Princeton University Athletics
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Pons Finishes 9th in the 10k, Soerens in 4th After Day 1 of Decathlon
June 11, 2015 | Men's Track and Field
Results l Soerens Photo Gallery l Pons Photo Gallery l Soerens Video l Pons Video
EUGENE, Ore. (6/10/15) - Stephen Soerens couldn't have asked for a better start in his final meet as a Princeton Tiger, and Sam Pons couldn't have asked for a better finish.
Soerens sits in fourth place in the decathlon after Day 1 of the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, while Pons earns second-team All-America honors with a ninth-place finish in the 10k.
Pons stuck to his game plan in the 10k and it paid off, as he earned a ninth-place finish with a PR of 29:17.54. He shaved nearly 20 seconds off his previous best of 29:35.78 run at the Larry Ellis Invitational this season. He ran in the lead pack throughout the race and fought to the end for a scoring spot, just missing eighth place by 0.47 of a second. For the second consecutive year, Princeton had a runner finish ninth in the 10k, as Chris Bendsten did so last spring. Pons is the fourth straight 10k finalist that Princeton has had, as he joins Bendsten (2013 & 2014), Michael Franklin (2013) and Brian Leung (2012).
"I wanted to make first-team All-America and run as fast as I could," Pons said. "It's nationals and I made it this far so I didn't want to put too much pressure on myself. I just wanted to have the best race I could put out there.
In the earlier stages of the race, I tried to stay on the rail as much as possible and conserve as much energy as I could. Early, I felt good and knew I could be in the hunt for it. With a mile to go things got a little more tough, but I just tried to focus on the guy ahead of me. And soon enough there was a pack of five of us for the last mile or so and I knew all of the guys around me - we all had a little bit left in the tank for the end - so I didn't want to move too early and get caught in the end. So I tried to stick to the end and see how fast my speed could carry me, but unfortunately I didn't have the power.
I'm happy with the season. If you told me five months ago that I'd be vying for the NCAAs I wouldn't have believed it, so I'm very excited, very happy."
This year's decathlon features four returners from last year and six conference champions. Soerens was the final qualifier in this event, entering today's meet 24th.
Soerens boasts a PR of 4,091 points after the first five events, thanks to a number of personal bests today.
In the first event of the day, the 100, Soerens clocked an 11.11 to take fifth in his heat and capture 836 points. He improved on his PR in the event by one tenth of a second. In the second event, the long jump, he had coach Fred Samara on his feet with a big jump of 7.36 (24-1.75), surpassing his previous PR of 7.26 (23-9.75) It was the fifth best jump overall in the competition and garnered him 900 additional points.
Soerens continued to stay hot, taking second overall in the shot put with a throw of 14.86 (48-9). It came on his first throw of the day and earned him 781 points as he reached nearly two feet longer than his best mark entering the meet, of 14.27 (46-9.75)
After three events Soerens was in third place with 2,517 points with two events, the high jump and 400 remaining in Day 1.
Soerens took second in flight 2 of the high jump, clearing 1.96 (6-5). He passed on the first three heights, easily cleared 1.81 and passed on 1.84. He made it over 1.87 on his third attempt and then passed on 1.90. After clearing 1.93 on his third attempt, he easily made it over 1.96 on his first attempt, just one of two in the flight to clear the mark. He failed to clear 1.99 on his three attempts and but would take second in the flight and accrue 767 points.
About an hour later the first day of the decathlon would be compete as the 400 got underway. Soerens put up a 50.16 to finish fifth in his heat and 14th overall to earn 807 points.
"It's a big stage, but I felt more pressure at the Heps meets," Soerens said. "This is a meet where I can really just go for big marks and have a lot of fun. Being the last seed, it limits expectations from the rest of the field and a lot of the spectators, so I know I'm good to just go out and put a great score up.
I'm a strong Day 1 athlete, and I'll be playing a little bit of catch up in throws after the hurdles and vault, but it puts me in a really great position to just go for a really big score and try to get some more PRs, so I'm happy about my position."
Soerens is the third Tiger to compete in the decathlon and first since 1988. Bill Fourcher was sixth in 1971 with 6,973 points and Peter Hunt was ninth in 1988 with 7,232 points.
Day 2 begins tomorrow at 10 a.m., with the 110-meter hurdles. The discus, pole vault, javelin and 1500 follow.