CRETE, NEB. — The decathlon and heptathlon are halfway done for a few Central College track and field athletes at the Jim Dutcher Memorial Classic Saturday.
           
The meet, hosted by Doane University (Neb.), is the first opportunity for Central's multi-event athletes to complete a women's heptathlon and men's decathlon.
           
"I was pretty happy with what we did," associate head coach Jim Fuller said. "We had a few really good events, but mostly we were just really solid across the board."
           
In the heptathlon, Mary Gray (senior, West Des Moines, Waukee HS) is third with 2,725 points and Kiki Pingel (senior, Pella) is fourth with 2,689 points after four events.
           
Both Pingel and Gray ran new career-best times in the 110-meter hurdles. Their efforts make them No. 5 (14.96 seconds) and No. 7 (15.07 seconds) all-time at Central, respectively.
           
"The women are right there," Fuller said. "The hurdles was probably the highlight for them. It was cold and if it would have been 20 degrees warmer the scores would have been better."
           
Gray also won the shot put with a mark of 35 feet, 2 inches.
           
In the men's decathlon, Brody Klein (freshman, Rainier, Wash.) leads Central's four entries in fourth place with 3, 175 points. Lucas Heitz (sophomore, Adel, ADM HS) is in fifth with 3,080 points, Jaxon Thompson (freshman, Marion, Linn-Mar HS) is seventh with 3,077 points and Nick Thompson (junior, Newhall, Benton HS) is 10th with 2,848 points.
           
Heitz won the shot put (39-1.25) and Nick Thompson (36-10.25) was third.  Jaxon Thompson was third in the high jump (6-5) and Brody Klein was fourth (6-0.5).
           
"It's the first the decathlon of their lives for everyone but Lucas," Fuller said. "They are really new at it. Jaxon and Brody high jumped well. Lucas threw shot well."
           
The second day of the multi-events starts at 10 a.m. Sunday morning.