Peck in 6th Place after First Day of NWC Decathlon Competition

By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications

FOREST GROVE, Ore. -- Willamette University track and field athlete Brian Peck (Fr., Reno, NV/Reno HS) is in sixth place in the decathlon after completing five events on the first day of the Northwest Conference Multi-Event Championships on Monday, April 10 at Pacific University. Peck's score through five events was 2,927.

Peck was just 91 points behind David Lovitz from Lewis & Clark College, who was fifth at 3,018 points. Noah Avery from L&C held first place with 3,361 points, while Alex Canchola of George Fox University was second at 3,355. John Koch, also from GFU, was third at 3,270 and Nicholas McGill of Whitworth University was fourth at 3,186.

Matt Wells from University of Puget Sound was seventh at 2,921. Graham Cobb of Puget Sound followed in eighth at 2,971.

The final five events -- 100-meter hurdles, discus throw, pole vault, javelin and 1,500-meter run -- will take place at Pacific on Tuesday, April 11, starting at 10 a.m. (PDT). A total of 11 athletes are competing in the decathlon.

On Tuesday, Peck was fifth in the high jump, seventh in the long jump, eighth in the shot put and the 400-meter dash, and 10th in the 100-meter dash.

Peck's top score was in the 100-meter dash with 689 points for a time of 11.81 seconds. Although he placed 10th in the event, he was just 0.17 out of fifth place. He scored 619 points with a mark of 5' 10.50" in the high jump and added 605 points by completing the 400-meter dash in 54.85 seconds.

Avery and Koch each won two events on Monday. Avery was first in the shot put at 41' 6" and won the high jump at 6' 3.25". Koch prevailed in the 100-meter dash in 11.48 seconds and in the 400-meter dash at 50.40 seconds. Canchola won the long jump with a distance of 21' 10".