One-two! Miller, Brondyke sweep NCAA decathlon
Central College
DELAWARE—Continuing to scale greater heights as they have throughout their storied careers, Central College’s Ethan Miller (junior, Seymour) and Kurtis Brondyke (senior, Clinton) recorded new personal bests in sweeping the top two spots in the decathlon at the NCAA Division III men’s track and field championships Friday.
Miller eclipsed his own school with 7,170 points, just ahead of Brondyke’s 7,109. Ben Harmon of Washington-St. Louis (Mo.) was third with 6,950 and first-day leader Richard Roethel of Christopher Newport (Va.) placed fourth at 6,935.
“It was a great day for Central College,” said coach Joe Dunham. “These guys have worked very hard for this moment.”
Dunham also praised associate head coach Guy Mosher.
“Guy does an excellent job preparing our multi-eventers for big meets,” said Dunham. “He is an integral part of our staff.”
Miller started the second day of competition with a time of 14.95 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles, and followed with marks of 112 feet, one inch in the discus throw, 14-5.25 in the pole vault, 154-3 in the javelin throw, and 4:49.29 in the 1,500 meters. Brondyke was close behind, recording marks of 15.1 in the hurdles, 129-0 in the discus throw, 12-1.5 in the pole vault, 174-8 in the javelin throw, and 4:48.16 in the 1,500 meters.
Miller, the national Division III field event athlete of the year in the indoor season, had placed second behind Brondyke in the indoor pentathlon in March. It’s Miller’s second NCAA championship, after winning this year’s indoor high jump crown.
It’s Central’s ninth NCAA men’s outdoor national individual title. The Dutch have also claimed three indoor NCAA men’s championships. The school has 28 NCAA individual titles overall.
Miller has earned all-America distinction 10 times, including twice this week. He was also third in the long jump Thursday evening. Brondyke became a four-year all-American, receiving the honor seven times overall.
Earlier in the day, senior Jill Ziskovsky (Dallas Center, Dallas Center-Grimes HS) and Caitlin Wilson (junior, Oakland, Riverside HS) each gained all-America distinction with career-best point totals in the heptathlon, finishing fifth and eighth, respectively. Ziskovsky totaled 4,758 points while Wilson finished with 4,630.
“Anytime you can get two people on the awards stand you’ve got to be happy,” said Dunham. “Jill and Caitlin put together their best scores ever and even though some events didn’t go perfectly, in the end we were very pleased with the results.”
Ziskovsky recorded marks of 16-11.25 in the long jump and 101-4 in the javelin before finishing her heptathlon career with a personal-best effort of 2:19.07 in the 800 meters. Wilson put up marks of 16-7 in the long jump, 115-10 in the javelin, and 2:33.34 in the 800 meters.
It’s the sixth all-America award for Ziskovsky and the first for Wilson. Ziskovsky is set to pick up another all-America honor as she is part of Central’s 4×400-meter relay team that secured a spot in Saturday’s finals.
After a rain postponement on Thursday, Morgan Darrow (junior, Newell, Storm Lake HS) finished 21st in the hammer throw (155-2) Friday morning and returned that evening to take 15th in the shot put (43-2.25). Matt Graber (senior, Newton) concluded his career at Central with a season’s best effort of 53-0.75 in the shot put, good for 13th-place.
“Matt had a great career,” said Dunham. “It’s always disappointing to not make the final in your last meet, but he was throwing against a very strong field. A few years ago he would have probably been an All-American.”
On the track, Kyle Wood (junior, Newton) finished 18th in the 400-meter preliminary rounds (49.3) while Felicia Coleman (sophomore, Houston, Texas, J. Frank Dobie HS) was 19th in the 100 meters (12.51).
The Central men are sitting in second place after two days with 24 points. Defending outdoor champion North Central (Ill.) is in first with 32 points. The Dutch women are locked in a tie for 22nd with five points. The defending champion Wis.-Oshkosh squad has a sizeable lead with 48 points going into the final day of competition.
The Dutch will contest three more events Saturday, including the men’s discus at noon, the men’s 4×100 relay at 1:30 p.m., and women’s 4×400 relay at 5:25 p.m.
“We’re excited to see how things shape up tomorrow,” said Dunham. “We’re confident about what we can do and we’ll see where the chips fall after that.”
