Notables
-Third All-American Honor for Wagner
-Fourth straight year competing in the Decathlon at the NCAA Championships
-Wagner was runner-up in the Heptathlon at the NCAA Indoor Championships
-UW-Stout's Shoen also won the NCAA Heptathlon title at the NCAA Indoor Championships
WAVERLY, Iowa (
csssaints.com) – St. Scholastica senior
Kevin Wagner (Cleveland, Minn./Cleveland HS) finished a program-best third in the Decathlon on Friday at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships, hosted by Wartburg College, to earn All-America honors for the second consecutive year.
Wagner entered day two in fourth place with 3,536 points. The day began with the 110m hurdles and he would finish third with a time of 15.19 to climb into second overall.
The discus throw was next and Wagner placed seventh in the event with a season-best toss of 113'7" (34.62m) to fall back to third overall, but less than 100 points away from the leader.
In the third event, the pole vault, Wagner cleared an outdoor personal-best height of 13'9.25" (4.20m) to tie for fifth place. However, the overall leader, Ethen Shoen of the University of Wisconsin-Stout, would lengthen his lead slightly in the event and Andrew Bartnett of Johns Hopkins University made a huge jump, winning and recording 182-plus points over the rest of the field to catapult into second.
Wagner finished eighth in the javelin throw with a mark of 152'10.25" (46.59m). He would make up ground on both the leader Shoen and Bartnett to climb back into second place.
Heading into the final event, Wagner had 6,130 points, Shoen had 6,224 points and Bartnett had 6,120 points. The final event would be the 1,500m run and Wagner needed to beat Shoen by approximately 15 seconds to pass him up in the overall standings.
Unfortunately, Wagner would finish five seconds behind Shoen with a time of 5:00.78 to finish 14
th in the event. Shoen claimed the Decathlon title with 6,809 points. Bartnett did finish 15 seconds ahead of Wagner in the 1,500m run to finish second with 6,767 points. Wagner would be third with 6,685 points. The third place finish is the highest at a NCAA National Championship in the men's program's history.
Career Accolades
Wagner is the only multi-time All-American in the men's track & field program's history. He ties Becky Huberty with three All-America honors for the most in either the men's/women's program's history. He also joins Huberty as the only Saints to capture indoor and outdoor All-America honors in the same academic year.
He is the only Saint to ever compete at four straight NCAA Championships in the same event and his total of six NCAA Championship appearances are also a program record.
Peterson Throws Tomorrow
Jeremy Peterson (Hermantown, Minn./Hermantown HS) will conclude his career and the men's track & field season on Saturday when he competes in the Hammer Throw at 2:30 p.m.
