Owens-Delerme has lifetime-best 8,732 points to surpass 1992 meet standard of 8,727 by Johnson, elevates to No. 17 competitor in global history, with Baldwin ascending to No. 7 all-time in NCAA with 8,470; Atherley achieves top career mark of 6,372 in heptathlon, with Juskeviciute scoring 6,192, Zheng at 6,164 and O'Brien accumulating 6,115

By Aaron Heisen for DyeStat

Photos by Kirby Lee/Image of Sport and Chuck Utash

WALNUT, Calif — Ayden Owens-Delerme blew away the field at the 64th Mt. SAC Relays Presented by Nike, and with his performance in the decathlon, set the meet record and world-leading mark, scoring 8,732 points.

Michelle Atherley also produced the top global performance this season in the women’s heptathlon with a personal-best 6,372 points.

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After winning the first three events Wednesday — 100-meter dash, long jump, and shot put — Owens-Delerme solidified his victory by finishing second in the 110-meter hurdles and clearing the bar at 16-8.75 (5.10m) to win the pole vault competition. 

The Puerto Rican competitor boosted himself over Germany’s Leo Neugebauer, the collegiate record holder who accumulated 8,708 points March 27-28 on the Longhorns’ home track at the 96th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays, with the top score in the decathlon this year.

Owens-Delerme also eclipsed the all-time meet performance of 8,727 points produced in 1992 by American athlete Dave Johnson. 

“It’s just consistency,” Owens-Delerme said Thursday. “Being at the track eight hours a day, putting in the work. There’s not another guy in the world doing that and that’s why I have the best mark in the world. I’m putting in more work than every single one of those guys.”

After graduating with an MBA from Arkansas, he decided to move down to Puerto Rico and train from there as he prepares for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games. This is just the first decathlon of the season for Owens-Delerme, a timeline unlike any he experienced at the collegiate level, but one that’s setup for a peak in July and August. 

“I’m at the opposite of my peak right now,” he said. “In fact, I’m in the middle of my hard training. My body is healthy and that’s the most important thing.”

Behind Owens-Delerme was Michigan State’s Heath Baldwin, who posted a personal-best 8,470 points to elevate to the No. 7 all-time collegiate competitor, and Devon Williams (8,342) representing Goon Squad Elite Track Club. The fight for the second spot lasted throughout Thursday’s portion of the decathlon with the final two competitions — the javelin and 1,500 — proving crucial. 

In the javelin, Baldwin’s first attempt was good for a personal-best 230-2 (70.16m). He, then, improved that to 233 feet (71.02m) with his following throw. He finished first while Williams finished fourth in the javelin at 191-5 (58.35m). 

“I’ve only had two or three jav sessions outside,” Baldwin said. “I feel pretty confident in the mobility stuff I’ve been doing.”

Thirty minutes later, though, Williams seemed on track to retake second place as he led the 1,500 for three laps. Ultimately, he ended up falling back to sixth, just one spot ahead of Baldwin, prevailing by a 4:37.98 to 4:40.19 margin.

“There were a few spots where I could have picked up some more points,” Williams said. “Overall, I got some confidence moving forward because it was my best score since 2017.”

Williams’ priority was to earn the Olympic standard early in the season, to have it before the U.S. Olympic Trials in June. Failing to meet expectations in the javelin, pole vault and discus, among other events, he fell short of that standard, but came away with a positive outlook because it was his best overall mark in seven years, just missing his lifetime-best effort by three points.  

Despite posting her first personal-best performance since the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials, Atherley exited Hilmer Lodge Stadium frustrated. 

“Just frustrated because I know I have a lot more in certain places,” Atherley said. “It’s quite early still, so there are a lot of areas to improve.”

The events she was specifically referring to included long jump, high jump and javelin throw. That said, Atherley was clearly being hard on herself because she finished first in the long jump Thursday with a wind-legal leap of 20-7.75 (6.29m).  

She held the lead after Wednesday’s portion of the heptathlon with 3,825 points and started out Thursday’s portion of the competition with a strong mark in the long jump.

“Coming into Day 2, I wanted to keep the ball rolling,” she said.

That’s exactly what she did. 

Atherley capped off her performance with a dominant showing in the 800-meter race. She led from the outset and only increased it from there, securing victory in 2:11.52. 

“I am so proud of myself for showing up and pushing myself in some of my events,” Atherley said. “There are a lot of things that I executed extremely well… There’s a lot of boxes that were checked. I’m proud of how I competed against these girls because it was an amazing field.”

Finishing behind Atherley in the touted field were Lithuania’s Beatrice Juskeviciute (6,192 points) and China’s Ninali Zheng (6,164 points). 

At this event last year, Juskeviciute hurt her right arm during the javelin competition and finished third overall with 6,073 points, but she was able to recover and put together a complete performance this time around. 

“I’ve been working hard this past fall and summer,” she said. “It’s a good feeling to know that things are paying off.” 

This was Zheng’s best showing in the heptathlon since the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021. Since then, she dealt with issues such as an illness prior to the 2022 World Athletics Outdoor Championships in Oregon, an Achilles’ injury in 2023 and a persistent foot issue that started feeling better just last week, she said. 

A late entry into the Mt. SAC Relays left her with little time to meet with her coach, Jeff Huntoon, and prepare. Therefore, she was astonished with the level of success she experienced over the past two days. 

“I was really surprised that I managed to do so well,” she said. “I wouldn’t say that I’m in shape yet, so I’m really happy with the score I came out with.”

Notre Dame’s Jadin O’Brien finished fourth with 6,115 points, producing the top mark by a collegiate competitor in the event and the No. 2 score in the NCAA this season. Oklahoma’s Pippi Lotta Enok, the reigning NCAA Division 1 champion representing Estonia, was fifth with 6,011 points.