For two years in a row, Oregon’s Santiago Lorenzo stood on the second tier of the Pacific-10 Conference podium, one step lower than California’s Bevan Hart. Despite Lorenzo having one of the best marks in the decathlon nationwide, Hart was always a little better. No longer.
On Sunday, Lorenzo climbed to the top of the podium to accept his gold medal in the Pac-10 Decathlon Championships after scoring 7,617 points to win the meet.
“This year was my turn,” Lorenzo said. “Bevan Hart graduated and left the field open. I’m really happy. It was something I had to win because I was number one in the Pac-10.”
The Buenos Aires, Argentina, native jumped out to an early lead on Saturday, winning the 400 meters in 48.97 seconds and recorded personal bests in the high jump (six feet, four inches) and shot put (44-0).
“Everything just felt right,” Lorenzo said. “It was one of those days. Having a good start like [Saturday] relieves a lot of pressure.”
A slim Saturday lead of 150 points over Washington State’s Steve Dwyer increased for Lorenzo to almost 200 points on Sunday despite winning zero events.
Lorenzo placed second in the pole vault with a personal best 15-7 and in the javelin with a toss of 186-7. His third-place finishes in the 110 hurdles and discus, coupled with wins by Stanford’s Jason Goff, kept the race tight between the two.
That left Lorenzo needing a solid performance in the final event — the 1,500 meters.
“I needed to stay within 35 seconds of [Goff],” Lorenzo said. “So that was not going to be a problem.”
Although Goff won the 1,500, Lorenzo ran close, finishing fourth in 4:36. Lorenzo posted his second NCAA automatic qualifying mark of the season and now has the fourth best mark nationally. Lorenzo finished fifth at last years’ NCAA Championships.
Oregon junior Billy Pappas also had a strong weekend in Berkeley, placing third despite some nagging hip injuries. Pappas scored 7,428 points to provisionally qualify for nationals.
Pappas won the long jump and shot put on Saturday and added second-place finishes in the 110 hurdles and pole vault on Sunday for a 300-point personal best. Pappas’ most impressive mark came from the 1,500 meters where he ran a blazing 15-second personal best in 4:35.
Duck sophomore Jason Slye just missed the scoring column with a ninth-place finish. Slye was only 46 points off his personal best and 65 points out of eighth-place. The Keizer native won the pole vault in 15-11.
Oregon enters next week’s Pac-10 regular event competition as the conference leader with 16 points courtesy of Lorenzo and Pappas.