SUNY Cortland's Jack Flood Wins NCAA Decathlon Title

NCAA Division III decathlon champion Jack Flood (center), third-place finisher Connor Christopherson (right) and head coach Steve Patrick (left) [d3photography.com]

GENEVA, OHIO - Jack Flood (Blue Point/Bayport-Blue Point) won the national title in the decathlon and Connor Christopherson (Morrisonville/Saranac) also earned All-America honors with a third-place finish in the event during Day 2 of the NCAA Division III Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

With those finishes, Cortland is currently tied for second place in the team standings. George Fox is the leader with 23 points, followed by Cortland and Wisconsin-Whitewater with 16 points apiece and Aurora with 14 points. Competition closes Saturday at the SPIRE Center with Dawan Jones (Buffalo/Tapestry Charter) competing in the triple jump, Mitch Couch (Oneonta) in the hammer throw, and Mitch Ryan (Plattsburgh/Seton Catholic) in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. The championship is hosted by Mount Union and the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission.

Jack Flood

Flood finished with 6,998 points, just shy of his qualifying score of 7,021. Tobias Muellers of Williams placed second with 6,870 points, followed by Christopherson with 6,818 points and Rasmus Elfgaard of North Park with 6,787 points.

After Day 1 Thursday, Flood led the standings with 3,611 points, followed by Christopherson in second with 3,561 points. Christopherson briefly passed Flood after the second event Friday, the discus, by a 5,045-5,036 count, but Flood regained the lead after the pole vault, 5,709-5,662. Flood was first and Christopherson sat in third with one event left, the 1,500 meters. In that race, Muellers finished first and outscored Christopherson by 111 points and Flood by 113 points to take over second place, with Flood and Christopherson holding on to their places.

In his top event Friday, Flood scored 870 points in the 110-meter hurdles (14.83). He also tallied 673 points in the pole vault (4.20 meters/13' 9.25"), along with 646 points in the javelin (53.88 meters/176' 9") and 643 points in the 1,500 meters (4:45.99). Christopherson scored 876 points in the 110-meter hurdles (14.78), 645 points in the 1,500 meters (4:45.71), 617 points in the pole vault (4.00 meters/13' 1.5") and 608 points in the discus (37.20 meters/122' 0") as his top four Day 2 events.

Flood, who also won the national title in the heptathlon during the indoor season, earned Cortland's 16th men's national track and field individual championship. Of those, 12 have come during outdoor season. Flood is Cortland's first-ever decathlon national champ, and he's now a four-time All-American after finishing fourth in the decathlon and third in the heptathlon in 2016. SUNY Cortland now has 105 individual national champions spanning all of its sports.

Also for Cortland on Day 2, Storm Malone (Harrison/Highland) finished 11th in the preliminaries of the 110-meter hurdles and Nick Vachon (Johnson City/Maine-Endwell) tied for 11th in the high jump finals. Malone finished in 14.66 seconds and missed qualifying for the finals by two spots. Vachon, last year's outdoor high jump national champ, was one of five athletes between 11th and 15th place to clear 2.00 meters (6' 6.75") and tied for 11th due to the fact that he cleared the height on his first attempt. Vachon missed at his three attempts at 2.04 meters (6' 8.25").