The second half of the men’s decathlon was completed on Friday at UC Riverside, with Long Beach State junior John Broadhead finishing in second place. He finished with 6,822 points, surpassing his previous lifetime best by an impressive 636 points. He was just four points shy of cracking LBSU’s all-time list in the event.
Broadhead led through the first three events of the second day of competition, falling behind after the javelin. He was able to battle back with an impressive PR in the 1,500-meter, but finished just 46 points shy of the winner. Broadhead set lifetime bests in the 100, 400, 110 hurdles, 1,500, his day one total and his overall decathlon total.
Senior Cole Hicks was able to move up the leaderboard on Friday, finishing fifth in the event. He was able to win the discus with a throw of 133-05 on his first attempt, and later tied for second in the pole vault by clearing 14-09. Redshirt sophomore Devon Alvarado finished ninth in the first full decathlon of his career. He tied for first in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.30 to highlight his performance on day two. Rounding out LBSU’s competitors was redshirt sophomore Jackson Potter, who bested his highest decathlon score by 278 points. He had PR’s of 16.12 in the 110 hurdles, 12-05.50 in the pole vault, and of 138-07 in the javelin on Friday.
There were also throwers in action on Friday, as LBSU had athletes in the men’s and women’s hammer throw. Long Beach State boasted the top two finishers on the men’s side, with senior Nicholas Hudson taking the victory with a top mark of 190-05. He was followed by teammate Josh Carr in second with a mark of 180-07. Erykah McNairy led the way for the Beach women with a fourth-place finish, recording a mark of 170-03. Teammate Crystal Rodriguez was just behind her in fifth place, posting a mark of 166-01.
The Spring Track Classic will conclude on Saturday as Long Beach State will have several more athletes competing. The action begins at 10 a.m. with the women’s pole vault, featuring a handful of vaulters for the Beach.
