Taiwo leads after first day of heptathlon at USA Indoor champs...

ROXBURY CROSSING, MA.—University of Washington alum Jeremy Taiwo (left/photo by Paul Merca) won three of four events to take the first day lead in the heptathlon at the USA Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Reggie Lewis Track & Athletic Center just outside of Boston.

The Newport HS grad, who now resides in Chula Vista, California at the US Olympic Training Center, scored 3471 points, 41 points short of his first day personal best score set last month.

Taiwo finished third in the 60 meter dash, running 7.09, 3/100ths of a second slower than he ran at last month’s UW Invitational.  But like he did in Seattle in late January, he then reeled off three straight wins in the long jump (24-3/7.39m, 908 points), shot put (47-7/14.50m, 759 points), and the high jump (7-1/2.16m, 953 points), with his high jump a season best.

In describing his first day performance, Taiwo said, “It was alright. It was 6:30 a.m. on the West coast when we started, so I wasn’t awake and I didn’t get out that well in the 60, speed wise. I can understand how my body was feeling, so that’s okay. Luckily my second jump going into the long jump was a little better. I felt like everything was just connecting and probably just wasn’t enough pop from travel legs and the time it was, so that was good. I got on the board for all three of them, so I was cool with that.”

“For shot put, I had all three fair throws, so I wasn’t struggling to get in it. I had a good shot put at the end. Going into the high jump, my legs felt really heavy, and I was thinking it might just be one of those days when I need to just get over my opening height and the next height to keep going. I got a little bit of work going and tried to stay positive and in the right mental state. I started having fun. It kind of felt like the first time I went over seven feet, when I set the American record at the time. Bars kept going, and I felt powerful, so it was good.”

Here is a link to USATF.tv of Taiwo's best clearance in the high jump.

The meet continues Saturday with the final three events of the heptathlon.

Also competing Saturday will be Michael Berry (300); McKayla Fricker, Phoebe Wright and Megan Malasarte (w600); Cas Loxsom & Mark Wieczorek (m600); Alexa Efraimson (w1000); Katie Mackey and Amanda Mergaert (wMile); and Riley Masters (mMile).



NOTE:  USA Track & Field contributed to this report.

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