Oregon daily emerald., May 30, 2001, Page 5B, Image 17

All in a (two) day’s work
■ Junior decathlete Santiago
Lorenzo takes us step-by-step
through a standard decathlon
By Robbie McCallum
Oregon Daily Emerald
Santiago Lorenzo ambled
across the Hayward Field
facilities on a laid-back
Monday practice earlier
this month.
After completing practice with
his starting blocks, Lorenzo headed
from the start of the 1,500 meters
toward the northwest corner of the
track, avoiding the long jump pit
and crossing the pole vault and
javelin runways.
He briefly listened to coach Bill
Lawson giving advice to some high
jumpers, then got some advice on
his release from thrower James
March in the shot put ring.
Lorenzo then got down to busi
ness, setting up three hurdles at
their highest setting, 45 inches.
In 30 seconds, Lorenzo touched
upon each of the 10 events used in
the decathlon.
The junior All-American com
petes Wednesday and Thursday in
the NCAA Championship de
cathlon. Lorenzo takes us through a
standard two-day decathlon, event
by event as they unfold.
1 p.m. -100 meters.
“Each decathlon begins with the
100 meters,” Lorenzo said. “You
run fast. That’s about it. There’s not
a whole lot you can do with it.”
Lorenzo owns a personal best of
10.99 seconds in the event, good
enough for 860 points.
“Once you are done with the 100,
you’re done,” Lorenzo said. “You
can’t dwell on it. Once the event is
over, you just have to think about
the next one. That’s a typical error
that most athletes do. They think, ‘I
ran an 11.5 and I should have ran a
10.9.’ They start thinking about
how many points they lost instead
of thinking about the next event.”
2 p.m.-Long Jump
“It’s the same sort of thing —
jump far,” he said. “It’s important to
be focused on the event you are do
ing. When you go to the 100, you
think, ‘I’m a sprinter.’ When you go
to the long jump, ‘I’m a jumper.’”
Twenty-three feet, five-and-a-half
inches is Lorenzo’s top mark for
850 points.
3:15 p.m.-Shot Put
“The shot put takes a lot of
weight workouts, but you need to
be extremely explosive,” Lorenzo
said. “It’s equal to the first eight me
ters of the 100. You need to be
strong, but if you’re so big you can’t
even move, then the shot won’t go
very far.”
Lorenzo has thrown the shot 45
1/4 feet for 711 points. The shot is
a 16-pound iron ball that is 4 3/8
inches in diameter and must be
thrown starting from the neck.
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4:30 p.m.- High Jump
“There isn’t any break in the de
cathlon,” Lorenzo said. “Some peo
ple think that the shot put and high
jump aren’t demanding, but you’d
be surprised. Especially when you
get to a certain level. The high jump
is not as demanding, but you have
to be in the event, focused, and you
cannot screw up every movement.”
Lorenzo has leapt 6-7 in this
event for 808 points.
“The high jump is one of the
events I’ve improved the most this
year,” Lorenzo said. “I wasn’t ex
tremely confident coming into this
year. Now I have been having a
great high jump year, and my con
fidence is soaring.”
7:30 p.m. - 400 meters
“The 400 is one of the toughest
events,” Lorenzo said. “It takes a lot
of guts. You need to be strongly pre
pared for it — both physically and
mentally — because it’s such a
tough race.”
Lorenzo’s best mark in the 400
meters is 48.16 seconds, good
enough for 898 points. The 400 me
ters is one lap around the track and
is exactly one-quarter of a mile. It’s
the final event of the first day of
competition.
“Even though it’s only 47, 48, 49
seconds, it just goes by so fast, you
can’t even think,” Lorenzo said.
I
Adam Amato Emerald
Junior Santiago Lorenzo goes after his second straight All-American performance this
week in the decathlon competition. His personal best in the event is 7,726 points.
With 16 hours between the final
event of day one and the first event
of day two, and nearly an hour be
tween each event during the day,
the decathlon offers track and field
athletes and coaches a rare oppor
tunity — the chance to give and
take advice during competition.
“After the first day, seconds after
the 400,1 feel extremely relieved,”
Lorenzo said. “Even if I didn’t do
well on the first day, I’m relieved.
After an hour or so, you can see
what you did, where you are in the
standings, what you did right and
wrong, what you’re going to do.
“Then you go home, take a bath
and go to bed,” he said.
“We say, ‘The first day is for the
athletes, the second day is for the
decathletes,’” Lorenzo said. “The
second day is where the decath
Turn to Lorenzo, page 10B
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