SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- April 17, 2008 -- Mike Miller of Springfield College defeated 25 other competitors and finished first at the Holy Cross Decathlon Championship this afternoon in Worcester, Mass.
The senior from Storrs, Conn. scored a personal best 6,481 points to win by 230 points over his nearest competitor. James Spaulding of Southern Maine, yesterday's first day leader, scored 6,251 points to finish second. Interestingly, in a field that featured competitors from all three divisions throughout New England, the top three finishers all came from Division III schools.
By scoring that number of points, Mike qualified provisionally for the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships, which will be held May 22-24 at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.
In today's competition, Day 2 of 2, Miller won the pole vault with a height of 13-11 1/4. It was his second victory in this competition overall. Yesterday, he won the high jump with a leap of 6-5. In other events today, he finished with a time of 16.35 seconds in the hurdles, threw the discus in 112-5, threw the javelin in 158-0, and ran the 1500 in a time of 4:03.68. That last time was a personal best by 16 seconds.
Yesterday, in Day 1, Miller had the best first day of his life in a decathlon competition, scoring 3,449 points. Besides his 6-5 in the high jump, he had a 12.06 in the 100, jumped 20-7 in the long jump, threw the shot put 41-3, and ran a closing 51.33 in the 400, his personal best time by two full seconds.
Ken Klatka, just inducted into the Springfield College Athletic Hall of Fame in October, 2011, enters his 37th season as head coach of the men’s track and field program in 2012-2013. He ranks among the nation’s most successful coaches, with an overall record of 442 wins, 144 losses, and two ties for an impressive .753 winning percentage. Under his direction, Kevin Coyle '12 won the 2011 Division III Indoor Long Jump National Championship.
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