Murphy leads decathlon after first day at Big 12 Championships
May 11, 2012
MANHATTAN, Kan. - The 2012 Big 12 Outdoor Track & Field Championships got underway Friday at the R.V. Christian Track Complex in Manhattan, Kan. After the first day, No. 10 Texas is in sixth place with five points. "We are off to an awfully good start in the multi-events," said head coach Bubba Thornton. "Isaac has really grown in that event and both Petter (Olson) and Kenny (Greaves) had some personal bests. I also thought Ryan (Dohner) did a nice job in the 10k. Craig (Lutz) and Mark (Pinales) competed well for their first Big 12 championships and probably learned a lot. I don't remember having five points from the 10k on the first day before." UT got off to a strong start with three performers in the top eight after the first day of the decathlon. Junoir Isaac Murphy entered the weekend ranked first in the nation in the decathlon and continued his success with the lead through five events. He scored 4,121 points to lead by 161 points over Kansas State's Tomas Kirielius. Freshman Petter Olson, the Big 12 Indoor Champion, sits in third place with 3,949 points and senior Kenny Greaves is seventh with 3,664 points. "I went out today and told myself I needed to have a solid day to set myself up to gain points for the team," said Murphy. "I am on a good pace for that. I just need to stay solid, stay relaxed and have a good time tomorrow." In the first of the 10 events, Murphy ran the fastest time of the day in the 100m dash to take the early lead. He clocked a 10.70 to win by nearly 2/10 of a second. Petter Olson was third as he tied a personal best with a 10.90. Kenny Greaves ended up eighth with a time of 11.57. Murphy followed by winning the long jump with a mark of 7.30m (23-11.50). He recorded the jump on his first attempt and passed on his next two tries. Olson was fifth and Greaves set a season best with a mark of 6.67m (21-10.75). In the shot put, Murphy continued his success with a third place finish and a personal best by over a foot as he threw 13.38m (43-10.75). Olson bettered Murphy for second place in the event with a throw of 13.55m (44-05.50). Greaves improved each attempt to finish with a 12.54m (41-01.75) for fifth overall. All three Longhorns cleared a height of 1.90m (6-02.75) in the high jump to tie for sixth place. Each athlete was able to come through on the third and final attempt at the height. For Murphy it was a personal best as he cleared seven different heights before calling it a day after the 1.90m mark. Olson and Greaves each cleared four different heights before their run ended at the 1.93m mark. "I had a rough warmup but once I got things going I just listened to Mario (Sategna) and let him coach me through it," said Murphy. "It felt really good to get a PR." Murphy closed out the first day of the decathlon with a win in the 400m dash. He ran a 48.15 to give him first place in three of the five events. He set personal bests in the two he didn't win. Olson was second in the 400m with a time of 48.37 and Greaves was sixth with a 49.51. The lone scorer of the day for the Longhorns was sophomore Ryan Dohner in the 10,000m run. Dohner kept in the front of the pack the entire race and finished in a time of 29:36.04 for fourth place. He gained five team points. "My main goal was to stay relaxed for as long as possible," said Dohner. "The key is not to make any big surges too early in the race. I tried to stay at the front because I didn't want to get caught up in the traffic and trying to make moves in and out of lanes." Also running the 10k were Mark Pinales, Craig Lutz and Rory Tunningley. Pinales was 10th with a 30:17.50, Lutz was 13th with a 30:23.22 and Tunningley ran a 31:19.42 for 20th. The only field event for UT on Friday was the hammer throw. Senior Jacob Thormaehlen threw a 55.36m (181-7) for 10th overall. "Tomorrow is going to be a really big day," said Thornton. "We have the rest of the decathlon, the long jump and shot put and need to make the most of our opportunities in those events. We are off to a start." Saturday's action will start at 10 a.m. with the continuation of the decathlon. The first field event for the men is the long jump and shot put at 5 p.m. while running events start at 3:20 p.m. with the 1,500m run.
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