Bye Becomes 7th CC Decathlon Champ
NORTHFIELD, Minn. (5/03/14)---Matt Bye stamped his mark as the "Best All Around Athlete in the MIAC" as he backed up his win in the heptathlon at the MIAC Indoor Meet by claiming the title in the MIAC decathlon at the conference outdoor meet.
Bye recorded a personal best total of 6,586 points which won the event by 308 points and is the fifth highest total in Division III this year. His final total is also the second best in school history as he becomes the seventh Cobber athlete to win the MIAC decathlon since 1997.
Bye captured the decathlon crown by winning five of the 10 events in the competition. He won the long jump and shot put on Day 1 and then came back to win the 110-meter hurdles, javelin and discus on the second day.
Bye scored at least 600 points in nine of the 10 events with his top point total coming in the 110-meter hurdles where he clocked a 15.09 and put up 839 points on the board. That time is a personal best for Bye and also the second fastest overall time in the MIAC this year.
Bye also record personal best marks in the shot put, 400 meters, discus and javelin. He posted a distance of 41-01 in the shot put, a time of 52.88 in the 400 meters and distances of 124-04 and 168-02 in the discus and javelin. All four events netted Bye over 600 points.
Bye's point total should be good enough to qualify for the NCAA National Meet. The Top 20 scores from the nation get invitations to the national meet which will be held at Mount Union in Geneva, Ohio on May 23-25.
Concordia had three underclassmen compete in the decathlon as well. Freshman Dan Wilson was 12th with a total of 4,698 points, sophomore Zach Paustian was 13th at 4,660 points and fellow sophomore Jake LePard was 14th with 4,305 points. All three were competing in their very first conference decathlon.
Wilson's highest point total came in the final event, the 1500 meters, where he crossed the line in a time of 4:40.85 and scored 675 points. He also scored over 600 points in the 400 meters and 110-meter hurdles. His time in the 1500 meters was the second fastest of any athlete in the meet.
Paustian topped out in the very first event where he ran a 12.01 in the 100-meter dash and scored 649 points while LePard's top event came in the long jump with a mark of 19-05.25 which netted him 569 points.
UP NEXT: The entire Cobber team will head to St. John's to compete in the Meet of the Saints on Saturday, May 4 beginning at 11 a.m.
Past Concordia MIAC Decathlon Winners
2017 - Joe Hendrickson - 6,197
2008 - Paul Westmark - 6,010
2003 - Bobby Clark - 6,111
2002 - Joe Schmidgall - 6,264
2000 - Adam Strainer - 6,747
1997 - Ryan Williams - 6,162
Final MIAC Decathlon Standings
1. Matt Bye - Concordia-Moorhead - 6586
2. Eli Knutson - St. Olaf - 6278
3. Jordan Johnson - St. Thomas - 5992
4. Tyler Adler - St. Thomas - 5953
5. Ryan Thompson - Saint John's - 5835
6. Lukas Walton - Bethel - 5786
7. Nelson Finne - Gustavus Adolphus - 5644
8. Chris Frick - St. Olaf - 5333
9. Liam Sullivan - Carleton - 5271
10. Drew Probst - St. Thomas - 5189
11. Kyle Stichman - Bethel - 5096
12. Dan Wilson - Concordia-Moorhead - 4698
13. Zach Paustian - Concordia-Moorhead - 4660
14. Jake LePard - Concordia-Moorhead - 4305
15. Tyler Cullen - St. Thomas - 3996