| June 12, 2004
Contact: Kyle Stephens (210) 458-4907 Youngblood earns third All-America honor in NCAA decathlon Official Web Site (www.texassports.com) AUSTIN, Texas – UTSA senior Justin Youngblood picked up his third All-America certificate with a seventh-place finish in the men’s decathlon on the final day of the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in front of 14,000 fans at Mike A. Myers Stadium.
Youngblood, from Goliad, scored 7,588 points, the second-best total in his career, in the grueling, 10-event competition that concluded Saturday evening. Youngblood entered the second day with 4,008 points through the first five events contested on Friday and briefly moved up to as high as fifth before dropping back to seventh in the final standings.
Youngblood, opened Saturday with a 14.67 in the 110-meter hurdles before recording a personal-best mark of 137-2 in the discus that moved him into fifth place. He remained in fifth after clearing 13-9 Ľ in the pole vault and rounded out the competition with a 184-2 throw in the javelin and a 4:47.08 clocking in the 1,500m.
“It’s been a long two days, but I’m happy with the way I finished up,” Youngblood said. “It took me a while to get back where I was in training for this meet, but to earn All-America honors for the third time is a great way to end my career at UTSA.”
Ryan Harlan of Rice won the decathlon with 8,171 points, followed by Trey Hardee of Mississippi State in second (8,041), Mustafa Abdur-Rahim of Dartmouth in third (7,937), Travis Brandstatter of Minnesota in fourth (7,736), Hans Uldal of Missouri in fifth (7,661), Ashraf Fadel of Wisconsin in sixth (7,624), Youngblood and Chris Wineberg of Cincinnati in eighth (7,584).
It marks the third seventh-place finish at a national meet for Youngblood, the 2004 Southland Conference Indoor Male Athlete of the Year. He finished seventh in the decathlon with a personal-best and UTSA-record 7,642 points at the 2002 NCAA Outdoor in Baton Rouge, La. Youngblood set the school heptathlon record with 5,512 points in finishing seventh at this year’s NCAA Indoor in Fayetteville, Ark., becoming the first indoor male All-American in school history. Youngblood also becomes UTSA's second three-time All-American as Leonard Byrd earned three accolades in the 400m.
With Youngblood’s two points, the UTSA men tied for 60th, the second-highest national outdoor finish in school history (T-59th in 2002). For the Roadrunner women, sophomore Ryanne Dupree posted two points with a seventh-place finish in the heptathlon, putting UTSA in a tie for 65th.
UCLA won an exciting women’s team race, scoring 69 points to edge runner-up LSU (68). Arkansas ran away with the men’s title with 65.5 points ahead of Florida (49). NOTE: Photo of Justin Youngblood on awards stand by Chris Carson, Univ. of Texas.
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