Curtis Beach on fire

[DCDevil1]

Day 1 at NCAA championship going awesome for Beach. He has PR's in all 4 events so far. 10.66 100m, 25'-7.5" long jump, 42'-3.5" shot put, high jump 6'-8.75". Amazing. Runs 400 meters at 8:30 pm tonight I think. You can watch it here: http://pac-12.com/live/goducks/track-field.aspx#!2

results: http://www.flashresults.com/20.../130605F041.htm4

http://www.flashresults.com/20...index_multi.htm

[MCFinARL]

Beach finished the day in second place by 6 points--had a very solid run in the 400, fastest in the competition, though not a personal best like his other events on the day. Jeremy Taiwo, who was leading Beach by 24 points before the event, now hangs on to a 6 point lead after finishing second in the 400.

In other news, Cydney Ross qualified for the finals of the 800 with a personal best time of 2:03.62.

[roywhite]

Beach, Ross Excel on Day One of NCAA Championships (http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=22490&SPID=1835&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=208147260&DB_OEM_ID=4200)

Here's coverage from goduke.com Congrats also to Duke senior Cydney Ross who ran a personal best 800m to qualify for the finals.

As noted, Curtis had an excellent first day and trails by only 6 points. Not only did he score personal bests, his long jump of 25'7.5" was a Duke school record. On day two, discus and javelin are not his strongest events, but if the score is close, we have to like Curtis's chances in the 1500m final event.

[MCFinARL]

Beach, Ross Excel on Day One of NCAA Championships (http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=22490&SPID=1835&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=208147260&DB_OEM_ID=4200)

Here's coverage from goduke.com Congrats also to Duke senior Cydney Ross who ran a personal best 800m to qualify for the finals.

As noted, Curtis had an excellent first day and trails by only 6 points. Not only did he score personal bests, his long jump of 25'7.5" was a Duke school record. On day two, discus and javelin are not his strongest events, but if the score is close, we have to like Curtis's chances in the 1500m final event.

Yes--Curtis is the only competitor to have run under 4 minutes in that event. Unfortunately, the leader, Taiwo, has the second-best PR in the 1500, though it's a lot slower at 4:17.57.

Based on their PRs (relying on a decathlon site (http://decathlonusa.typepad.com/files/2013-ncaa-o-mens-decathlon.pdf) I found that profiles the NCAA championship and competitors), Taiwo looks clearly better than Beach in the discus and javelin, though both are fairly weak in these events compared to the other competitors. Beach has an edge in the pole vault (where his PR ranks him in the top 8 and Taiwo is right in the middle of the 24 competitors) and 1500.

The 110 hurdles could be a key event; Taiwo has run 14.22 with +1.1 wind aid (the fastest in the field); Beach has run 14.42 with +0.5 wind aid (in the top 4). Beach ran 0.18 faster than Taiwo in the 100 yesterday, but with more wind aid. I'm not enough of an expert to guesstimate how those wind differences might affect the head to head competition, and they won't be running in the same heat today, so if the wind really does make a difference, it could work to the benefit of either competitor. But it sure looks like this is a very close event for them and could make a big difference in the final result.

[uh_no]

Beach, Ross Excel on Day One of NCAA Championships (http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=22490&SPID=1835&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=208147260&DB_OEM_ID=4200)

Here's coverage from goduke.com Congrats also to Duke senior Cydney Ross who ran a personal best 800m to qualify for the finals.

As noted, Curtis had an excellent first day and trails by only 6 points. Not only did he score personal bests, his long jump of 25'7.5" was a Duke school record. On day two, discus and javelin are not his strongest events, but if the score is close, we have to like Curtis's chances in the 1500m final event.

you don't say :)

[roywhite]

I'm guessing the pole vault will be the wild card here. Sometimes, even the best decathletes have an off-day in the pole vault, even to the point of "no-heighting" or washing out totally. Or they can have an unusually good day and gain an advantage. It seems to be the decathlon event that has the most variability.

Here's hoping Curtis uncorks a great vault.

[roywhite]

Not a great start on Day 2:

Curtis ran an okay 110m hurdles, but Tiwao from Washington had a personal best.
Tiwao now ahead by 54 points after 6 events.

[johnb]

Not a great start on Day 2:

Curtis ran an okay 110m hurdles, but Tiwao from Washington had a personal best.
Tiwao now ahead by 54 points after 6 events.

A freshman from Texas threw the discuss almost 51 meters, earning almost 300 points more than Taiwo in a single event. Beach now in 3rd, barely out of 2nd.

http://www.flashresults.com/2013_Meets/outdoor/06-05-NCAA/live/130605F041.htm

[nmduke2001]

A freshman from Texas threw the discuss almost 51 meters, earning almost 300 points more than Taiwo in a single event. Beach now in 3rd, barely out of 2nd.

http://www.flashresults.com/2013_Meets/outdoor/06-05-NCAA/live/130605F041.htm

I'm watching live here:
http://pac-12.com/live/goducks/track-field.aspx#!1

The kid from Texas is huge.

