Decathletes turn in strong scores despite rain

Dan Hoffman Arizona Daily Wildcat UA junior decathlete Klaus Ambrosch flies across the long jump pit during the first day of the Jim Click Multi Invitational yesterday at the Roy P. Drachman Stadium. Ambrosch was marked at 7.04 meters after his three jumps.

Senior Dominic Johnson had a career-best first half in the decathlon with 4,063 points, including three personal bests in the 100-meter sprint (10.71), 400m (47.43) and the shot put (42-1).Johnson leads the competition with Paul Faxon of No Limit Sports trailing in second with 3,909 points.

"Considering the weather conditions we had a really good start, especially Dominic. Every time you score over 4,000 points on the first day, you are up there," said UA head coach Dave Murray.

Johnson's teammate, junior Klaus Ambrosch, showed consistency in all five disciplines yesterday, but failed to have an outstanding result in a single event. Ambrosch still had a respectable score in the long jump, where he placed second.

On the women's side, freshman Liz Giltner participated in her first collegiate heptathlon. Giltner sits in third place with 2,905 points after yesterday's action, but she only trails Jennifer Thomas of Oregon who is in first place by 121 points.

Today's competition promises to be a good one for Arizona with Johnson's best discipline to come, the pole vault.

"If he continues like on the first day, I'll expect him to score an all-time best (score) at the end," Murray said.