Harrison Williams (Stanford) breaks Bob Mathias’ 63-year-old school record

May 10, 2015

 

STANFORD’S NEW DECATHLON KING

 

Williams breaks Mathias’ 63-year-old school record

 

LOS ANGELES – After 63 years, Stanford has a new decathlon king: Harrison Williams.

 

At the Pac-12 Multi-Events Championships at UCLA’s Drake Stadium, the freshman broke Stanford’s oldest record, the mark set by the legendary Bob Mathias while winning the gold medal at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.

 

Williams scored 7,679 points to finish second in the meet and beat Mathias’ 7,592. In Helsinki, Mathias repeated as Olympic champ by scoring a world-record 7,887 points, a total that has been adjusted to reflect changes in the scoring tables.

 

“It was something I knew I was going to break at some point,” Williams said. “It was awesome to do it, especially because it was held by such a great man as Bob Mathias.”

 

Williams jumped to No. 3 on the all-time U.S. junior list, and his total represents the No. 4 mark in NCAA Division I, No. 7 in the U.S., and No. 14 in the world this year.

 

Williams entered the second day of the 10-event competition within striking distance of leader Pau Tonnesen of Arizona, and with Oregon’s Dakotah Keys, seeking to become the first in conference history to win four consecutive decathlon titles, in third place.

 

Williams opened the day by winning the 110-meter high hurdles in 14.55 and moved into first. The throws are an area where Williams figures to lose some points, and Williams dropped behind Tonnesen in the discus. But the turning point in the competition came in the pole vault, perhaps Williams’ strongest event.

 

Williams passed until 15-2, which he cleared on his first try, but went out at 15-6 ¼ -- about a foot under what he expected to jump. Tonnesen cleared 16-2 to extend his lead and Keys no-heighted, effectively taking the Oregon star out of the competition.

 

“The pole vault put a damper on the competition,” Williams said. “I just wasn’t feeling it today, and my steps weren’t right. I tried to use that aggression in the javelin, but that’s more of finesse event and being aggressive isn’t the way to go.”

 

His best javelin toss of 152-3 also was under expectations, and Williams felt the pressure of UCLA’s Marcus Nilsson and others heading into the final event, the 1,500, in which he had a best of 4:36.83.

 

“I really tried to control that aggression and take it into the 1500,” Williams said. “I knew I had to keep my place, and got a huge PR. I didn’t think I could break 4:30.”

 

Williams ran 4:29.84, scoring 746 points, far more than the 660 he needed to catch Mathias.

 

“I crossed the line with a big burst of adrenaline for breaking the record and getting eight big points for our team,” Williams said. “But at the same time, I felt I left a lot of points on the table. I’m excited to think about what I can do when I put it all together.”

 

During the recruiting process, one of the selling points for Stanford multis coach Michael Eskind was in trying to get Williams to see that he could make history at Stanford and be the best of all-time. Though only a freshman in his second collegiate decathlon, Williams already has achieved that distinction.

 

“I’m very happy,” Williams said. “This means a lot.”

 

Pac-12 Championships
Decathlon
At Drake Stadium, UCLA

Top finishers – 1, Pau Tonnesen (Arizona) 7,823; 2, Harrison Williams (Stanford) 7,679 (school record; PB); 3, Marcus Nilsson (UCLA) 7,663; 4, Mitch Modin (Oregon) 7,417; 5, Dino Dodig (Washington) 7,416.

Williams’ marks and points:
Day One -- 100: 10.82 (901); LJ: 22-7 ¾, 6.90m (790); SP: 41-10 ¾, 12.77m (653) (PB); HJ: 6-7 ½, 2.02m (822); 400: 48.14 (902). First-day total: 4,068.

Day Two -- 110 HH: 14.55 (905); DT: 124-10, 38.94m (625); PV: 15-2 ¼, 4.63m (799); JT: 152-3, 46.42m (536); 1,500: 4:29.84 (746) (PB). Second-day total: 3,611.
Total: 7,679.

 

For more information, contact:

David Kiefer
Assistant Athletic Communications Director
Stanford University
dkiefer@stanford.edu
(650) 759-0258, cell