WALNUT, CALIFORNIA, April 17–20 —Traditionally, the Mt. SAC Relays serves as a rust-buster for its elite entrants. For others, they may be in the middle of their season, but with a Diamond League meeting taking place in China and the WA Continental Tour in Nairobi, the lineups may not have been as deep as in years past, but that didn’t matter to those who landed in Walnut to shake out their arms and legs.
The meet got underway with the multis earlier in the week and Ayden Owens-Delerme came in knowing he was in good shape for his first decathlon of the year — and, as it played out, his first at an exalted level since the ’23 Arkansas grad placed 4th at the ’22 World Championships in Eugene.
But, in light of this recent history, the question was just how good was “good”? Owens-Delerme answered the question with an authoritative 8732 that was not only a 200-point PR, it was also a meet record, Puerto Rican record and the world leader.
Things started well for the Razorback alum. He won the 100 (10.31), long jump (25-6) and shot (53-4¼), but the wheels nearly came off in the long jump when he fouled his first two attempts and, in his own words, “Barely got the third one in.”
He would finish with a 6-6 (1.98) high jump and a 47.23 2nd-place finish in the 400, for a 4621 Day 1 total — 152 points ahead of Michigan State’s Heath Baldwin (4469), with Iowa’s Austin West in 3rd (4392).
Day 2 began with Owens-Delerme being edged by American Devon Williams in the 110H, 13.72–13.73. That was followed by 150-11 (46.00) in the discus, a pair of personal bests in the pole vault (16-8¾/5.10) and javelin (194-6/59.28).
In that javelin, a huge 233-0/71.02 PR by Baldwin moved him into 2nd place overall ahead of Williams and placed him in a great position to secure the Olympic standard of 8460 heading into the 1500.
In the 1500, Owens-Delerme, knowing he wasn’t in the best distance shape (even his 400 was off his top form), ran conservatively and finished in 4:45.59 to total 8732, breaking Dave Johnson’s 1992 meet record of 8727. His total also was an Olympic qualifier and, even more impressively, put him at No. 17 performer on the all-time world list.
But the story was with Baldwin, whose metric mile best was 4:38.80 and found himself in need of 4:41.73 to meet the standard. He brought it home in 4:40.19 to total 8470, having 10 points to spare (1.54 seconds) in addition to amassing a 386-point PR.
Owens-Delerme would say afterwards, “I was just going for 8800 and I realized that the fitness in my body wasn’t there for the 15. But all those other events went well. To go 87-mid and to run 4:45 and I’m a 4:13 1500 runner is a big deal. I think that bodes well that I finally punched my ticket to Paris.
“I gotta get back to my form that I was in. At Worlds I won the 400 and the 1500, and today I lost both. It just means that I’m gonna get back and do better than the world in those events.”
He summed his feelings for the day saying, “Running 4:45 is not good and it’s a little embarrassing, but ultimately I got the job done.”
Other action saw Rai Benjamin post a 44.42 season opener in the 400. Cal State Fullerton alum Cooper Bibbs got a PR by 0.12 to take a tight 100 over Thailand’s 18-year-old star Puripol Boonson 10.07–10.08. Kyree King downed Terrance Laird 20.11–20.26 in the deuce.
MT. SAC RELAYS MEN’S RESULTS
100(1.3): 1. Cooper Bibbs (SHARKS) 10.07; 2. Puripol Boonson’ (Tha) 10.08; 3. Yuki Koike’ (Jpn) 10.11; 4. Kyree King (Nike) 10.12;
200(-1.4): 1. King 20.11; 2. Terrance Laird (adidas) 20.26.
400: I–1. Brian Herron (Tx) 45.48.
II–1. Rai Benjamin (Nike) 44.42; 2. *Justin Robinson (AzSt) 45.49; 3. Gamali Felix’ (AzSt-Grn) 45.72.
800: 1. Jesús López’ (Mex) 1:45.51; 2. Moad Zahafi’ (Mor) 1:45.96; 3. Isaiah Jewett (Nike) 1:46.03; 4. Yusuf Bizimana’ (Tx-GB) 1:46.18.
St: 1. Mason Ferlic (adidas) 8:27.17; 2. Zach Seddon’ (GB) 8:27.81; 3. Emil Blomberg’ (Swe) 8:28.11; 4. Kenneth Rooks (Nike) 8:28.33; 5. Leo Magnusson’ (Swe) 8:35.55; 6. Brian Barraza (RootsRP) 8:36.62.
10,000: 1. ***Josphat Meli’ (Hard-Ken) 28:38.41.
