Gunnar Nixon shakes off shot put, sets national decathlon record

ARCADIA, Calif. – An unprecedented mishap in the shot put could have unraveled Gunnar Nixon.

Instead, the long and chiseled Santa Fe (Edmond, Okla.) High School standout got "ticked" and set a national decathlon record with international implements at the 44th annual Arcadia Invitational at Arcada High School on Friday.

Nixon, a 6-foot-3, 180-pound senior, scored 7,577 points over the two-day, 10-event competition breaking the international mark of 7,466 points set by good friend and now Duke freshman Curtis Beach.

He likely would have challenged the national high school mark of 7,909 – also set by Beach – but on Thursday he fouled on three of his shot put tries thus costing him anywhere from 700-800 points. He finished with 7,036 points with high school implements - even with the zero - to claim his second straight Arcadia championships. Granite Bay (Calif.) senior Kevin Nielsen was second with 6,928 points.

"It was disappointing but I couldn't do anything about it," Nixon said about his shot put woes. "I quickly put it behind me – the high school record was gone – but I had the (international) record to go after so I just focused on that."

If the demanding 10-event decathlon wasn't taxing enough, the Arkansas-bound iron man added three extra events with college (international) implements.

That meant after the shot put (12 pounds), 110-meter hurdles (39 inches high) and discus (1.6 kilos) using high school implements, he was given 10-to-15 minutes before competing with international (college) implements (16-pound shot put, 42-inch hurdles, 2.0 kilo discus).

The larger barriers and little rest didn't deter Nixon, who offered marks of 39 feet, 10¾ inches, 14.60 seconds and 116-0, respectively.

He surprised himself with his international shot put throw, especially considering he scrapped any spin moves.

"I was just ticked and threw it as far as I could," Nixon said.

Asked if he thought about gliding instead of spinning on his final 12-pound toss, "I didn't but I probably should have just to make sure I got a mark. I should have thrown it about 40 feet."

He'd never fouled three straight times before and his best with a 12-pound shot is 47-11½.

Nixon also had trouble Friday with the high school discus, throwing a career low 123 feet (he's best is 156-3).

But once again, rather than faltering, Nixon got off a very respectable 116-0 international toss, which was 11 feet further than Beach when he set his national mark.

"You don't have time to mope around," Nixon said. "You just have to move forward."

Nixon had no struggles at all while setting PRs in the 100 (11.06), long jump (24-1¾w) and 400 (48.57).

He also went 6-7½ in the high jump, which is impressive enough for most. But Nixon has gone 7-0¾ in the event before and probably could win today's open invitational between many of the nation's best.

Nixon closed the day with the competition's best javelin mark (171-2) at nearby Azusa Pacific College before taking a bus back to Arcadia for the 1,500 finale.

With only 10 minutes to warm-up – he normally gets 30 – and needing only a 4:49 to break the international record, Nixon cruised to a third-place finish at 4:39.64.

He raised his hands triumphantly at the finish line.

"I could have gone faster but knew what I needed to do," Nixon said. "My legs had tightened up in the bus so I didn't really want to push it.

"Overall, I really pleased. I didn't get both records, but there's time to get the other."

Nixon is pointing to the last week of May in the Great Southwest Classic in Albuquerque.

See complete results.

NOTES: The decathlon runner-up was Granite Bay (Calif.) senior Kevin Nielsen with 6,920 points, bettering his previous best of 6,300. Nielsen was happy with his placement and PR, but was shooting for 7,000 points. After PRing in his first three events, Nielsen faltered in the pole vault and javelin. "This just tells me what I need to work on," Nielsen said. Asked about Nixon and Nielson said: "He's just a great athlete," he said. "I wish I could so what he does in the high jump." … San Luis Obispo's Abrianna Torres edged unattached Jasmine Hall 4,826 to 4,818 in the girls' heptathlon. Torres went 19-0½ in the long jump to key her narrow victory. … Among some of the top winning individual performances on Friday was Mariel Mendoza (JW North, 3,200, 10:45.95), Kevin Bernard (Buchanan, 3,200, 9:12.91), Hunter Naisbitt (Syracuse, Utah, discus, 165-4) and Tiffini Stone (Canyon, long jump, 18-2).