FAYETTEVILLE -- Senior Curtis Pugsley opened the 2004 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships for the Cougars today by competing in four events in the men's heptathlon to end the day in sixth place after a solid performance in the 60-meter, long jump, shot put and high jump.
"Today's events were not as good as I wanted them to be," Pugsley said. "But I am looking forward to the pole vault and the hurdles tomorrow."
Pugsley is typically strong in the hurdles and has been vaulting the best in his life in the pole vault.
"Overall, Pugsley has a good chance to be in the top five," men's head coach Mark Robison said. "It really all comes down to tomorrow."
In fact for the men's team it really all comes down to the finals. The only points the BYU men's team actually scored was in the shot put with Nic Arrhenius' top throw of the day, of 63-06.25 (19.36m).
"I wasn't nervous but something just happened that threw my technique off," Arrhenius said. "My goal for this meet was to make the top five and I did. Plus, this was my second farthest throw ever and so I am happy. Really if I didn't go past my PR then I could only have beat out one more guy."
Arrhenius' struggled until his last throw of the day where he threw his second farthest throw ever to move him up from ninth to fifth place overall.
"He came through barely to make the finals," Robison said. "Then he had a hard time relaxing and then he just pulled it out on the last throw. To do what he did as a freshman is incredible. He is now an All-American and he scored four points for the team in fifth place. He is amazing."
To end the men's competition juniors No. 12 Bryan Lindsey and No. 7 Nathan Robison in separate heats ran in the men's one mile prelims. In the first heat Lindsey finish sixth, 12th overall in 4:05.11. Similar to Lindsey, Robison ran in lane one but finished first in his heat to place second overall in the one mile preliminaries. Robison advances to the finals tomorrow automatically with a time of 4:05.35.
"Last year I ran scared at nationals in the mile," Nathan Robison said. "I was intimidated and was run into the ground. But it was a good learning experience and this year I knew I had to stay with people and not get boxed in. I wanted to qualify for finals automatically. When I was in the lead I didn't want to risk some guys getting ahead of me and so I just ran for it all."
The men will continue the competition tomorrow starting with the men's 60m-hurdles for the heptathlon at 11:30 a.m. and conclude with the finals of the men's one mile run at 6:25 p.m.
Event-by-Event Breakdown
Men's Heptathlon:
60-meters: In his first competition of the day senior Curtis Pugsley ran the
60m in 7.19 placing him ninth to begin the second event, scoring 816 points. Each athlete in the race had about a two second distance between them and that
next competitor.
Long Jump: In the men's long jump Pugsley jumped 22-09.00 (6.93m) to place
sixth in this event scoring 797 points for a total of 1613 points.
Shot Put: In the third event of the day, Pugsley threw the shot put for 42-03.25 (12.88m) to score 660 points. His attempts include throws for 12.75m,
12.88m and 12.69m. His distance placed him eleventh in this event and ninth overall with 2273 points.
High Jump: In his last event of the day, Pugsley passed the first few heights
to enter the event at 6-2.75 (1.90m). He continued to jump until 6-07.50 (2.02m) to total 3095 points after the first day, which places him in sixth
place after the first day of competition.
Quotes from Pugsley on his Performance:
"Today's events were not as good as I wanted them to be. I have been sick for
about a week and all my muscles are just sore. But I am looking forward to the pole vault and hurdles tomorrow. My goal this meet is to place as an All-
American."
Quotes from Coach Robison on Pugsley's Performance:
"He had a good meet. It wasn't the best in his life but in the heptathlon you
really don't have a bad event. His shot put mark was his best all year but significant improvement like he made today doesn't give you too many points. We will see how the pole vault goes, it really all comes down to tomorrow. He has a good chance to be in the top five. Pugsley is very good in the hurdles
and has been vaulting the best ever in his life."
Men's Shot Put:
In his first national competition, freshman shot putter Nic Arrhenius threw overall for 63-06.25 (19.36m) in the final round to place fifth in the NCAA competition. In the preliminary round, Arrhenius threw for 61-05.00 (18.72m) with fouls in his first and third attempts. In his first final attempt he threw for 17.04m, threw 18.71m in his second attempt and on his final attempt
of the meet he threw for 19.36m which moved him immediately into fifth place from ninth place.
Quotes from Niklas Arrhenius:
"I wasn't nervous but something just happened that threw my technique off. I
didn't try to think too much but there was a lot of excitement which helped pump me up. I even had my own fan club from Georgia which helped me. My goal for this meet was to make the top five. This was my second farthest throw ever
and so I am happy. Really if I didn't go past my PR then I could only have beat out one more guy."
Quote from Coach Robison on Arrhenius:
"He came through barely to make the finals. Then he had a hard time relaxing
and then he just pulled it out on the last throw. He came in ranked third. To
do what he did as a freshman is incredible. He is now an All-American and he scored four points for the team in fifth place. He is amazing."
Men's 1 Mile Preliminaries:
Juniors Bryan Lindsey and Nathan Robison in separate heats ran with the best today at the Tyson Indoor Track in the men's one mile. In the first heat Lindsey finish sixth, 12th overall in 4:05.11. Similar to Lindsey, Robison ran in lane one but finished first in his heat to place second overall. Robison advances to the finals tomorrow automatically with a time of 4:05.35.
Quotes from Nathan Robison:
"Last year I ran scared at nationals in the mile. I was intimidated and was run into the ground. But it was a good learning experience and this year I knew I had to stay with people and not get boxed in. I wanted to qualify for
finals automatically. When I was in the lead I didn't want to risk some guys getting ahead of me and so I just ran for it all."
Quotes from Coach Robison on Nathan:
"It made a huge difference for Nathan being here last year. He learned a whole lot and was a lot smarter this race. It is going to be a lot of fun tomorrow. It will be a whole different race."
Quotes from Coach Robison on Bryan Lindsey:
"Bryan just missed the qualifications for next year. But for as much as me has been hurt, he ran a great 12th place. I don't know if he will be an All-American, but maybe if there are a few foreigners."