Defending decathlon champion Williams will be tested against deep field that includes Ziemek, Owens-Delerme, Oiglane and Bastien; Jones returns as professional entry following heptathlon victory last year for USC, squaring off against veteran American competitors and several elite NCAA standouts, as well as prep star Gero-Holt in pursuit of national record

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

A dozen decathletes who have eclipsed the 8,000-point barrier, along with another 11 heptathletes who have surpassed 6,000 points in their careers are scheduled to compete at the 64th Mt. SAC Relays Presented by Nike, beginning at 10 a.m. PDT Wednesday and concluding Thursday afternoon.

The heptathlon and decathlon competitions, coordinated by Don Turnbull and featuring both elite professional athletes along with college standouts and high school star JaiCieonna Gero-Holt from Washington, kick off the four-day schedule at Hilmer Lodge Stadium in Walnut, Calif.

WATCH LIVE WEBCAST APRIL 17-20 OF 64TH MT. SAC RELAYS PRESENTED BY NIKE ON RUNNERSPACE+PLUS

The decathlon will be split into two groups of 12 and 11 competitors, respectively, with a scheduled 20 entries in the heptathlon.

Leading the decathlon field are American athletes Zach Ziemek and Harrison Williams, who boast personal-best efforts of 8,676 and 8,630 points, respectively.

Dave Johnson has held the decathlon record of 8,727 points at the Mt. SAC Relays since 1992.

Ziemek earned the bronze medal following his lifetime-best performance at the 2022 World Athletics Outdoor Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

Williams prevailed last year at Mt. SAC with 8,492 points.

Ayden Owens-Delerme, a former Arkansas standout representing Puerto Rico, enters the event with a personal-best 8,532 points from his fourth-place effort at the 2022 World Championships in Oregon.

Estonian competitor Janek Oiglane is also expected to participate with a personal-best 8,524 points.

Americans Steven Bastien (8,485 points), Devon Williams (8,345), Heath Baldwin (8,084), Ryan Talbot (8,064) and Jack Flood (8,034), join Iowa standout Austin West (8,331) in the top group, along with Arkansas competitor and British athlete Jack Turner (8,011), as well as Washington’s Bruno Comin Pescador, representing Spain, and his personal-best 7,979 points.

Arkansas will feature four entries in the second group of decathlon competitors, including Dutch performer Gabriel Emmanuel, Puerto Rican representative Yariel Soto Torrado and American athletes Daniel Spejcher and Marcus Weaver.

Another Dutch competitor, Oregon’s Raphael Rapp, is also expected to participate, along with a second British performer, Washington’s Jami Schlueter. Miami (Florida) athlete Edgar Campre, representing Portugal, is also entered, in addition to American entries Aiden Ouimet from Illinois, Andrew Aguilar of Cal State Fullerton and Wisconsin’s Cade Amborn.

Japanese 37-year-old competitor Keisuke Ushiro, who produced a lifetime-best 8,308 points in 2014, completes the field of decathletes.

The American trio of Erica Bougard, Annie Kunz and Chari Hawkins leads the heptathlon competition, along with Chinese professional athlete Ninali Zheng, who has a top career mark of 6,358 points.

Bougard boasts a personal-best 6,725 points, Kunz has amassed a lifetime-best 6,703 points and Hawkins enters with a top career performance of 6,366 points. Michelle Atherley, the reigning Thorpe Cup winner for the United States, is also entered with a personal-best 6,352 points.

Allie Jones, a former star at USC and Stanford, won the heptathlon last year at Mt. SAC with 6,217 points. Jones enters the competition as a first-year professional athlete with a personal-best 6,234 points.

Estonian performer Pippi Lotta Enok from Oklahoma, the reigning NCAA Division 1 champion with 6,165 points, is also entered, along with Texas standout Kristine Blazevica from Latvia and her personal-best 6,146 points.

Beatrice Juskeviciute, a former Vanderbilt and Cornell standout who secured runner-up honors at the NCAA Division 1 final last year, boasts a lifetime-best 6,117 points.

American professional athletes Alex Gochenour-Brondyke (6,129 points) and Erin Marsh (6,024 points), both representing Duke, are also expected to participate, in addition to Melanie Winters (5,727 points).

Japanese competitor Meg Hemphill (5,907 points) is also entered.

Jadin O’Brien, the two-time NCAA Division 1 indoor pentathlon champion from Notre Dame, is also scheduled to compete, along with Colorado’s Avery McMullen, Oregon’s Taylor Chocek, German standout Jenna Fee Feyerabend from San Diego State, Swedish performer Angel Richmore of Oklahoma and Lithuanian athlete Urte Bacianskaite representing Kansas State.

Gero-Holt, a junior at Emerald Ridge High who has committed to Illinois and is expected to graduate early to join the program in Champaign under the guidance of Illini coach Petros Kyprianou, is the No. 4 all-time U.S. prep competitor with 5,552 points.

The recognized national high school record is 5,829 points achieved in 2019 by former Valor Christian High of Colorado standout Anna Hall, who also boasts a 5,847-point performance as a prep competitor that included a wind-aided long jump, which didn’t allow it to be ratified as the record-setting mark.