Riley smashes decathlon record
CALABAR High School’s Adrian Riley smashed the one-year-old record of 6,107 points on his way to winning the Open decathlon of the 103rd ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships on Thursday night at the National Stadium.
Riley, who was fourth last year with 5,755 points, amassed an impressive 6,733 points to surpass the mark set by Kingston College’s Darron Hunter, who finished fourth with 6,105 points, as Excelsior High’s Maurice Harrison took the silver with 6,352 points, and Jamaica College’s Andre McFarlane repeating his bronze medal from last year with 6,247 points. The top four, like last
year, surpassed the existing
record total.
Last year McFarlane scored 5,868 points.
Buff Bay High’s Richard Kenton was fifth with 5,377 points, beating Cornwall College’s Orell Bulgin, who scored 5,359 points after placing 12th last year with 3,766 points. Godfrey Stewart’s Asani Hylton was seventh with 4,912 points, and Wolmer’s Boys’ Akeem Aris was eighth with
4,866 points.
Riley, who is now listening to offers from college coaches before making his next move, thanked his team of about seven coaches, who he said worked with him all year.
“It was a lot of hard work, I had a lot of help from all my coaches, including Julina Robinson, Omar Hawes, Keither Wright and head coach Michael Clarke,” he told the Jamaica Observer yesterday afternoon.
Riley said he will not necessarily accept an offer to attend the University of Illinois, where his older brother Andrew created NCAA Division One history last year, winning the 100m and 110m hurdles gold at the same championships.
“I am willing to hear from everyone, not just because Andrew was there, I want to chart my own course.”
He noted that he improved most in the 400m, javelin throw, discus throw and pole vault.
Riley led after Wednesday’s first day of the gruelling 10-discipline event with 3,740 points, ahead of McFarlane with 3,556, and Harrison 42 points back in the bronze medal position with 3,512 points after the 100m, long jump, shot put, high jump, and 400m.
Harrison moved past McFarlane into second place after the first event on Thursday, the 110m hurdles, and held that through to the end of the competition.
Riley dominated the second day of the event, winning three of the five events contested, as he gradually opened the gap on the field, throwing the discus 44.98m for 766 points; clearing 3.50m in the pole vault to add another 482 points, then hurling the javelin 52.88m for 631 points.
With that cushion, the younger brother of Olympian Andrew, a former heptathlon champion at Champs, and last year’s American College NCAA Division One 100m/110m hurdles champion, could then run the 1,500m in 4 minutes, 56.40 seconds, sixth best overall to claim his title.