Central’s Larson wins heptathlon at Division I meet

Central College

LINCOLN, NEB. — Central College’s two-time national champion Eric Larson (senior, Waverly, Waverly-Shell Rock HS) finished in first place with a school-record score of 5,399 points at the men’s indoor track and field heptathlon at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational hosted by the University of Nebraska.

Larson was the only Division III athlete in the 11-man heptathlon field and entered Saturday just six points out of first place with three events to go. He began Saturday’s action by winning the 60-meter hurdles in 8.34 seconds. Larson then finished fifth in the pole vault with a jump a 13 feet 8.5 inches and in the day’s final event the Central senior took third in the 1,000-meter dash in 2:45.02.

“Today was a real good day,” said associate head coach Jim Fuller. “He really started off well in the hurdles. Then I think his pole vault was the best consistent vaulting that he’s ever done.”

The Nebraska field included 10 competitors from Auburn, Iowa, Illinois, and Nebraska.

“It was a wonderful day for him,” said Fuller. “He had some really solid people to compete against that pushed him and really raised his level.”

Larson improved his overall score by 160 points from his performance at the Dutch Athletics Classic Jan 23-24 and he now owns the top heptathlon score in Division III this year by 60 points.