[roywhite]

I'm watching live here:
http://pac-12.com/live/goducks/track-field.aspx#!1

The kid from Texas is huge.

yeah, the decathlon is on Feed 2

I'm thinking the Texas kid may struggle on the vault and/or 1500
Curtis may have a pretty good shot here; pole vault crucial

[nmduke2001]

yeah, the decathlon is on Feed 2

I'm thinking the Texas kid may struggle on the vault and/or 1500
Curtis may have a pretty good shot here; pole vault crucial

Texas kid cleared 4.8M but could not clear 4.9M. I think 4.8 tied a personal best if I heard correctly. Curtis has passed all the way to 4.4M so far in his flight.

[sagegrouse]

Curtis Beach cleared 15-01 in the Pole Vault, which was one of the lesser scores. Curtis is 4th after 8 events, 180 points out of the lead. The scores are bunched, so lots of guys have chances.

sagegrouse

[DCDevil1]

Beach had a poor javelin - must be injured or something since he was about 45 feet under his PR and in last place by significant margin

[MCFinARL]

Beach had a poor javelin - must be injured or something since he was about 45 feet under his PR and in last place by significant margin

Yeah, it can be too easy to assume someone is injured but after a great start yesterday he has not come close to a personal best in any event today and the events got farther and farther off as the day went on. So maybe he is sick, or injured, or just off for some reason. Too bad. He is 13th overall after the javelin; the 1500 should bump him back up some but not anywhere near where he was hoping to finish, I suspect.

[BigWayne]

Well he blew the field away in the 1500 to move up to 7th. Just couldn't overcome a bad javelin toss. Have to work on that for next year. Even a middle of the pack javelin toss would have put him in the top 3.

[DCDevil1]

Well he blew the field away in the 1500 to move up to 7th. Just couldn't overcome a bad javelin toss. Have to work on that for next year. Even a middle of the pack javelin toss would have put him in the top 3.


Yep, don't know what happened in javelin. His PR is 158'-10", but his best today was 116'0", which I believe lost about 190 points. He was also 8" under his PR in pole vault, which is about 60 points. Those 250 points would have put him very close to 2nd. This was a very strong field, and 1st team all-american is a great achievement.

[uh_no]

Yep, don't know what happened in javelin. His PR is 158'-10", but his best today was 116'0", which I believe lost about 190 points. He was also 8" under his PR in pole vault, which is about 60 points. Those 250 points would have put him very close to 2nd. This was a very strong field, and 1st team all-american is a great achievement.

8" is certainly not out of the ordinary in the pole vault, especially for decathletes, who are generally more inconsistent at the vault than are the specialists....obviously you'd want to be closer to your pr....but you can't count on hitting your PR in every event like he did yesterday.



I would imagine he was injured in the jav....it wasn't 2 faults and a bad throw, it was just three abysmal tosses

33.63 (110-4 ) 35.36 (116-0 ) 34.34 (112-8 )


feel bad for the guy, you only get 1-2 shots at the decathlon a year, and after a stellar day one, clearly wasn't his day today......better luck next year :(

[roywhite]

8" is certainly not out of the ordinary in the pole vault, especially for decathletes, who are generally more inconsistent at the vault than are the specialists....obviously you'd want to be closer to your pr....but you can't count on hitting your PR in every event like he did yesterday.

I would imagine he was injured in the jav....it wasn't 2 faults and a bad throw, it was just three abysmal tosses

33.63 (110-4 ) 35.36 (116-0 ) 34.34 (112-8 )

feel bad for the guy, you only get 1-2 shots at the decathlon a year, and after a stellar day one, clearly wasn't his day today......better luck next year :(

Yeah, tough second day after a great first day.

Actually, his Pole Vault PR is 16'8.75", so that was way off, too.

Talk about expectations -- Curtis finishes with a total score of nearly 8,000 (7,989 was the final tally) and we wonder what went wrong. Hang in there, Curtis, and hope to see you in additional competitions this summer.

[MCFinARL]

Yeah, tough second day after a great first day.

Actually, his Pole Vault PR is 16'8.75", so that was way off, too.

Talk about expectations -- Curtis finishes with a total score of nearly 8,000 (7,989 was the final tally) and we wonder what went wrong. Hang in there, Curtis, and hope to see you in additional competitions this summer.

True--but in fairness, the expectations were his. In an interview on goduke.com he said his goals were to win and to make the world championships qualifying standard of 8200 points--and given his history, these were ambitious but not unrealistic goals. Hope he can get over whatever held him back yesterday and keep working hard toward his next opportunity.

[uh_no]

True--but in fairness, the expectations were his. In an interview on goduke.com he said his goals were to win and to make the world championships qualifying standard of 8200 points--and given his history, these were ambitious but not unrealistic goals. Hope he can get over whatever held him back yesterday and keep working hard toward his next opportunity.

He may yet as I assume he'll be at Nationals

[MCFinARL]

I'm guessing the pole vault will be the wild card here. Sometimes, even the best decathletes have an off-day in the pole vault, even to the point of "no-heighting" or washing out totally. Or they can have an unusually good day and gain an advantage. It seems to be the decathlon event that has the most variability.

Here's hoping Curtis uncorks a great vault.

Based on the write-up on goduke.com, you were unfortunately right here--at least partially. Beach's coach said he did okay on his first two events yesterday but "seemed to tighten up on the pole vault," taking three attempts to achieve a height that should have been no problem and failing on the next height, which is ordinarily well within his range. The javelin was the true killer (the coach mentioned some issues with elbow problems but didn't claim it as an excuse), but I suspect the shaky pole vault performance didn't set Curtis up with confidence going into what is typically his weakest event.