Arkansas alum Ayden Owens-Delerme qualifies for Paris Olympics, breaks Puerto Rican decathlon national record

WALNUT, Calif. (arkansasrazorbacks.com) – Winning the Invitational decathlon at the 64th Mt. SAC Relays on Thursday, Arkansas alum Ayden Owens-Delerme accomplished a number of milestones with his career best score of 8,732 points to surpass the Paris Olympic Games qualifying standard.

Owens-Delerme broke his Puerto Rican national record of 8,532 points that he established in placing fourth at the 2022 World Championships. He also set the world leading mark for 2024 in bettering the 8,708 produced by German Leo Neugebauer of Texas during the Texas Relays in March.

The Mt. SAC Relays meet record of 8,727 set by Dave Johnson in 1992 was also surpassed by Owens-Delerme’s performance, which places him as the No. 20 performer on the world all-time list ahead of Johnson.

Razorback Jack Turner, who won the 1,500m in 4:30.37 for 742 points, placed seventh with a final tally of 7,873 points. Turner moves to No. 9 on the UA all-time list. Razorback Yariel Soto finished eighth with a score of 7,834 while alum Daniel Spejcher placed 10th with 7,750 points.

Currently, Turner and Soto Torrado rank fifth and sixth among collegians this season.

The second day of the decathlon started with Owens-Delerme claiming 1,010 points from a 13.73 in the 110m hurdles. Spejcher followed with a 14.42 (921) while Turner ran 14.59 (900).

In the discus, Owens-Delerme reached a mark of 150-11 (46.00) for 788 points. Two career best heights in the pole vault produced 941 points for Owens-Delerme on a third attempt clearance of 16-8.75 (5.10).

Another career best followed in the javelin as a distance of 194-6 (59.28) picked up 727 points as Owens-Delerme generated a score of 8,086 going into the final event – the 1,500m.

A time of 4:45.59 added 646 points to reach a PR score that accomplished so much for Owens-Delerme, who qualifies for his first Olympic Games.

Additional marks by the Razorbacks in the decathlon included Soto Torrado clearing 16-4.75 (5.00) for 910 points in the pole vault. Spejcher threw the discus 148-6 (45.28) for 773 points and javelin 178-3 (54.35) for 653 points.

In the heptathlon at the Mt. SAC Relays, Arkansas alum Alex Gochenour-Brondyke finished sixth with a score of 5,920 points. Last season she scored 5,746 as runner-up in the Drake Relays heptathlon. Her career best of 6,129 was set in 2017 to place fourth at the USATF Championships.

Gochenour’s second day included a 19-10.75 (6.06) in the long jump (868), a toss of 126-3 (38.49) in the javelin (638), and 2:22.93 in the 800m (784).