Central grad Brondyke 7th in U.S. decathlon

Central College

EUGENE, ORE. — Kurtis Brondyke, a 2011 Central College graduate and former NCAA Division III champion for the Dutch, finished seventh in the decathlon in a field of Olympic hopefuls at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field Friday.

Brondyke finished with 7,475 points. Nike-sponsored Trey Hardee was the runaway winner with 8,725, nearly 500 points ahead of Jeremy Taiwo. Brondyke was just six points behind sixth-place Mitch Modin of Oregon.

Athletes were competing for spots on the U.S. team for the IAAF World Championships Aug. 22-30 in Beijing, China, as well as the Pan Am Games. The nation’s top 18 decathletes will be invited to the U.S. Olympic Trials next summer.

Brondyke fell short of the 7,800-point mark he was eyeing, which would have given him an automatic invitation for the trials, but he’s still in strong position for an invitation. He entered this week’s meet ranked 11th in the U.S. and improved on that. He also eclipsed his 10th-place showing at last year’s USATF meet in Sacramento, California, his first national appearance, where he scored 7,416 points. His career best is 7,689 set this spring at the Texas Greatest Athlete Decathlon.

In Thursday’s events Brondyke was 11th in the 100 meters in 11.24 seconds (808 points), 12th in the long jump at 22 feet, 0.75 inches (748), sixth in the shot put at 47-4.5 (755), seventh in the high jump at 6-4.25 (749) and 11th in the 400 meters in 52.01 seconds (724).

Friday Brondyke was ninth in the 110-meter hurdles in 14.89 seconds (863), second in the discus at 141-6 (728), 12th in the pole vault at 14-3.25 (716), second in the javelin at 202-6 (764) and eighth in the in the 1,500 meters in 4:49.86 (620).

Brondyke serves as an assistant coach at Central Missouri State University, where he works with a fellow Iowan, former Olympian Kip Janvrin.