The Clackamas print., May 10, 2000, Image 1

Wednesday, May 10, 2000
Clackamas Community College
Oregon City, Oregon
Volume XXXIII, Issue 23
Clackamas athlete
breaks national record
David Lemen breaks the national junior college record in the decathlon and
wins his third conference title
JOHN THORBURN
Editor-in-Chief
Spokane has Dan O’Brien, a man
who went on to win gold in At­
lanta in 1996.
Lane has Tom Pappas, a man who
broke O’Brien’s national junior col­
lege record and is now the NCAA
champion and record holder.
Clackamas has David Lemen.,
A man who has bettered both
O’Brien and Pappas in the decath­
lon event.
Lemen, a ’97 graduate of Jack­
son High School in Mill Creek,
Wash., won his second Northwest
Athletic Association of Commu­
nity Colleges [NWAACC] champi­
onship in the ten-event competi­
tion known as the decathlon.
On the way, the 6’2” blond­
haired sophomore decided to break
the national junior college record.
A goal that he had set since last
fall, Lemen toppled the mark with a
score
532—better-
ing the
7499 record
set by
; Pappas.
"My
original
goal was
to break Dan O'Brien's NWAACC
meet record of7257 which was set
back in the early 90s—he set that
at the NWAACC championship
meet," said Lemen. "Then we found
out what thé national record was
so I decided to step my goal up a
little bit more to break O'Brien and
Pappas' records. Whether it's at the
same meet or two different meets,
either way I was going to try to
acheive both of those goals. I've
kind of been training hard for that.
When NWAACCs came around, I
was able to achieve both of those
goals by working hard and train­
ing like a madman."
Training like amadman is some­
thing that this young man has
grown accustomed to over the
years.
A week before the state champi­
onships his senior year, Lemen
broke his ankle. He still decided to
compete, however, and placed sec­
ond in the pole vault. Without hav­
ing high marks in high school, he
was recruited only by then first
year Head Coach Jack Kegg.
"He was my first recruit as a head