Posted: May 25, 2017

Frazier in third midway through decathlon, Coughenour makes finals

GENEVA, Ohio — Isaac Frazier posted big efforts in the shot put and high jump to move into third place after the first day of the decathlon competition and Jordan Coughenour earned a lane in the 400-meter hurdles final for Simpson on the first day of the 2017 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships from SPIRE Institute.

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Frazier in third through five events in the decathlon
Frazier had a great first day in the decathlon, scoring 3,515 points. The Iowa Conference champion continues to make huge strides in throwing events, setting a new personal-best in the shot put. His heave of 40-feet, 7 1/2-inches was good for third place, his best finish of the day. He cleared 6-feet, 4-inches in the high jump to take fourth and placed seventh in the 100 meters.

Frazier trails a pair of Cortland State seniors in the standings, as Jack Flood leads with 3,611 points and Connor Christopherson is second with 3,561. Frazier has a slim eight-point lead on Tobias Muellers of Williams. The event concludes Friday with the 110 hurdles, discus throw, pole vault, javelin throw and 1500-meter run.

Coughenour sneaks into final with ninth-place finish
Entering the race seeded 17th in the 400 hurdles, Coughenour ran a clean race to snag the ninth and final lane for Saturday's final. The junior ran 53.42 to edge Tufts' Andrew DiMaiti by .02 seconds for the final spot. The final is set for 1:25 p.m. Central on Saturday as the two-time IIAC Champion tries to become Simpson's first All-American in the event since 1995.

4x400 finishes two spots shy of qualifying for finals
The team of Chase Wetterling, Matt Pearson, Travis Tupper and Coughenour also competed in the prelims of the 4x400-meter relay, falling two places short of qualifying for Saturday's final. The group ran 3:14.92 -- their second-fastest time of the season -- to place 11th overall. Augustana (Ill.) captured the 9th and final qualifying spot in 3:14.14.

Coming Up
Frazier will conclude the decathlon, Dylan Kalinay will run the prelims in the 110 hurdles and Wetterling will run the prelims in the 400 on Friday.

*times listed are Central