Kilmartin automatically qualifies for nationals, wins Roger Cox heptathlon
ALBUQUERQUE -- Consider Texas senior Donovan Kilmartin one huge step closer to defending his 2006 NCAA Indoor Heptathlon Championship. The Eagle, Idaho, native scored 5,700 points to automatically qualify for nationals and won the 2007 Roger Cox Heptathlon Championship at the Albuquerque Convention Center on Friday, Jan. 26. The two-time National Champion won four of seven events, including three on the first day of competition, and is the new collegiate national leader in points scored in 2007. He bettered the NCAA automatic standard of 5,650 points for his fourth and final bid to nationals. En route to winning, Kilmartin took his fourth overall event in clearing a height of 16-8.75 (5.10m) and netting 941 points in the pole vault. The former national decathlon record holder swept all the field events in the meet (shot put, high jump, long jump and pole vault). Kilmartin started the day with a fourth-place time of 8:34 in the 60-meter hurdles (898 points). He ended the meet with a 3:07.92 mark in the 1,000-meter run for 589 points. Kilmartin edged Arizona's Jake Arnold, the 2006 NCAA Outdoor Decathlon Champion, by 13 points for the win. Arnold scored 5,687 points ahead of third-place Joshua Kinnaman (Arizona State) who registered 5,408 points and is rated as the sixth-best, college heptathlete in the nation. Also ranked in the top 12 power rankings was No. 12 Kevin Johnson (Colorado State), who accumulated 5,330 points for fourth-place. California's Steve Conrad totaled 5,259 points to round out the top five scorers. UT sophomore Andrew Webb (Midland, Texas) missed the provisional qualifying standard of 5,300 by 53 points but did set career-bests in each individual event of the second day and in overall points. He scored a lifetime best 5, 247 points (sixth place). His time of 8.32 in the 60-meter hurdles gave him a new career high, third-place and 903 points. Webb bettered his previous all-time mark of 12-1.75 in the pole vault, clearing 13-9.25 (4.20m) and chipping in 673 points for the first time ever. He also finished the 1,000-meter run in under three minutes for the first time, crossing the line at 2:59.84 for 666 points. Freshman Shawn Schmidt (Plano, Texas) finished with 4,936 points. In the first event of the day, the state of Texas high school decathlon record holder placed 10th in the 60-meter hurdles in a time of 8.65, adding 825 points. In the pole vault, he finished eighth, after vaulting 14-1.25 (4.30m) and scoring 702 points. Wrapping up his first collegiate heptathlon competition, Schmidt completed the 1,000-meter run in 2:58.74 (seventh place) for 677 points. Sophomore Dustin Bynum (Corpus Christi, Texas) was 13th, totaling 4,642 points. The highlight of the day for Bynum came after he vaulted 15-5 and finished third in the pole vault. Men's Heptathlon Final
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