Central’s Larson in the hunt at Division 1 meet
Central College
LINCOLN, NEB. — Central College men’s track and field multi-eventer Eric Larson (senior, Waverly, Waverly-Shell Rock HS) is in second place and only six points out of first after one day of competition at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational hosted by the University of Nebraska.
The lone Division III competitor in the 12-man field is in the hunt to win the heptathlon. After four events he currently has 3,015 points. The leader, Guy Fenske of the University of Nebraska, has 3,021 points.
Larson finished in the top-five of all four of the day’s events. He ran the 60 meters in 7.24 seconds to start the day, finishing in fifth. He recorded a leap of 22 feet, 3 inches in the long jump, good for third place. Another fifth place finish occurred with a mark of 40-9 in the shot put. He finished the day strong by winning the high jump after soaring 6-7.50.
“He grinded through the first three events,” associate head coach Jim Fuller. “They were a little bit up and down. He fouled his first jump in long jump and he fouled his first throw in shot. But he high jumped much better than he did two weeks ago. It was the same height, but he was much better jumping today.”
Besides Larson, the field at the meet includes ten competitors from NCAA Division I schools Auburn, Iowa, Illinois, and Nebraska. Also, a former Division II all-American at Emporia State (Kan.), Craig Saalfield competed early in the day but has since dropped out of competition. Larson, the 2013 Division III national champion in the heptathlon fits in well with the talented field according to Fuller.
“They’re definitely good heptathletes,” Fuller said. “It’s probably the strongest field he’s ever been in other than the national meet two years ago.”
Day two of competition begins with the 60 meter hurdles at 10 a.m. and Fuller is optimistic about Larson’s chances tomorrow as well.
“I think he’ll improve in his second day tomorrow over what he did two weeks ago,” Fuller said. “We’ve really worked on a couple of those things, particularly the vaulting and the running. He’ll probably be fighting his way into the top three when it’s all said and done tomorrow.”
