Jeremy Taiwo leads decathlon at USA Outdoor Championships after day 1...

EUGENE—University of Washington alum Jeremy Taiwo (left/photo by Paul Merca) finds himself in the lead after the first day of competition in the decathlon at the USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon Thursday.

Taiwo, the Newport HS grad who is looking to make his second straight world championships team, began day 1 with a 10.89 clocking in the 100, worth 885 points, followed by a mark of 24-9 (7.54m) in the long jump to collect 945 points.

He then won the first of three events on the day, taking the shot put with a toss of 48-11.75 (14.93m) for 785 points, then followed with a victory in the high jump, leaping 6-11.5 (2.12m).  He then won the 400 in a time of 47.83, good for 917 points and a first day score of 4447 after original heat winner Curtis Beach was disqualified for a lane violation.

Former world champion Trey Hardee stands second with 4369 points, followed by Zach Ziemek of Wisconsin with 4336 points.

In other highlights:

—Nick Symmonds (1:46.37), Mark Wieczorek (1:47.72), Joe Abbott (1:48.04), Cas Loxsom (1:47.76), and Jesse Jorgensen (1:48.14) all advanced to Friday’s semis in the 800; 

—Phoebe Wright (2:02.47) and McKayla Fricker (2:02.75) advanced to Friday’s semis in the women’s 800, while Megan Malasarte of the Brooks Beasts (2;04.09) missed out; 

—The women’s 10000 finals saw Eastern Washington alum Mattie Suver finish eighth in 33:11.43; 

—In the women’s 3000 steeplechase semis, Club Northwest’s Jamie Cheever (10:02.71) advanced to Saturday’s finals.  Pascoe native Marisa Howard of Boise State took a fall in the water jump and ran 10:26.49, while WSU grad Collier Lawrence failed to finish;

—Auburn/Riverside alum Jordan McNamara qualified for Saturday’s finals in the 1500 by running 3:44.92, while Bellingham’s David Elliott of Boise State (3:45.93) and Dorian Ulrey of the Brooks Beasts (3:46.24) did not do so;

—The men’s 400 saw Tacoma’s Marcus Chambers of Oregon (45.27) and Rainier Beach grad Michael Berry (45.13) advance to Friday’s semis; 

—In the 400 hurdles, Washington State alum Jeshua Anderson easily advanced to Friday’s semis, running 49.80; 

—In the men’s 10000 final, Bellingham native Jake Riley was 22nd in a time of 29:53.10;

—Washington’s Curtis Clauson was 17th in the men’s javelin with a best of 213-11 (65.21m).

The concurrent USA junior championships saw reigning Washington state champion Hudson Keffer of Central Kitsap HS finish fifth in the javelin with a toss of 192-10 (58.79m).

In the junior men’s decathlon, Aaron Pullin of Centralia is ninth with 3547 points, while James Rodeman of McKenna stands tenth with 3454 points.

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