Hipshire Leads Decathlon at GAC Meet; Walling Second in 10,000 Meters

SHAWNEE, Okla. – Harding men's track and field has two competitors in the top three after day one of the decathlon at the Great American Conference Track and Field Championships.

On a cool, breezy day at the Hurt Memorial Athletic Complex, Harding senior Matt Hipshire collected 3,371 points in the first five events. He has a 109-point lead over second-place Zane Nutter of Oklahoma Baptist. Harding freshman Jacob Cantrell is third with 3,142 points.

Hipshire entered the meet ranked 17th nationally in Division II in the decathlon.

Hipshire's highest point total came in the first event, the 100 meters, where his time of 11.46 earned him 761 points. He also topped the 700-point mark in the 400 meters, where he earned 709 points with a time of 52.35 seconds.

Cantrell's best event on day one was the high jump. He cleared 1.91 meters or 6 feet, 3.25 inches to score 723 points. He added 675 points in the 100 meters with a time of 11.88 seconds.

In the first scored event of the conference meet, Harding placed three runners among the scorers and totaled 13 points in the 10,000 meters. Freshman Luke Walling ran the fastest time ever by a Harding runner at the GAC meet to place second in 31:18.32. It was Harding's fastest time in the 10,000 meters since Wojciech Kopec ran 30:20.59 at Mt. SAC in 2011. Walling scored eight points for Harding in his first collegiate 10,000-meter race.

Dylan Mayberry added three more points for Harding with a sixth-place finish in 32:14.58, and sophomore Jackson Pruim scored two points with a seventh-place finish in 32:16.36.

A very full day two of the GAC Championships begins with the decathlon 110-meter hurdles at 10 a.m. Field events begin at 2 p.m. with the women's hammer, and running events begin at 2 p.m. with the women's 100-meter hurdles.

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