EUGENE, OR — Lee Walburn can add NCAA first-team All-American to his resume.
The Whitefish native now competing at Washington State placed seventh in the men's decathlon Thursday at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field.
Walburn was in 11th after the first five events on Wednesday, but had a strong performance Thursday, placing fourth in the discus (149 feet, 5 inches), fifth in the javelin (185-9), eighth in the pole vault (15-5½), ninth in the 1,500-meter run (4 minutes, 38.42 seconds) and 13th in the 110-meter hurdles (14.89 seconds). He totaled 7,816 points.
Texas senior Leo Neugebauer won the decathlon championship, setting a collegiate record for the second consecutive year with 8,961 points. He had five first-place finishes (long jump, shot put, high jump, discus and pole vault).
Walburn is a senior at Washington State after beginning his career at Carroll College. He was a two-time NAIA decathlon national champion with the Fighting Saints before transferring to Washington State in December of 2022.
His first season with the Cougars ended with a fifth-place finish at the 2023 Pac-12 Championships. This season, Walburn had a stellar second-place showing at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays that automatically qualified him for the NCAA Championships.
The 7,816 points scored at the Championships are a personal-best mark for Walburn, who hit personal-best marks in the 100-meter dash (10.85), shot put (49-1½), 400-meter run (48.4) and 110 hurdles during the week.
