Craig Saalfeld went into Friday’s decathlon at the ESU Multis in the lead, looking to qualify for the Division II Nationals and possibly win the title.
All those aspirations vanished seconds into Friday’s first event. Saalfeld tripped on the seventh hurdle of the 110-meter hurdles, and his momentum took him right into the eighth hurdle, which he pushed over with his hands. The mistake disqualified Saalfeld in the hurdles and ruined his chances at qualifying for Nationals.
“That kind of took the wind out of my sails this morning right away,” Saalfeld said, “and I got done with it, I said, ‘It’s done, move onto the next thing. Just see how good I can do.’”
Saalfeld salvaged a seventh-place finish with a strong performance in his final four events, including a second-place finish in the 1,500 meters, the final event of the day.
Saalfeld also had personal best marks in the javelin and pole vault, two of his weaker events. His best two events on Day Two were the hurdles and 1,500, so the points he missed were costly.
Saalfeld said he believes he would have finished in the top three in the hurdles. The third-place finisher received 763 points. Adding that to Saalfeld’s total of 5,685 would have put him in third place in the final standings and as the top collegiate finisher.
“After coming off a bad hurdles race, I kind of got my act together for the most part,” Saalfeld said. “It wasn’t a bad second day, but I wish I could have gotten those hurdles in.”
ESU’s Tony Granillo also had a zero that proved costly to his chances. Granillo entered Friday in eighth place, and that’s where he finished with 5,558 points. However, Granillo missed his height three times in the pole vault and did not record any points.
Granillo had strong performances in three of his five events. He finished second in discus, fourth in the javelin and fifth in the 1,500.
Kip Janvrin, who finished fourth in the decathlon at the 2000 Olympics, won the meet and another unattached athlete, Tim Wunderlich, finished in second. Bethany College’s Jesse Muntz was the top collegian in third place.
Saalfeld, a senior, has one more chance to qualify for Nationals. He will compete in the MIAA Championships, which begin May 2 in Joplin, Mo.
Hohmeier leads Hornets at Wichita
Four Hornets placed in the top six of the 3,000-meter steeplechase on the first day of the the KT Woodman Classic on Friday at Wichita.
Will Hohmeier led the Hornets in the steeplechase, placing second with a time of 9:30.46. Skyler Delmott finished third, Asher Delmott fifth and Andrew Waymen sixth.
The Hornet women got fifth-place finishes from Kathryn Davison in the mile and Elizabeth Stover in the javelin. The Woodman Classic continues today.