April 4, 2008
AUSTIN, Texas - Posting scores of 7083, and 7059, respectively, Chris Morrisey (Ligonier, Pa.) and Shawn Colligan (Bradford, Pa.) recorded ninth and 11th-place finishes in the decathlon, Thursday, at the Texas Relays on the campus of the University of Texas. Colligan's 7059 bettered his previous personal best score by 18 points, while Morrisey was just a dozen points off his career-high tally. Both Lions' totals also bettered the NCAA provisional-qualifying standard.
Colligan kicked off his PR day with a career-low 14.79 in the 110-meter hurdles - the seventh-fastest mark of the day. Morrisey finished in 15.19 after recovering from a stumble early on in the race. Colligan would go onto toss 127-11 (38.99) in the discus - yet another career record - to finish 10th in the event, while Morrisey posted a mark of 117-05 (35.80).
Morrisey cleared an outdoor-PR 14-3.25 (4.35) in the pole vault, which was the ninth-best leap in the field, while Colligan managed to vault over 12-11.50 (3.95). Colligan would recover in the next event, launching a throw of 176-3 (52.89), with Morrisey following with a toss of 165-00 (50.29). The pair closed out the grueling 10 event competition with solid performances in the 1,500-meters with Morrisey finishing in 4:48.16, just ahead of Colligan, who clocked a time of 4:48.97.
Nike's Trey Hardee was the top finisher in the competition with a score of 8371. Florida State's Gonzalo Barroilhet was the top collegian, finishing second overall with a total of 7828.
The rest of the Nittany Lions will compete at the Pepsi Team Challenge this weekend, hosted by the University of Oregon at Hayward Field. Action is scheduled for Saturday.