Tom Bechert Breaks School, IC4A Decathlon Record

Results

PRINCETON, N.J. – Sitting in second place after day one, Tom Bechert (Munich, Germany) of the Manhattan College track & field team won the first three events of day two en route to winning the IC4A Outdoor Championship in the decathlon on Saturday.  With a score of 7767 points, Bechert broke the school and IC4A record, while also qualifying for the NCAA Outdoor Championships and World University Games.  The school record fell in the women's hammer throw, as well, with Lydia Wehrli (Anieres, Switzerland) breaking her own mark at Princeton University's Weaver Stadium.

Bechert trailed by 49 points after the first five events, but moved into the lead with a 14.78-second clocking in the 110 meter hurdles, giving him 876 more points.  He then uncorked a toss of 42.07 meters (138 feet) for 707 points in the discus.  In the eighth event, the pole vault (which was moved indoors due to inclement weather), Bechert matched a personal-best with a clearance of 5.15 m (16'10¾) to collect 957 points, nearly 100 more than the next closest competitor.  He added 587 points in the javelin with a 49.86 m (163'7)-effort before wrapping up the grueling 10-event competition with a time of 4:37.69 in the 1500 meters, earning 695 points.

With 7767 points, Bechert won the competition by more than 400 points and broke the old IC4A Championships standard of 7732 set by George Mason's Rob Muzzio in 1985.  The previous school record in the event was Pontius Lundkvist's score of 7515 in 1999.  Bechert's performance was the eighth-best mark in the NCAA and the 11^th-best mark in the world this season.

In addition, Felix Siljeback-Larsen (Vasteras, Sweden), the defending champion, finished sixth in the decathlon with 6937 points.  Manhattan picked up six more team points in the pole vault, as Brian McGovern (Yonkers, N.Y.) captured third place with a clearance at 5.35 m (17'6½).  The Jaspers are currently fifth in the team standings with 19 points.

Manhattan has a chance to add to that team total on Sunday, when Greg Perrier (Dix Hills, N.Y.) competes in the final of the 800 meters.  Perrier just missed automatically advancing for the final with a third-place finish in his preliminary heat, but his 1:50.44 clocking was good enough to claim one of three spots available for time qualifiers.

At the women's ECAC Outdoor Championships, which are being held at Princeton concurrently, the Jaspers have five team points thanks to Wehrli's school-record in the hammer throw.  She finished fourth with a best effort of 58.33 m (191'4).  This marks the third time this season that Wehrli has established a new school record in the event.  Her previous record was 57.35 m (188'2) at the Dick Shea Invitational on March 29.