110H(0.2): 1. Tade Ojora’ (GB) 13.48; 2. De’Vion Wilson (Hous) 13.49; 3. *Johnny Brackins (USC) 13.57; 4. Ryan Fields (CPP) 13.64; 5. **Abel Jordan’ (CSF-Spa) 13.83.
400H: 1. James Smith (AzF) 49.27; 2. David Kendziera (BellL) 49.31; 3. Eric Cray’ (Phi) 49.86.
4 x 100: 1. USC 38.77; 2. Thailand 38.85; 3. South Florida 39.33; 4. Arizona 39.39.
4 x 400: 1. Arizona State 3:03.56; 2. South Florida 3:03.60; 3. Mexico 3:04.16; 4. Kansas State 3:04.42; 5. BYU 3:05.29.
Field Events
HJ: 1. Sarvesh Kushare’ (Ind) 7-3¾ (2.23); 2. Kyle Rollins (GardStTC) 7-1¾ (2.18).
PV: 1. Zachery Bradford (unat) 18-9¼ (5.72); 2. Clayton Fritsch (unat) 18-5¼ (5.62); 3. Cole Walsh (RisenP) 18-5¼; 4. *James Rhoads (Penn) 18-5¼; 5. ***Cody Johnston (Il) 18-1¼ (5.52); 6. Hunter Garretson (Akr) 18-1¼ (5.52); 7. Tyler Burns (Cal) 18-1¼.
LJ: 1. **JC Stevenson (USC) 26-5 (8.05); 2. Kemonie Briggs (unat) 25-10 (7.87); 3. Jason Smith (unat) 25-8¼ (7.83);
4. Will Williams (unat) 25-8 (7.82); 5. *Reinaldo Rodrigues’ (Az-Bra) 25-7¼ (7.80).
TJ: 1. **Brandon Green (Ok) 55-0 (16.76); 2. Chris Benard (CVE) 54-10w (16.71) (53-6½/16.32); 3. Russell Robinson (Mia) 53-9 (16.38); 4. Olorunfemi Akinduro’ (Can) 52-10¼ (16.11); 5. **Goodness Iredia’ (SFl-Ngr) 52-3¼ (15.93); 6. Jalyn Jackson’ (Blz) 52-¾ (15.87).
SP: 1. Wictor Petersson’ (Swe) 66-2¼ (20.17); 2. Diego Trevino (Ok) 63-5½ (19.34); 3. Tyler Sudduth (Il) 63-5 (19.33); 4. Patrick Piperi (Tx) 62-6½ (19.06).
DT: 1. Ralford Mullings’ (Jam) 211-4 (64.43); 2. Turner Washington (unat) 208-9 (63.64); 3. Jordan Roach (unat) 201-7 (61.45); 4. Brian Williams (unat) 201-2 (61.33);
5. ***Racquil Broderick’ (USC-Jam) 195-11 (59.72).
HT: 1. Rowan Hamilton’ (Cal-Can) 253-2 (77.16) (8, x C) (241-4, 236-9, 241-10, 243-4, f, 253-2) (73.57, 72.16, 73.71, 74.16, f, 77.16); 2. *Trey Knight (CSUN) 252-7 (76.99) (10, x C); 3. Israel Oloyede (GCan) 245-6 (74.84) (8, x AmC);
4. Jordan Geist (Iron) 242-4 (73.87); 5. *Nikolaos Polychroniou’ (USC-Gre) 239-5 (72.98).
JT: 1. David Carreon’ (Mex) 250-4 (76.31); 2. Leif Nelson (USC) 232-9 (70.94).
Dec(4/17-18): 1. Ayden Owens-Delerme’ (PR) 8732 (WL) (10.31, 25-6/7.77w, 53-4¼/16.26, 6-6/1.98, 47.23, 13.73, 150-11/46.00, 16-8¾/5.10, 194-6/59.28, 4:45.59);
2. Heath Baldwin (MiSt) 8470 (6, x C) (10.79, 25-2/7.67w, 51-8½/15.76, 6-9½/2.07, 48.60, 13.84, 121-3/36.96, 15-5/4.70, 233-0/71.02, 4:40.19);
3. Devon Williams (unat) 8342); 4. Jack Flood (unat) 8032; 5. Austin West (Ia) 8024; 6. **Edgar Campre’ (Mia-Por) 7975; 7. Jack Turner’ (Ar-GB) 7873; 8. Yariel Soto Torrado’ (Ar-PR) 7834; 9. Aiden Ouimet (Il) 7794; 10. Daniel Spejcher (unat) 7750; 11. **Jami Schlueter’ (Wa-GB) 7712.
