Thursday, April 16, 2009
After the first five events of the decathlon helped kick off the first day of the Kansas Relays, freshman Corbin Kratovil sits in second place in the overall standings. Not bad for his first collegiate decathlon.
“He’s been doing great today, he’s been on fire,” junior Jacob Breth, who is currently fifth, said. Kratovil is in second place with 3,512 points while Breth is fifth with 3,380 points.
breakbox
1. Joey Schwecke (Minnesota) 3,728 points
2. Corbin Kratovil (Kansas) 3,512 points
5. Jacob Breth (Kansas) 3,380 points
Photo Gallery
Kansas Relays: Day 1
KU athletes compete in the decathlon on the first day of the KU Relays.
Following a disappointing start to his day, Breth climbed up the standings with a good performance in the last event of the day, the 400-meter dash. Breth, a Wichita native, ran a time of 49.52 seconds, earning him 837 points.
It was a personal best for Breth, and he said he hadn’t run that fast since high school.
“I feel good now,” Breth said. “Before I felt down on myself but I feel really positive now.”
For Kratovil, it was another story. He finished in the top five in every event of the first day, including earning the victory in the shot put with a throw of 12.65 meters (41 feet 6 inches) to earn a total of 646 points.
“I had some goals that I wanted to hit today, and I didn’t hit them all but I hit some goals that I didn’t expect to hit,” Kratovil said. “So it all work out I guess.”
The point system is set up differently for each event in the decathlon, and specific events have more points for first place than other events.
For the two Jayhawks, it’s been a friendly rivalry preparing for and competing against each other in the decathlon.
“We have fun, we like to compete like in practice,” Kratovil said. “It’s between me and him so we battle.”
Breth said competing in the decathlon is great because it doesn’t require the athlete to be a specialist in all 10 events.
“You don’t have to be good at every single event. Like if I competed in the discus or in the 400, I probably wouldn’t even place at Big 12s,” Breth said. “But in the decathlon, as long as I work on my really bad events like pole vault and long jump, I might have a chance.”
Tomorrow, Breth will have to compete in the event that poses his biggest challenge: the pole vault.
“It’s where I score the least amount of points, but I’m working on it,” Breth said. “It’s a lot different than running the 400.”
However, tommorow’s events will also include the javelin, the 1500-meter run, 110-meter hurdles and the discus throw.
Breth believes he can win some of those events to catch up to his freshman teammate.
“I still got the 1500, the discus and javelin on him, but we’ll have to see.” Breth said.
But Kratovil said he wasn’t fazed by Breth’s boasting.
“I’ll get him in the 110 hurdles and the pole vault, so he can have those ones.” Kratovil joked.
The final events of the decathlon will begin at 8:30 a.m. at Memorial Stadium with the 110-meter hurdles.
— — Edited by Andrew Wiebe
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