Clay keeps getting better in decathlon
By Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff Writer
Bryan Clay, stronger and faster than ever, is aiming even higher in the decathlon after scoring this year's world best Friday night.
Age: 21 Height: 6 feet 1 Weight: 185 pounds High school: Castle High, graduated 1998 Personal bests * At Mt. SAC Relays April 19-20, 2001 Major multi-event championships: 2001 Mt. SAC Relays 2000, 2001 NAIA indoor pentathlon 2000 NAIA outdoor decathlon 1999 USA junior national champion 1999 Pan American junior champion
Clay, a 1998 Castle High graduate, scored 7,980 points in the 10-event test of speed, strength and endurance over two days in the Mt. SAC Relays Decathlon at Azusa, Calif., where he is a junior at Azusa Pacific University.
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Bryan Clay
His total surpassed his personal best, set last year, by 607 points and his best this season by 881 points. He broke the school record held by two-time Olympian and four-time national champion Dave Johnson.
How does someone increase his season-best point total by 12 percent in one meet?
"I've been competing well all year. The marks have been there, but I've had a lot of little, nagging injuries," Clay explained.
He won his second straight NAIA indoor pentathlon in February and was chosen Most Valuable Performer of the NAIA Championships.
Since the outdoor season started, "This was the first week in about a month that I felt injury free," Clay said. "I've had bursitis and tendinitis in a hamstring and I sprained an ankle two weeks ago that kept me out of training."
He made personal decathlon records in the 400 meters (49.72) on Thursday and in the 110-meter hurdles (13.99), and the final, killer event, the 1,500 meters (40:40.37) on Friday.
Clay cut 7.9 seconds off his previous best 1,500 time at the end of two days of grinding competition
"One of my teammates and my coach prayed with me before the 1,500," he said. "We asked for the strength to get through it. As I ran, my friends, coaches and teammates were all around the track; everybody was cheering.
"It ended well. I couldn't be any happier . . . but there is a bunch more to go," Clay said.
He will defend his NAIA decathlon championship May 25-27 at Abbotsford, B.C.
His victory Friday qualified him for the USA Nationals at Eugene Ore., June 21-24.
"Hopefully, the score will hold up for World University Games in Beijing, China," this summer, Clay said. "You have to be one of top two collegiate athletes to make the team."
If Clay finishes in the top three at the USA Nationals, he moves on to the World Games at Edmonton, Canada, and if he is in the top 10, he will make the team for a meet in Germany this summer.
His mother, Michele Vandenburg of Kaimuki, has mixed emotions about what may lie ahead. "I'm not too thrilled about him going to China right now," she said. "As a mom, I sure did look forward to having him come home over the summer, even for awhile, but I don't think his schedule will allow it . . . Oh well, this is what we all have worked so hard for and now it's time to let him go."
The Web site for Azusa Pacific University includes a page with biographies of the 11 Americans who have won decathlon medals at the Olympic Games since Jim Thorpe in 1912.
Below that are the biographies of contenders for the 2004 Olympics. First name on the list is Bryan Clay.
