifth in his heat and seventh overall. His score of 872-points was enough to maintain the overall lead in the decathlon, sitting 10-points ahead of Nixon.

Nixon sits in second overall with 4,177-points, while Cornell's Nick Huber sits in third with 4,065-points.

Thursday marks the second day of the decathlon competition with the 110-metre hurdles kicking off at 10:30 a.m. (MT). The 20 remaining competitors will then compete in the discus, pole vault, javelin and 1500-metres before a national champion in crowned. 
* Boise State

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