CAC Games decathlon gold, bronze for Owens-Delerme, Soto Torrado

SAN SALVADOR – Razorback Ayden Owens-Delerme claimed just the second ever decathlon gold medal for Puerto Rico during the Central American and Caribbean Games, winning the event with a meet record 8,281 points while teammate Yariel Soto Torrado earned a bronze medal with 7,762 points.

The gold and bronze finish by the Arkansas pair produced the best Puerto Rican finish in the CAC Games decathlon since 2010 when Steven Marrero and Marcos Sanchez finished second and third.

Owens-Delerme broke the meet record of 8,118 set in 1982 by Cuba’s Rual Duany. Cuba has claimed a total of 10 gold medals in the dozen CAC Games decathlons held since 1970 with the event being held every four years. From 1930 to 1966, the pentathlon was held at the CAC Games.

The previous winner from Puerto Rico was Liston Bochette in 1982, while there has been a silver medalist (2010) and pair of bronze medalists (1993 & 2010).

Racing in the 800m following a heavy downpour, Arkansas alum Shafiqua Maloney advanced to the final with a 2:05.42 as runner-up in her heat and fifth overall. Maloney, representing St. Vincent and the Grenadines, led the field through 400m at 1:00.50.

The final of the women’s 800m will be held at 7:30 p.m. (CT) on Wednesday.

Owens-Delerme opened the second day of the decathlon by winning the 110m hurdles (1.1 wind) with a 13.85 for 994 points while Soto Torrado finished seventh in 14.71 to secure 863. The pair of Razorbacks were nearly identical in the discus with Owens-Delerme hitting a mark of 142-4 (43.40) and Soto Torrado following with a 142-3 (43.37) as they finished second and third in the event to add 734 and 733 points, respectively.

A clearance of 15-5 (4.70) placed Soto Torrado second in the pole vault while Owens-Delerme tied for third at 15-1 (4.60) as they scored 819 and 790 points. In the javelin, a career best throw of 185-9 (56.62) won the event and picked up 687 points for Owens-Delerme while Soto Torrado threw 154-6 (47.11) in seventh for 546 points.

In the final event, Owens-Delerme needed to score 819 points to reach the 2024 Olympic Games standard of 8,460 points. In order to generate that many points in the 1,500m he would need to run 4:18.9.

Soto Torrado won the final event in 4:26.50 for 768 points to move into bronze medal position. Owens-Delerme ran 4:46.57 for fourth and 640 additional points.

Ken Mullings of the Bahamas claimed the silver medal with a score of 8,060 points. Equaling the score by Soto Torrado for third was Jose Paulino of Dominican Republic while Cuba’s Yancarlos Hernandez finished fifth with 7,654.

Soto Torrado held a 6-4 edge over Paulino in breaking down the event finishes between the two.