Dakotah Keys had a big second day in the heptathlon to come back from fourth place and win with 5,589 points at the UW Dempsey Indoor Track and Field Meet Saturday, Jan. 26, in Seattle.
Keys, a 2010 Sweet Home graduate, opened the competition by tying his heptathlon best in the 60 hurdles in 8.36. The junior from Sweet Home followed that with a huge indoor personal best in the pole vault, clearing 16-0¾ (4.90 meters). That was more than five inches better than his previous indoor best of 15-7 set in 2011.
He then placed second in the 1,000 meters in another PR, 2:40.90, to clinch the victory.
The meet record is 6174 points, set in 2009 by Ashton Eaton of Oregon, who won the Olympic decathlon last summer.
Keys ran the 60 meters in 7.24 (799 points), the 60-meter hurdles in 8.36 (893), high jumped 6-2 (696), long jumped 22-7 (785), and threw the shot 42-11½.