April 23, 2008

DES MOINES, Iowa - University of Northern Iowa junior Mat Clark stands second in the decathlon standings after five events at the Drake Relays, while teammate and defending champion Raven Cepeda is in fourth place following Wednesday's opening round of competition.

 

New personal-best marks in each of the five events contested on the opening day allowed Clark to rack up a score of 3,987 points. He trails only leader Derek Gearman, who scored 4,189 points. Cepeda is not far back in his bid to repeat as Drake Relays champion after putting together a first-day total of 3,813.

 

Clark kept himself among the leaders all day, beginning with his time of 10.8 seconds in the 100-meter dash that tied him for third in the race with Cepeda, who also set a new personal best with his own 10.8-second run.

 

Clark followed with a runner-up performance in one of his best events, the long jump, by posting a leap of 23 feet, 4 3/4 inches. Cepeda also set a new personal-best mark in the event, jumping 22-7. A throw of 40 feet, 11 inches then gave Clark the fourth-best overall mark in the shot put, an event Cepeda won with a toss of 46-9.

 

Clark, whose previous season-best effort in the high jump was 6-1 1/2, went six inches higher Wednesday on his way to posting the second-best leap of the day. His clearance at 6-7 1/2 trailed only Gearman's leap of 7-2 1/2 and earned Clark 822 points.

 

Clark finished the day with a career-best run of 49.60 seconds in the 400 meters, one of just two competitors to clock in below the 50-second threshold.

 

In order to top his career-high score of 7,243 points, Clark will need to accumulate 3,256 points over the course of the five events to be contested Thursday.

 

Cepeda owns a personal-best score of 7,838 points and scored 7,611 to win the decathlon at last year's Relays. The senior must score 4,025 points to surpass his career-best score on the final day of competition, which includes two of Cepeda's best events - the 110-meter high hurdles the pole vault.

 

The final day of the decathlon competition begins at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at Drake Stadium with the 110 hurdles. Also Thursday, UNI senior Traci Hawley will compete in the women's 5,000-meter run, which is scheduled for 6:09 p.m.