By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications

NEWBERG, Ore. -- Willamette University track and field athlete Keaton Beckmann (Fr., Salem, OR/Sprague HS) held a slim lead in the decathlon after the first five events on Thursday, May 10 at the Portland Twilight. Beckmann scored 3,436 points during the five events for a 14-point lead over Keaton Wood of Linfield College, who finished the day in second place at 3,422. Nicholas McGill of Whitworth University was third at 3,359.

The final five events in the decathlon will be held on Friday, May 11. The University of Portland is hosting the meet, but the decathlon, heptathlon, and field events are being held at George Fox University. The track events will be held at Lewis & Clark College on Saturday, May 12.

Beckmann took first place in the 100-meter dash, long jump, and 400-meter dash. He set a personal record of 11.04 seconds in the 100-meter dash, improving on his time of 11.13 during the Willamette vs. Corban Dual on March 13. In the long jump, he registered a top distance of 21' 11". He was timed at 50.37 seconds in the 400-meter dash. He earned the top score of the day by any of the competitors with 852 points in the 100. He scored 798 points in the 400 and 739 in the long jump.

Wood took second place in the 100-meter dash at 11.22 seconds and in the 400-meter dash in 51.47 seconds. He scored 812 points the 100 and tacked on 748 in the 400.

A total of seven athletes competed in the decathlon on Thursday with six of the seven scoring above 3,000 points. Brian Peck (So., Reno, NV/Reno HS) of Willamette was sixth at 3,063, just seven points out of fifth place and 175 points out of fourth. Peck was third in the high jump with a successful attempt at 5' 10.50".