SAN MATEO, California, June 22-23—The first serious attempt at a women’s decathlon in many years led to an American Record for recent Kennesaw State grad Jordan Gray. The 23-year-old Georgia native racked up 7921 points at the USATF Championship, 344 better than the former national standard set by Tiffany Lott-Hogan 19 years ago.
At the end of the first day Gray had 4146 points, 64 up on Lott-Hogan’s pace. “Yes, I’m ready to go after it,” said Gray, who finished 7th in the NCAA heptathlon. “I’ve never had the opportunity to compete in the decathlon, so I’m just thankful to be here doing this.” After finishing her record score, which put her No. 3 on the all-time world list, she said, “This event has been my target for a couple of years, since my coach had me pole vault. I just wanted to push myself to the same extent as the guys who do the decathlon. And it’s so much fun to train with the [men] decathletes.”
The drive to stage a women’s nationals came from USATF activist Becca Gillespy Peter, who formed the Women’s Decathlon Association and arranged for the prize money.
Results
1. Jordan Gray (Kenn) 7921 AR (old AR 7577 Tiffany Lott-Hogan [NBal] ’00) (3, 4 W) (12.16, 20-3½/6.18, 42-2¼/12.86, 5-5/1.65, 57.41 [4146], 14.10, 128-3/39.09, 12-2/3.71, 130-8/39.83, 5:26.14 [3775]) ($575);
2. AnnaLee McGregor (unat) 6330 ($300); 3. Amy Backel (unat) 6202 ($200). ◻︎
