With the Pacific-10 Conference decathlon championships less than a month away and star Santiago Lorenzo still injured, the Oregon men’s track and field team is scrambling for decathletes.
But that doesn’t mean the future is entirely dim.
Billy Pappas, who finished eighth at last season’s NCAA decathlon championships, will head to the Mt. San Antonio College relays in Walnut, Calif., this week with another rising athlete, Jason Slye, at his side. The two will compete in different flights of the Mt. SAC decathlon, but both will have the same goal: points.
“It’s important to get in one (decathlon) before the Pac-10s,” Slye said. “It’s a huge meet to go to.”
Slye is an interesting story. The junior from Keizer came to Oregon as a pole vaulter but started pulling double-duty as a decathlete last season by accident.
“We were fooling around after a meet, and I ran a hurdles race,” Slye said. Field coach Bill Lawson “saw me and said, ‘You’re doing the decathlon.’”
After being discovered, Slye made his decathlon debut at the Baldy Castillo Invitational in late March and notched a career-best 6,677 points, then placed ninth at the Pac-10s with a score of 6,631 points.
“I enjoy pole vaulting, but decathlon is more fun because it keeps you spread out,” Slye said. “There’s always something to work on.”
His goal now, he said, is to break the 7,000-point barrier.
Pappas, the experienced Duck decathlete, sees Slye slowly improving.
“His speed’s really come around,” Pappas said. “I’ve seen him develop strength in track events like the 400. Some of the technical field events, like the discus, tend to be tougher, but he works hard at them.”
Pappas is almost like a first-time decathlete heading to Mt. SAC, despite his experience. The senior is still recovering from a preseason injury that kept him out of most of the regular season. He returned to action for the first time at the Washington Dual on Saturday, where he finished third in the 400 meters and fourth in the discus.
“It was fun coming back,” Pappas said. “I was injured for a while, so once I started training again I realized how much I missed it.”
Pappas said he doesn’t have a specific point-goal for this week’s Mt. SAC event, but he does realize the significance of the last decathlon before the Pac-10 meet.
“I at least want to get to Pac-10s,” said Pappas, who will have this one chance to hit the Pac-10 qualifying mark of 6,800 points and only two chances to hit the NCAA provisional mark of 7,150 points. “I try not to set specific goals for myself, it’s more fun that way.”
Pappas and Slye will lead the Oregon charge into the Mt. SAC relays with the start of the decathlon today. Several other Ducks will compete in the meet this weekend, starting Thursday and running through Sunday.