Brondyke puts himself in contention after day one

Central College

EUGENE, OREGON — A career-best 100-meter dash ignited former Central College Track and Field athlete Kurtis Brondyke ‘11 towards a strong start on the first day of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials Saturday, where he is 13th in the elite decathlon field with 3,917 points.

In the day’s first event, Brondyke recorded a time of 11.06 seconds in the 100-meter dash, securing himself a personal-best time and 847 points. He followed that up with a leap of 22 feet, 1.5 inches in the long jump, netting 753 points.

Another career-best, this time reaching 50-4.5 in the shot put, earned him 811 points. Brondyke’s mark was the third-best in the field. He wrapped up the day by clearing 6-4.5 in the high jump (749 points) and clocking in at 51.26 in the 400-meter dash (757 points) to round out his day one score of 3,917.

Defending Olympic gold medalist Ashton Eaton paces the 18-man field with 4,561 points. Jeremy Taiwo (4,478 points) and Zach Ziemek (4,411 points) fill out the top-three spots.

The final five events of the decathlon kick off Sunday morning at 10 a.m. PST with the 110-meter hurdles and concludes at 5:33 p.m. with the 1,500-meter run. The top three finishers earn spots in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil August 5-21