Duenas Finishes 11th in Discus; Beckmann is 10th after Five Decathlon Events

By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications, (503) 370-6110

GENEVA, Ohio -- Hope Duenas (Jr., Covina, CA/Covina HS) of Willamette University earned 11th place in the women's discus throw on the first day of the 2019 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Thursday, May 23 at the Squire Institute. Also on Thursday, Keaton Beckmann (So., Salem, OR/Sprague HS) of Willamette completed the first five events of the decathlon in 10th place.

Duenas registered a throw of 136' 2" to place 11th out of 22 competitors in the discus. Her top throw was just two inches out of 10th place.

The women's discus champion was Erica Oawster from the University Wisconsin-Eau Claire with a winning mark of 160 '4". Kayla Rambo of Whitworth University was second at 157' 11" and Agne Lukoseviciute from Grinnell College (Iowa) was third at 155' 2".

Beckmann's score after five decathlon events was 3,537 points. His score placed him 10th out of 20 student-athletes competing for the title. He was just 15 points out of ninth place, 45 points away from eighth, 54 points from seventh and 76 points from two student-athletes tied for fifth.

In the decathlon's first event, the 100-meter dash, Beckmann registered a personal-best time of 11.01 seconds to score 858 points. He was fifth overall in the 100. He improved on his previous top time of 11.04 seconds at the 2018 Portland Twilight.

Beckmann added scores of 797 in the 400-meter dash and 750 in the long jump. In the 400, which completed the first day's schedule, he earned a time of 50.60 seconds. In the long jump, he covered a top distance of 22' 1". He placed fourth in the 400 and was seventh in the long jump.

In addition, Beckmann produced a throw of 35' 4" in the shot put and cleared 5' 10" in the high jump. His mark in the high jump tied his personal record.

Leading the decathlon after five events was Will Daniels from Central College (Iowa) with 3,990 points. In second place was Dylan Cooper from UW-Eau Claire at 3,371, while Abrahm Schroedl from UW-Eau Claire was third at 3,646. Keaton Wood of Linfield College held fourth place at 3,639, while Charles Moody from University of Southern Maine and Leif Van Grinsven from Wheaton College (Ill.) were tied for fifth at 3,613. Daniels earned the high event score of the day with 919 points for his time of 10.74 seconds in the 100-meter dash.

The decathlon will continue on Friday, May 24, with the final five events. The second day is set to begin at 10 a.m. (EDT)/7 a.m. PDT) with the 110-meter hurdles.