Atherley Smashes School Record In Heptathlon
AZUSA, Calif. – Michelle Atherley closed out the Bryan Clay Invitational with a record-setting performance in the women’s heptathlon.
Atherley smashed Miami’s school record in the heptathlon, finishing fourth at the Bryan Clay Invitational with a personal-best score of 5,816. Atherley surpassed Amber Williams’ previous school record of 5,490, set in 2005, by 326 points.
“It definitely gave me more confidence going into ACCs, as well as pointing out exactly what I need to work on,” Atherley said. “Being able to focus on my performance and not the numbers is something I love about being relatively new to the sport. And snatching the school record is just a bonus. I am looking forward to competing against the best in the ACC with my team on our home turf.”
The junior started off Day 2 of the women’s heptathlon with a season-best in the long jump, finishing seventh in the event with a mark of 5.84m. Atherley posted a mark of 29.89m in the javelin and closed out the competition with a personal-best time of 2:14.16 in the 800m to finish fourth in the race.
“The great thing about Michelle’s heptathlon the last two days is that there is a lot of room for her to improve, a lot of upside, which is very promising,” Miami multis coach Rob Jarvis said. “Can’t say enough how proud I am of her with the adversity she’s dealt with. I’m looking forward to ACCs and NCAAs.”
Atherley was outstanding on the opening day of competition, scoring 3,635 points to close out the day atop her group of 15 competitors. Atherley 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.
“Coming into this competition, I wasn’t so much nervous as I was focused,” Atherley said. “The competition field was amazing and it’s always nice to see familiar faces going through all seven events. Getting this meet under my belt let me get through some of the unexpected bumps faced in a first heptathlon.”
Christodoulou got off to a solid start on Day 2 of the men’s decathlon, finishing third in the 110m hurdles with a time of 14.90 seconds. The junior turned in another solid performance in the discus, finishing fourth with a mark of 37.12m. Christodoulou tied for first in the pole vault with a personal-best mark of 4.70m and won the javelin with a throw of 56.46m. A time of 5:01.61 in the 1500m secured a top-3 finish in the decathlon for Christodoulou, as the junior placed third with 7,159 points.
“Andreas fought through the variable conditions of Day 2 and ended up with the second-best decathlon performance of his life,” Jarvis said. “We have a lot of work to do, but I’m confident Andreas will continue to stay the course and put the work in that he needs to succeed.”
The junior opened up in the men’s decathlon Wednesday, posting a time of 11.34 seconds in the 100m to begin the competition. He 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 was in 10thplace in his group with 3,637 points.
“Andreas had some positive things to take from today,” Jarvis said following Wednesday’s action. “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 prestigious two-day competition was hosted at Cougar Athletic Stadium by Azusa Pacific University. In its 48thyear, the meet honors Azusa Pacific alumnus and gold medal decathlete, Bryan Clay.
Complete meet results are available 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.
For all the latest information on the Miami Hurricanes, follow the official Twitter feed, @MiamiHurricanes, or “Like Us” on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/MiamiHurricanes. Follow @CanesTrack on Twitter for specific news on UM track and field and cross country. The program is also on Instagram.
