AUSTIN, Texas – Despite being forced to withdraw due to injury from the decathlon, UTSA freshman Gary Haasbroek collected his second All-America certificate of the year on Thursday night at Mike A. Myers Stadium.
Haasbroek entered the final day of the 10-event competition in sixth place with 3,998 points but was hampered by blisters on his foot that arose during the 400 meters on Wednesday evening. After the warm-up round in the javelin, the Melbourne, Australia, native was forced to retire due to the injury but still earned honorable mention All-America accolades for advancing to the NCAA Outdoor.
The Conference USA champion opened Thursday with a time of 14.81 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles, good for 873 points.
In the next event — the discus — Haasbroek posted a mark of 37.83 meters (124-1) for 621 points to give him 5,492 through seven disciplines.
With the blisters proving to be an obstacle, Haasbroek did not clear a height in the pole vault, dropping him out of the top 10 after eight events before he was forced to withdraw with the javelin and 1,500m still to be contested.
With his honorable mention nod, Haasbroek collected his second All-America mention of his debut campaign. He garnered second-team All-America honors after finishing 10th in the heptathlon at the NCAA Indoor in March and he joins Justin Youngblood (2004) as the only Roadrunners to pick up All-America accolades in both combined events in the same year.
Haasbroek earned one of the 24 spots at the national meet after posting a 7,395 total to win the C-USA title on May 10. He broke the UTSA record with 5,949 points in winning the Houston Invitational heptathlon in January, while also setting new Australian national, meet and facility records.
On Wednesday, senior school record-holder Luca Chatham earned honorable mention All-America accolades with an 18th-place finish in the 800m.
- UTSA -