Dalton wins decathlon at Robison Invitational

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PROVO, Utah — Chase Dalton took first place in the men’s decathlon at the BYU Robison Invitational at Clarence F. Robison Track and Field Complex Thursday afternoon.

Dalton ended Wednesday afternoon in third place but used two first-place finishes on Thursday to grab the meet’s top score of 7,194. Joshua Weirich, who was leading after the first day of competition, finished in third place with a score of 6,632. Despite placing well, both Cougars may have work left to do to earn a place at nationals.

“It was a good and bad day for us,” head coach Mark Robison said. “We got some great things accomplished but we didn’t get them all put together. We’ll do another decathlon in a few weeks to try to get these guys to qualify for nationals.”

Weirich took second place in the 110-meter hurdles to open the day, earning 825 points in 15.20 seconds. Dalton finished fourth in the event with a time of 15.59 and received 780 points.

Two weeks ago at the Mondo Mid-Major Invitational, both Dalton and Weirich struggled in the discus throw. Thursday’s home meet was a different story, however, as the Cougars went on to take the top two spots with Dalton winning the event and scoring 739 points with a throw of 143-01.75. Weirich’s mark of 137-08.75 was good for second place and 705 points.

Despite it being one of his strongest events, Weirich no-heighted the pole vault event. Dalton, meanwhile, took third in the event, clearing 13-07.50 and gaining 659 points.

“It’s hard, because the pole vault is one of Weirich’s best events,” Robison said. “He did a lot better than he did two weeks ago, so our goal is to do even better in a couple weeks.”

BYU took the top two spots again in the javelin, led by Dalton’s throw of 195-02.25. Dalton grabbed 730 points with the throw while Weirich notched 644 points with a throw of 176-03.25.

Weirich finished the day strong with a victory in the 1,500-meter run. He earned 622 points with his time of 4:49.42. Dalton came in third and scored 594 points with a time of 4:54.08.

Full results from the BYU Robison Invitational can be found on Runnercard.com.

The BYU Robison Invitational continues Friday at 10:30 a.m. MDT with the women’s hammer throw. A full schedule can be found here.