Sanderson Posts Career-High, DI Top-10 in Decathlon

TUCSON, Arizona – Taylor Sanderson set his career-high in the decathlon and moved into the top-10 in the country for the event Friday at the Jim Click Combined Events, hosted by the University of Arizona. Sanderson posted a career-best score of 7,471 to finish second in the event, and now ranks eighth in the country this season in the decathlon.

In his decathlon debut, Wyatt Rhoads finished third with a 6,287. In the women's heptathlon, Emma Whigham marked her heptathlon debut by becoming the fourth Cyclone in program history to surpass 5,000 points with her 5,019. Kaci Storm PR'd by over 600 points with a 4,856-point effort, the fifth-best in ISU history.

Friday for Sanderson got off to another big start, as he finished with the most points in his third event of the weekend when he ripped off a personal best of 14.55 in the 110-meter hurdles. Sanderson kept his performances consistent with all his efforts ranking in the top-three among competitors. Sanderson was tops in the javelin competition with a best-toss of 176-3.

As for Rhoads, the Ames native showed his potential for the future in the decathlon with his 6,287-point effort in his debut in the 10-event competition. Rhoads showed off his strength in the running events again, finishing the day with a first-place in the 1,500-meter run in 4:31.63, over seven seconds over his teammate Sanderson, who crossed in second.

Emma Whigham closed out her first career heptathlon strongly, working to put up one of the top scores in Iowa State history. The highlight of her day was a third-place effort in the javelin with a toss of 116-7. She closed the day by taking fourth in the 800-meter run in 2:22.41. Her final score of 5,019 points makes her the fourth Cyclone in school history to go over 5,000 points in the outdoor heptathlon, joining Barbara Szlendakova (5,727), Jordon Andreassen (5,233) and Bree Woelber (5,058).

Kaci Storm finished her comeback to heptathlon strongly. The Geneseo, Illinois native finished the day with a pair of personal bests, boosting her personal best in the javelin by 11 feet with a toss of 113-5. In the 800-meter dash, Storm crossed the line in 2:26.70, bettering her previous best of 2:26.75. Those two events helped her record a 4,856, moving up to fifth in ISU history and improving her previous best in the heptathlon by over 600 points (4,238).

Up Next
Iowa State is in action tomorrow at the Sun Angel Track Classic, hosted by Arizona State. Competition begins at noon Central Time with the discus. Running events for the Cyclones begin at 7 p.m. with the men's 800-meter run.

Iowa State Results
Decathlon: 1. Pau Tonnesen, Arizona – 7,993; 2. Taylor Sanderson, Iowa State – 7,471; 3. Wyatt Rhoads, Iowa State – 6,287
110m Hurdles (Dec.): 1. Taylor Sanderson, Iowa State – 14.55; 5. Wyatt Rhoads, Iowa State – 15.60
Discus (Dec.): 1. Pau Tonnesen, Arizona – 149-7; 2. Taylor Sanderson, Iowa State – 132-5; 5. Wyatt Rhoads, Iowa State – 99-10
Pole Vault (Dec.): 1. Pau Tonnesen, Arizona – 17-0 3/4; 3. Taylor Sanderson, Iowa State – 13-5 1/4; 4. Wyatt Rhoads, Iowa State – 11-1 3/4
Javelin (Dec.): 1. Taylor Sanderson, Iowa State – 176-3; 5. Wyatt Rhoads, Iowa State – 150-4
1,500m Run (Dec.): 1. Wyatt Rhoads, Iowa State – 4:31.63; 2. Taylor Sanderson, Iowa State – 4:38.87

Heptathlon: 1. Carly Loeffel, Notre Dame – 5,329; 9. Emma Whigham, Iowa State – 5,019; 12. Kaci Storm, Iowa State – 4,856
Long Jump (Hep.): 1. Alyssa Thompson, Arizona – 19-1 1/2; 8. Emma Whigham, Iowa State – 17-10 1/4; 9. Kaci Storm, Iowa State – 17-9 1/2
Javelin (Hep.): 1. Kendra Purifoye, Arizona State – 123-4; 3. Emma Whigham, Iowa State – 116-7; 4. Kaci Storm, Iowa State – 113-5
800m Run (Hep.): 1. Keiko Hector, Rhode Island – 2:17.57; 4. Emma Whigham, Iowa State – 2:22.41; 10. Kaci Storm, Iowa State – 2:26.70

Sanderson Posts Career-High, DI Top-10 in Decathlon

Players Mentioned

Wyatt Rhoads

Taylor Sanderson

Kaci Storm

Emma Whigham

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Iowa State University Athletics

Sanderson Posts Career-High, DI Top-10 in Decathlon

Players Mentioned

Wyatt Rhoads

Taylor Sanderson

Kaci Storm

Emma Whigham

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