Wright 5th in 1st decathlon

Libby native Seth Wright not only survived his first career decathlon, he shined in it.

The former Logger and University of Montana true freshman finished in fifth place at the three-day UCLA Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational track meet in Los Angeles, Calif., last weekend.

Wright, who graduated from Libby High last year, scored 6,184 points in the competition consisting of 10 track and field events.

Wright turned in his best performances in the field events, winning the high jump (6-7), placing second in the discus (126-8) and taking third in the javelin (160-8).

“Seth had a pretty nice day today (Thursday),” UM track and field program director Brian Schweyen said.

“(Multi-events coach) Adam (Bork) penciled in what he thought Seth could do, and Seth scored six points more than that, so it was a pretty good start.

“He just had the right attitude all day. He went from event to event with a smile on his face and had fun with it.”

Wright was less than 200 points out of fourth place. The winner, Sam Schur of Sacramento State, finished with 6,888 points.

In the decathlon events, Wright placed seventh in the pole vault (11-9 3/4) using a borrowed pole; ninth in the 100 (11.86); sixth in the 400 (52.14); fifth in the 1500 (4:51.41); eighth in the 110 hurdles (18.08); seventh in the long jump (20-5); and seventh in the shot put (33-3 1/4).