Olympic trials come to a close for Brondyke

Central College

EUGENE, OREGON — A former NCAA Division III All-America while at Central College, Kurtis Brondyke ’11 wrapped up his 11th place performance in the decathlon at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials Sunday.

Starting the second day off with the 110-meter hurdles, Brondyke ran 14.81 seconds for his best time since 2014 to win the first heat and earn 873 points.

His best effort of the weekend came in the discus throw, uncorking a toss of 157 feet, 2 inches on his third and final attempt. He finished second in the event and added 827 points to his score.

In the day’s third event, Brondyke came up short of his career-best in the pole vault, clearing 13-11.25 and earning 688 points. His javelin throw registered below his personal best as well, but he still finished second at 190-11.75 (711 points).

The former NCAA Division III national champion closed out his weekend in a 4:53.46 time in the 1,500-meter run for 598 points. His two-day score of 7,614 points earned him an 11th-place finish.

Defending gold medalist Ashton Easton came out on top in the 18-man field with 8,750 points. Jeremy Taiwo was second with 8,425 points and Zach Ziemek was third with 8,413 points. The trio of Eaton, Taiwo and Ziemek will represent the United States of America at the 2016 Rio Olympics in August.