GREENSBORO, N.C. – Whitworth's Nick McGill posted a pair of All-America finishes on Friday at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
He soared to a third place finish in the decathlon and took fourth place in the javelin at Irwin Belk Track. Click here for complete meet results: https://tf.deltatiming.com/ncaa/2021-ncaa-d3-outdoor-championships.
McGill went into the day in 11th place with 3,480 points in the decathlon, but posted a pair of lifetime-best marks and was close in two others. He opened the day with a time of 15.85 in the 110-meter hurdles, which was just off of his personal best of 15.58. He followed with a distance of 127'-7" in the discus, surpassing his previous lifetime best of 126'-4". McGill then cleared 13'-9.25" in the pole vault, just under his previous best of 14'-0.5".
Those three events moved McGill into eighth place in the standings. He then unleashed a throw of 208'-11" in the javelin to surpass his previous best of 205'-7". He had the decathlon's best mark in that event and jumped all the way up to third place in the standings. McGill finished with a time of 5:00.29 in the 1,500 to hold onto third place, his best-ever finish in the decathlon at the NCAA Championships with 6896 points.
Marcus Weaver of Wisconsin-Eau Claire dominated the decathlon with a score of 7,510, the best in Division III this season. His teammate, Mitch Stegeman, was second with 6,952 points.
McGill is now a three-time All-American in the decathlon after he finished fourth in 2018 and fifth in 2019.
McGill went on to finish fourth in the javelin in much stormier conditions. His second throw of prelims was 198'-6", which was the best of the competition heading into finals. McGill continued to hold onto first place through the fourth round of throws before Dan McAleavey of Rowan uncorked a throw of 206'-6.5" in the fifth round.
Weaver, who went into the javelin finals tied for second place, did it again. He got off a throw of 222'-0.75" on his final attempt to win the event and post the best mark in Division III this season. Dalton Anderson of Westminster threw 204'-1.75" on his final attempt to move past McGill into third place. An exhausted McGill threw 190'-5" and 190'-2" on his final two attempts.
McGill has scored 11 points for Whitworth, which may end up being enough to give the Pirates a top-20 finish once Saturday's events are completed. The Pirates are currently tied for seventh place with Rowan, but most of the meet's events will be decided on Saturday.
