Complete results (PDF)

NAMPA, Idaho – With a solid day's work, Nate Johnson had every chance to move into the decathlon medals at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Mulit-Event Championships.

The Seattle Pacific sophomore had more than a solid day's work on Tuesday. And he did much more than just move into the medals.

He moved all the way to the top.

Johnson, a native of nearby Boise, won the discus and was third in three other events on Tuesday, helping him pile up a lifetime-best total of 6,373 points to beat out second-place Jason Caryl of Central Washington, who had 6,234. Johnson started the day in sixth place with 3,159 points, but was just 101 points out of a spot in the top three.

First-day leader Jake Hyde of Western Oregon wound up eighth with 5,661.

Johnson's final total was the seventh-highest in confernece history. The record is 6,574 by Western Washington's Josh Freeman in 2005.

"Nate is just a classic decathlete," SPU head coach Karl Lerum said. "He can string together 10 events. He's not particularly dominant in any one of them, but he's able to put together 10 decent events."

Johnson became the first Seattle Pacific athlete to win a GNAC decathlon title. Former Falcon star Chris Randolph, while he didn't win a conference crown, did win back-to-back NCAA decathlon championships in 2005 and 2006. Randolph owns the SPU record with 7,872 points.

By taking the decathlon, Johnson made it a sweep of the conference multi-event titles for 2011. He won the indoor heptathlon crown in February.

Johnson's final point total put him onto the provisional qualifying list for the NCAA Division II championships, which are set for May 26-28 at Cal State Stanislaus University in Turlock, Calif. He currently is in the No. 13 spot. The NCAA took just 12 for the decathlon last year, but can choose to take more as meet officials see fit. So he'll have to wait it out for the rest of this month while the final regular-season meets and conference championship meets take place around the country.

Johnson finished fourth in last year's GNAC decathlon with 6,040 points.

As has become the norm, Johnson's fellow competitors in the 16-man field won most of the events. But Johnson was always among the leaders.

"He's unique. He has a pretty good understanding of all 10," Lerum said. "Most of the other guys have one or two glaring weaknesses. They have to throw away one or two events. But Nate doesn't." 

In addition to his sole victory in the discus, he had those three third places on Tuesday (110-meter hurdles, pole vault, and javelin), and also posted a fourth (100-meter dash on Monday), a sixth (shot put on Monday), a tie for sixth (high jump on Monday), two sevenths (the 400 on Monday, and the meet-ending 1,500 on Tuesday) and a tie for seventh (the long jump on Monday).

Among the 10 events, Johnson posted career-best marks in six of them, and tied his career best in Monday's high jump.

Johnson started Tuesday's competition with a lifetime best of 15.75 seconds in the 110 hurdles, good for third place and 761 points. That moved him up to fourth place overall.

He then won the discus at 120 feet, 5 inches (36.70 meters), giving him another 598 points, keeping him in fourth, but now just 102 points behind Hyde, who was still in the lead.

Johnson went in front – for good – in the pole vault. He cleared 14 feet, 3 ¼ inches / 4.35 meters, which was 10 inches higher than he'd ever gone in the past. That gave him third place and was worth 716 points, leaving him 83 in front of Central Washington's Brandon Roddewig, who was now in second place.

Roddewig won the javelin, scoring 558 points, but Johnson's throw of 151-2 was good for 531, narrowing his lead to 56 points heading into the 1,500 meters. Central's Caryl (5,573) and Western Oregon's Andy Loscutoff (5,557) also were very much in the picture.

Johnson wound up seventh in the 1,500, with Loscutoff third, Caryl fifth, and Roddewig back in 10th. But Johnson's PR time of 4:51.79 was good for 608 points, enough to clinch the crown.

The remainder of the GNAC Championships are next Friday and Saturday, May 13 and 14, at Western Oregon University in Monmouth.

Seattle Pacific concludes the regular season on Saturday in the Ken Foreman-Ken Shannon Invitational at Husky Stadium. It will be the final track meet in the stadium. Field events begin at 9:30 a.m., and running events start at 10.


NCAA MEN'S TRACK AND FIELD
GNAC Multi-Event Championships: Decathlon
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Mountain View High School/Nampa, Idaho

Final standings – 1, Nate Johnson (SPU) 6,373; 2, Jason Caryl (CWU) 6,234; 3, Brandon Roddewig (CWU) 6,225; 4, Andy Loscutoff (WOU) 6,224; 5, Eric Gaines (WOU) 5.892; 6, Tim Clendaniel (WWU) 5,905; 7, Scott Hunter (CWU) 5,728; 8, Jake Hyde (WOU) 5,661; 9, Wyatt Morgan (UAA) 5,573; 10, Thomas Steinke (CWU) 5,477; 11, Andrew Venema (CWU) 5,442; 12, Michael Stralser (WWU) 5,241; 13, Tim Greene (NNU) 5,066; 14, Brock Steingruber (MSUB) 5,007; 15, Stuart Montgomery (NNU) 4,985; 16, Derek Hartwigsen (WWU) 4,914.

TUESDAY'S EVENTS
110 hurdles – 1, Loscutoff (WOU) 15.50 (790 points). SPU placer – 3, Johnson 15.75 (761).
Discus – 1, Johnson (SPU) 120-5 / 36.70m (598 points).
Pole vault – 1, (tie) Roddewig (CWU) and Hunter (CWU) 14-7 ¼ / 4.45m (746 points). SPU placer – 3, Johnson 14-3 ¼ / 4.35m (716).
Javelin – 1, Roddewig (CWU) 157-3 / 47.93m (558 points). SPU placer – 3, Johnson 151-2 / 46.09m (531).
1500 – 1, Morgan (UAA) 4:33.75 (720 points). SPU placer – 7, Johnson 4:51.79 (608).

MONDAY'S EVENTS
100 – 1, Hyde (WOU) 11.57 (738 points). SPU placer – 4, Johnson 11.89 (673).
Long jump – 1, Hyde (WOU) 22-6 ½ / 6.87m (783 points). SPU placer – T7, Johnson 20-4 ¼ / 6.20m (630).
Shot put – 1, Hyde (WOU) 40-11 ½ / 12.48m. SPU placer – Johnson 35-7 ¾ / 10.86m (537).
High jump – 1, Roddewig (CWU) 6-5 / 1.96m (767 points). SPU placer – T6, Johnson 5-10 / 1.78m (610).
400 – 1, Eric Gaines (WOU) 51.17 (761 points). SPU placer – 7, Johnson 52.35 (709).