Senior Brian Layng set a new personal record in the decathlon with 6,507 points on his way to a 15th-place showing at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships last Thursday and Friday at Ohio Wesleyan University.
Layng moved up two spots from 17th following Thursday's first five events. The Canton, Pa. native began the competition with an 11.61 in the 100-meter dash and measured 19'11-3/4 (6.09m) in the long jump. Also Thursday, Layng threw 36'9" (11.20m) in the shot put, jumped 5'11-1/4" (1.81m) in the high jump and posted a 50.48 in the 400-meter dash. That was the sixth-fastest time and moved him up a spot in the overall standings with a day one total of 3,323 points.
Ranked 19th heading into the championships, Layng started Friday with a surge up the board, using the 110m hurdles and discus as his springboard. He turned in a 15.56 in the 110m hurdles, four-hundredths off his PR and eighth quick on the day, to gain 783 points and slide up two spots from 17th to 15th.
In the discus, his throw of 118'0" (35.97m) was good for 10th in the 20-man field and 583 points. With just three events left, Layng was all the way up to 12th and just 117 points shy of the eighth and final All-America spot.
Layng set a new decathlon PR and came within two inches of an all-time PR in the pole vault, as he cleared 13'5-1/4" (4.10m) along with four other decathletes to earn 645 points. Layng finished the competition with new personal records in the javelin (142'7", 43.45m) and the 1500-meter run (4:39.94).
Layng's 1500m time was a second faster than his previous best and ranked ninth on the day, while his javelin throw sailed more than 5.5 feet further than a 137'0" (41.76m) effort at last year's MAC Championships. In scoring 6,507 points, Layng downed his previous best of 6,391 from April 10-11 of this season at the Messiah Invitational. It was that total that qualified Layng for the DIII meet.
