Lawson Captures Decathlon MAC Championship
5/12/2017 6:16:00 PM | Men's Track & Field
KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Kent State track and field's TJ Lawson accumulated a personal-best 7,640 points to earn the 2017 Mid-American Conference Decathlon Championship Friday afternoon at Kanley Track & Field Complex in Kalamazoo, Mich.
Lawson, a redshirt freshman, took first in the 110m hurdles and the javelin on Friday, adding to his four decathlon victories from Thursday. Lawson recorded a personal-best time of 14.87 in the 110m hurdles en route to becoming the fourth different Golden Flash to win a MAC title in the decathlon.
After starting the day in sixth-place, Ryan Looser worked his way to a fourth-place finish in the decathlon with a personal-record (PR) 6,829 points, the eighth-best total in Kent State history. Looser set PR's in the 110m hurdles (14.88) and the pole vault (4.60m), tying for first-place in the pole vault with teammate Mitchell Kubicki. Kubicki finished seventh in the decathlon with a PR 6,263 points. Kubicki also set a PR in the 110m hurdles, turning in a time of 15.84 seconds.
David Paliscak earned eight points and a silver medal for the Golden Flashes Friday as he finished second in the shot put with an outdoor career-best mark of 17.70m (58' 0.75"). Walter Petzel also recorded an outdoor PR in the shot put, throwing 16.45m (53' 11.5") to take fourth-place and earn four points for the Golden Flashes.
Samory Fraga jumped his way into the NCAA East Regional Championship, taking third-place in the long jump with a career-best mark of 7.63m (25' 0.25"). Fraga's mark is the third-best mark in Kent State history. Christian Champen added another point to his name, capturing sixth in the long jump with a PR of 7.38m (24' 2.5").
In the only running event to go final Friday, Clark Bookman finished ninth in the 3,000m steeplechase with a time of 9:28.61.
Kent State had seven runners advance our Friday's trials and into Saturday's finals. Those seven runners include:
Mike Carrigan – 100m
Brian Smith – 100m, 200m
Jason Drake – 400m
Matt Tobin – 400m
Richard Dahome – 110mH
Dairius Ragland – 110mH
Jason Drake took first in the 400m dash prelims with a personal-best time of 47.19 seconds, the seventh-fastest time in Kent State history.
After two days, Kent State is third in the team with 55 points. Akron leads with 67 points and Eastern Michigan is in second with 63 points.
The men' championship resumes Saturday morning with the men's discus. Running events get underway at 12:50 p.m. with the 4x100m relay.
Players Mentioned
