Atherley Leads Heptathlon at Bryan Clay Invitational
AZUSA, Calif. – Michelle Atherley kicked off the women’s heptathlon at the Bryan Clay Invitational with an excellent showing on Wednesday.
Atherley was outstanding on the opening day of competition, scoring 3,635 points to close out the day atop her group of 15 competitors. The junior opened her day with a big personal-best in the 100m hurdles, running the fastest time in the field at 13.28 seconds. She followed with a fifth-place finish in the high jump, clearing 1.72m, and was sixth in the shot put at 12.41m. Atherley closed out the day with a victory in the 200m, posting a personal-best time of 23.96 seconds.
“I was extremely happy with Michelle’s performance today,” Miami multis coach Rob Jarvis said. “She was laser focused and moved from event to event like a seasoned veteran in only her first heptathlon. We home to keep this momentum going into Day 2 to put up a score for NCAA and ACCs.”
A silver medalist in the pentathlon at the 2018 ACC Indoor Championships, Atherley will begin Day 2 of the heptathlon at 3:30 p.m. ET with the long jump, followed by the javelin and the 800 meters at 6 p.m. ET to wrap up the competition.
Andreas Christodoulou also opened up in the men’s decathlon Wednesday, posting a time of 11.34 seconds in the 100m to begin the competition. The junior followed with a mark of 7.04m in the long jump and 11.92m in the shot put. Christodoulou cleared 1.83m in the high jump and closed out the day with a time of 51.07 seconds in the 400m. Through five events, Christodoulou is in 10thplace in his group with 3,637 points.
“Andreas had some positive things to take from today,” Jarvis said. “He fought all day and kept moving event to event. He just needs to come back ready to go tomorrow and do what we know he is capable of. If he does that, he will be on pace for a nice stepping stone into ACCs in a few weeks.”
The 2016 ACC champion in the decathlon, Christodoulou will start the second half of the decathlon at 2:30 p.m. ET on Thursday with the 110m hurdles. He will continue with the discus, pole vault and javelin before closing out the decathlon at 9 p.m. ET with the 1500m.
The prestigious two-day competition is hosted at Cougar Athletic Stadium by Azusa Pacific University. In its 48thyear, the meet honors Azusa Pacific alumnus and gold medal decathlete, Bryan Clay.
FloTrack is the exclusive live video provider of the 2018 Bryan Clay Invitational and will stream the meet HERE. Fans can also follow the meet via live results by clicking HERE.
The Hurricanes will head to Charlottesville, Va., to compete at the Virginia Challenge on April 20-21. Following this week’s action, the Canes will travel to Fayetteville, Ark., for the National Relay Championships. To view the complete Miami Track and Field schedule for the 2018 season, click here.
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