Following bold decision to bypass NCAA Division 1 Championships in pursuit of competing at Paris Olympics, Michigan State standout responds with lifetime-best 8,625 points to capture national title, becoming No. 3 competitor on collegiate all-dates list behind Texas star Neugebauer and German athlete Garland; Ziemek earns third Olympic berth and last year’s winner Williams also qualifies

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Photos by Chuck Aragon, John Nepolitan and Tim Healy

EUGENE, Ore. – Zach Ziemek knew in April at the 64th Mt. SAC Relays that Heath Baldwin was capable of representing the United States in the decathlon at the Paris Olympics.

Baldwin had already been planning for the biggest opportunity of his track and field career six weeks before that event.

Baldwin, the Michigan State senior All-American, made the calculated decision at the start of the spring outdoor season not to participate June 5-6 in the decathlon at the NCAA Division 1 Championships at Hayward Field, investing all of his energy and focus instead on the two-day competition at the same venue for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials.

Baldwin, 23, was rewarded Saturday for believing in himself and trusting the long-term plan laid out by Michigan State head coach Lisa Breznau and Spartan jumps coach Richard Fisher by not only winning the decathlon crown to secure his trip to Paris to compete in August, but he also achieved a lifetime-best with 8,625 points, capped by clocking 4 minutes, 41.87 seconds in the 1,500 meters.

"Representing the state of Michigan has always been a big thing for me," Baldwin said. "I’m really proud. Michigan State supported me through everything. Coach Breznau and coach Rich supported me through skipping the NCAA Championships, which is a really big deal for somebody to do, but they were confident in me and I feel like they took a big chance on that, so I’m happy that it paid off for them."

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Ziemek, a three-time Olympian, secured second place with 8,516 points and Harrison Williams – last year’s U.S. national champion in the decathlon – took third at 8,384 points. Devon Williams, a former All-American at Georgia, was fourth with 8,211 points.

"I went up to (Heath) at Mt. SAC and told him, 'You’re going to make the Olympic team.' I’ve known for months that this was going to happen," Ziemek said. "He’s a great kid and he just goes out there and competes. He loves Michigan. He loves Michigan State and he’s going to go out there and represent our country well. He’s young and I’m excited for him."

Baldwin, the 28-year-old Williams and Ziemek, 31, all possess the Olympic standard necessary to be members of the U.S. national team to compete in France.

The performance by Baldwin – the first collegiate athlete to win the decathlon crown at the Olympic Trials since Rafer Johnson in 1956 – helped him improve to the No. 3 competitor on the collegiate all-dates list, also trailing the 8,645 points produced last summer by back-to-back NCAA champion and German record holder Leo Neugebauer of Texas to earn a fifth-place finish at the World Athletics Championships in August in Budapest, Hungary.

"I’m just blessed to have a great group of people around me that believed in me and they were willing to bet on me as well," Baldwin said. "Obviously that was a big thing and for coach Breznau and coach Rich to do that, it was a big step, and I really felt the confidence that they had in me coming into this meet. It felt good to know that they had my back. I just have a great support group around me, from my strength coach, to friends and family and coaches. It really takes a group effort and I feel like this is a win for all of us."

Neugebauer eclipsed his own collegiate decathlon record at the Division 1 final June 5-6 at Hayward Field with 8,961 points, improving on his championship mark of 8,836 points last year at his home facility at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas.

Kyle Garland, a former Georgia standout who was unable to complete the decathlon Saturday at the U.S. Olympic Trials after spraining his ankle during pole vault warmups, endured a heartbreaking conclusion after elevating himself to second place following the first seven events.

Neugebauer and Garland are the only collegiate athletes to score higher in the decathlon at any point during the year than Baldwin, who finished second behind the German star by a margin of 6,347 points to 6,238 points in March in the heptathlon at the NCAA Division 1 Indoor Championships.

Baldwin’s only previous decathlon during the outdoor season came at Mt. SAC Relays, where he finished second with 8,470 points behind former Arkansas standout and Puerto Rican competitor Ayden Owens-Delerme, who accumulated 8,732 points.

Ziemek completed only four events at Mt. SAC Relays, with Williams finishing just the opening race by participating in the 100-meter dash in California.

With Garland not able to start the pole vault competition after amassing 6,231 points through seven events, Williams took advantage of the window of opportunity to ascend from fifth to third on the eighth event and maintain his position the rest of the way.

"The whole decathlon was a rollercoaster. I had a really bad high jump and I thought I was out of it, but I just stayed in it and got a mark in every event and got third place, which is all you need to do to make the team," Williams said. "That was the only goal coming in."

Ziemek put the pressure on Baldwin in the pole vault, clearing 17-6.50 (5.35m) to prevail in the event and outscore Baldwin and his 15-11 (4.85m) effort by 155 points to build a 121-point advantage entering the javelin throw.

But Baldwin responded with a 218-9 (66.69m) performance in the second round of javelin competition, with Ziemek throwing only 184-6 (56.24m). Baldwin regained the lead by a 37-point margin in the 1,500.

Although the leading contenders both boasted personal-best efforts in the 1,500 less than a second apart, Baldwin secured sixth overall, but prevailed by more than 11 seconds against Ziemek to account for the final margin.

Williams was second in the 1,500 in 4:36.60, with Joseph Delgado of Jacksonville Athletic Club – ninth overall at 7,816 points – emerging victorious in 4:31.92.

Despite opening Friday in 12th place overall following a wind-legal 10.85 seconds in the 100-meter dash, Baldwin concluded the first day in the lead in Oregon with 4,508 points, a 39-point improvement on his score at the midway point at Mt. SAC Relays.

Baldwin won the shot put at 54-2.50 (16.52m), along with the high jump following a 6-11.75 (2.13m) clearance and the 110-meter hurdles by clocking a wind-legal 13.77 seconds, before shifting the momentum for good with his javelin victory.

Baldwin wasn’t the only Michigan State athlete Saturday to qualify to compete in Paris, with former Spartans’ All-American and last year’s U.S. national champion Tori Franklin taking third in the women’s triple jump at 45-0.25 (13.72m).