Yoro holds on for second place finish in GNAC decathlon, while SPU's Luquin takes third in heptathlon...

LACEY—Saint Martin’s Jaysen Yoro’s (left/photo courtesy Saint Martin's University) first day lead in the decathlon at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference multi-event championship evaporated, as Northwest Nazarene freshman Payton Lewis rallied and took the title Tuesday, scoring 6595 points to Yoro’s 6541.

Justin Peterson of Central Washington took fourth with a score of 6172, followed by Michael Stralser of Western Washington with 6031, while Saint Martin’s David Durden was sixth with 6026.

Yoro finished sixth in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.96. He was fifth in the discus (33.60m; 110-3), was tied for fifth in the pole vault (3.60m, 11-9 3/4) was fourth in the javelin (43.61m, 143-1) and finished second in the 1,500 meters with a time of 4:45.41.

SMU coach Jim Brewer said, "I am especially proud of Jaysen and David for their efforts,. The fact that Jaysen took second in his first decathlon is truly exciting and shows real promise for the years ahead. Of course we were hoping to see him win a conference title. Nevertheless we are still very proud of him. Both him and David learned some valuable lessons from this meet that will help them in their next multi."

In the heptathlon competition, defending conference champ Karolin Anders of Alaska-Anchorage cruised to a 573 point victory,  scoring 5162 points.

Seattle Pacific’s Maliea Luquin, who won the javelin with at toss of 122-3 (22.37m), finished third overall with 4584 points.

Kaylie Greninger of Western Washington finished fifth with 4462 points, followed by Maddi Hommes of Seattle Pacific with 4381, and HarLee Ortega of Central Washington finished seventh with 4158 points.

Saint Martin’s hosts the SMU Last Chance Qualifier meet Saturday, with the GNAC championship meet resuming next weekend on the campus of Western Oregon University in Monmouth.

Complete results of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference multi-events competition are available here and here.

NOTE:  The GNAC and Saint Martin’s University contributed to this report.