PROVO -- BYU's Devin Scoresby turned in a personal-best time of 4:37.81 in the 1,500-meters--the final event of the decathlon-- to overtake teammate Curtis Pugsley in the point standings and win the multi-event title at the Clarence Robison Invitational on Thursday. Former All-American Tiffany Hogan, now an assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Cougars, won the heptathlon with her eighth career-best performance, recording 5,970 points.
Scoresby's 7,051 points eclipsed the NCAA provisional qualifying mark, however head coach Mark Robison said with three weeks before the Mountain West championship meet, the Idaho Falls native will continue to improve.
"Right now, Devin has provisionally qualified, however, I think he needs another 100-150 points to make it in," Robison said. "He improved by 122 points over his last performance, and with finals out of the way, and the league championships still three weeks away, I'm pretty confident he will continue to improve."
Entering the second day of competition in the decathlon, Scoresby held a 256-point lead over Pugsley. Pugsley, a junior from Park Valley, Utah took the overall lead after finishing third in the pole vault with a mark of 15-07 to earn 834 points. In the next event, the javelin, Pugsley extended his lead over Scoresby with a toss of 164-08 to outdistance the field. Entering the final event, the 1,500 meters, Pugsley held a 137-point lead over Scoresby. However, Scoresby turned in a career-best performance, and with Pugsley failing to complete the race, Scoresby captured the 557-point victory.
Montana's Andrew Levin finished in second place in the decathlon with a mark of 6,910. Pugsley finished the competition in fourth place behind Idaho State's Ben Allen.
In the heptathlon, women's coach Craig Poole said he was pleased to see Hogan have such a complete performance. Hogan, who was competing unattached, was attempting to qualify for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team, and needed to eclipse the 6,100-point mark for consideration. Hogan finished the day with 5,970 points--her eight all-time best performance.
"Tiffany has been through a lot," Poole said. "It is great to see her come out her, battling recent a shoulder injury, recovering from having a baby 18 months ago, and having recently been sick. She did well, and I think with over a year before needing to qualify, she will have plenty of time to get the marks she needs."
The Clarence Robison Invitation will resume on Friday at the BYU Track & Field Complex, with field events beginning at Noon (MDT). Saturday's action, including finals in all track events, will begin at 10 a.m. Several local athletes will be on hand on both Friday and Saturday, including athletes from Utah State, Utah, Weber State, Idaho State and Southern Utah. There is no charge to attend the event.