With a meet record in the decathlon 110-meter hurdles and a personal record in the discus, Oregon junior Mitch Modin accomplished what he came to do: qualify.
With a score of 7,468 points, Modin won the decathlon Friday at the Oregon Relays at Hayward Field and produced a top-24 ranking in Division I. If it holds up, as expected, he will qualify for the NCAA championships in June. His score ranks ninth according to Direct Athletics, putting him in a decent position to stay among the top 24 throughout the rest of the season.
“It will be pretty close,” Modin said. “But luckily we have Pac-12s to post a better one. I’m confident that it was what I could do with what I had, so I’m pretty happy with it.”
Modin ended day one with a total of 3,916 points, 184 points fewer than he scored after the first day of the decathlon in the Oregon Relays last year.
He started off day two strong, winning the 110 hurdles in 14.67, a near-personal record, and winning the discus with a lifetime best of 126 feet, 9 inches.
“Discus—I finally showed some improvement in that,” Modin said. “I was pretty happy with how my discus went and now it is just a matter of getting that to 40 meters.”
Modin went on to clear 14-7 1/4 in the pole vault, good enough for fourth place in the event. Teammates Joe Delgado and Blake Kemp cleared a height of 15-3, a personal best for Delgado, and Lane Community College athlete Grant Shurtliff won the event with a vault of 15-7.
Modin got back to his leading pace when he won the javelin with a throw of 179-4. After nine events, Modin led with 6,847 points and Delgado trailed with 6,592 points.
In the 1,500-meter race, the final event, Delgado dominated. His time of 4:20.17 beat Modin’s second-place time by over 29 seconds. Modin still came away from the event with 621 points to bring his total to 7,468 points.
