Texas A&M's Ioannis Kyriazis wins third SEC javelin title with meet reocrd

COLUMBIA, South Carolina – Texas A&M junior Ioanis Kyriazis claimed the first SEC title for the Aggies this weekend as he captured his third consecutive javelin title with a conference record throw of 262 feet, 11 inches (80.15).
 
The lone throw for Kyriazis bettered the SEC Championship record of 261-4 (79.65) set in 2009 by Georgia's Chris Hill. Kryiazis entered the competition with only one throw this season, a 288-9 (88.01) winning effort at Texas Relays in March which ranks second on the all-time collegiate list.
 
"I'm super happy and super excited to be part of this team," noted Kyriazis. "I just want to keep performing at a high level. Honestly, because I threw with cross-over steps, it didn't feel like a good throw. It was kind of an empty throw. But when I heard it was 80 meters, I was kind of surprised since I didn't expect it to be 80 meters."
 
Kyriazis was hopeful that someone would pass his leading mark so he would be required to throw a second time to secure the victory. However, similar to his 2016 SEC title, only his first throw was required for the victory.
 
"Now I want to get a good throw at the NCAA West preliminaries to qualify for nationals, and then I'll use my throws in Eugene to try to set a new PR," stated Kyriazis.
 
The trifecta of SEC javelin titles makes Kyriazis only the third conference thrower to achieve the feat in three consecutive seasons. The last person to accomplish it was Florida's Derek Trafus from 1993 to 1995, and it was also accomplished by Tennessee's Bill Skinner from 1968 to 1970.
 
Runner-up to Kyriazis was Missouri's Reinhard Van Zyl at 253-3 (77.20) with McLean Lipshutz of Alabama third with a 243-10 (74.32). Defending NCAA champion, Curtis Thompson of Mississippi State, placed fourth with a best of 242-8 (73.96).
 
Aggie teammates Sam Hardin and William Petersson placed fifth and seventh in the event as Texas A&M totaled 16 points in team scoring. Hardin threw a career best of 240-9 (73.38) and his series included four other throws beyond 230 feet. Petersson, a freshman, threw 218-4 (66.56) in his first SEC appearance.
 
Lindon Victor improved his first day SEC Championship record in the decathlon as he produced a score of 4,365 points through the first five events of the multi-event. As the defending champion, Victor leads the field of 12 by 142 points.
 
"We all know the SEC is one of the toughest conferences, so I didn't think it was going to be easy to defend my title," noted Victor. "I'm ready to have some more fun tomorrow, I'm still on pace to get a really good score."
 
Georgia's Karl Saluri, who led the decathlon after the first two events, is currently second with 4,223 points with South Carolina's Markus Leemet third at 4,114 and Derek Jacobus of Arkansas fourth with 4,086.
 
Victor opened with a 10.64 (3.6 wind) in the 100m for 942 points and added 898 in the long jump with a mark of 24-1 ½w (7.35 | 2.1 wind). That left him behind Saluri by 54 points. Saluri ran 10.50w (975) and long jumped 24-5 (7.44) for 920 points.
 
A pair of fouls by Victor in the shot put placed Victor's title defense in jeopardy, but a third round effort of 49-9 ¾ (15.18) bettered the field and produced 801 points. That pushed Victor eight points ahead of Sulari, who had a mark of 46-5 ¼ (14.15) for 738 points, 2,641 to 2,633.
 
Victor was the lone decathlete to clear 6-8 ¾ (2.05) in the high jump as he scored 850 points and his lead increased to 197 points over Saluri. Finishing day one with the 400m, Saluri led the field with a 47.59 (929 points) as Victor ran 48.74 for 874 points.
 
"Having two fouls in the shot put doesn't help, I need to really focus on that," said Victor. "High jump has been going well this year, so I knew if I needed to get a good jump after a bad shot put I could have done that. The 400m didn't go as planned, but they re-seeded the event and I don't know how I got lane 8. So, that kind of threw me off since I was running blind for most of the race."
 
The 4,365 points for Victor betters the meet record of 4,309 for the first day score that he set last year on the way to a 8,446 victory. Day two in the decathlon will include the 110 hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1,500 meters.
 
Shaina Burns is currently in seventh place in the heptathlon as she produced a score of 3,331 points on the first day. Burns ran 14.28 (939 points) in the 100m hurdles, high jumped 5-6 (830), and had a shot put of 43-5 ¾ (744). Finishing the first day with the 200m, Burns ran 25.76 (818).
 
Taliyah Brooks of Arkansas leads the heptathlon with 3,733 points and is followed by teammates Leigha Brown (3,654), Payton Stumbaugh (3,648) and Kelsey Herman (3,642).
 
Another field event final held on Thursday included the hammer. Alison Ondrusek placed sixth with a toss of 196-6 (59.91) while Carissa van Beek finished 15^th with a 171-5 (52.24).
 
Austin Cook produced a season best of 209-4 (63.82) in the men's hammer to place 11^th. The mark is the No. 5 performance on the Aggie all-time list behind his school record of 212-6 (64.76).

The first day of the SEC Championships finished with finals in the 10,000m. Kelsie Warren placed ninth in the women's race with a time of 35:37.61, which ranks No. 12 on the Aggie all-time list. In the men's race, Christian Farris finished 11^th in a time of 31:45.84 while Austin Wells placed 13^th in 31:56.29.
 
Qualifying rounds had eight Aggies advancing to the finals in three events – women's 200m (3), men's and women's 800 (3) and men's 400m hurdles (2).
 
Devin Dixon led the field in the 800m with a 1:48.30, just ahead of a 1:48.31 for Florida's Andres Arroyo in another heat. Joining Dixon in the final was teammate JaQwae Ellison with a time of 1:50.55 as he placed third in the same heat with Arroyo. Gaines Kinsey was 11^th overall in 1:51.72.