North Allegheny graduate ties NCAA decathlon mark
Ayden Owens-Delerme has cashed in on some NIL deals in recent months, one of them being a partnership with Southern fast food chain Slim Chickens.
But Owens-Delerme is actually the big dog when it comes to college decathletes, and just this past week the North Allegheny graduate and possible future Olympian bit into his first title at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Not only that, but he tied the meet record of a twotime Olympic gold medalist.
Owens-Delerme, a graduate student at the University of Arkansas, continued what has been an outstanding 2022 by capturing his first NCAA outdoor title last Thursday at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field. Owens-Delerme finished with 8,457 points, tying the mark set 12 years earlier by Oregon’s Ashton Eaton.
“That’s actually the title I’ve been waiting for the longest since I’ve been in college,” said Owens-Delerme, the runner-up in 2021. “I’ve been training to get to the top and prove I’m the top decathlete in the country. To go out and prove myself felt really good.”
Owens-Delerme took the lead by finishing in first on the final event of Day 1 — the 400-meter dash — and rolled to the title the following day.
Competing in a championship field that included 24 athletes, Owens-Delerme topped the competition in the 100 (10.41 seconds) and 400 (46.10), and placed second in the discus (151 feet, 9 inches). Leo Neugebauer of Texas finished second in the final standings with 8,362 points and Georgia’s Kyle Garland was third with 8,333 points.
The NCAA title was the second this year for OwensDelerme, who claimed an indoor title in the heptathlon in March. Plenty of individual accolades have come his way, too, including National Field Athlete of the Year during the indoor season and SEC Field Athlete of the Year during outdoor season.
Owens-Delerme has experienced quite a bit of change over the last year, which includes him adding a hyphen to his last name. He was previously known to most as “Ayden Owens,” but “Delerme” has always been part of his full legal name, he said. Delerme is his mom, Carmen’s, maiden name. Her parents were born in Puerto Rico, the country Owens-Delerme will continue to represent in international competition.
This was also Owens-Delerme’s first outdoor season at Arkansas, the school to which he transferred to last August. He previously attended USC and Michigan, excelling at both schools. He’s a former Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and Big Ten Field Athlete of the Year. OwensDelereme placed second in the decathlon at last year’s NCAA Outdoor Championships while at Michigan, but a coaching change sparked his interest in going elsewhere.
“As a whole, it’s been a learning lesson every step of the way,” Owens-Delerme said. “As a decathlete, the more experiences you have, the better you’re going to be. It’s definitely a grown man’s game and a grown man’s world. I feel like I’ve grown and matured at all the places I have been.”
That includes where he is now, and that is one of the top decathletes in not just the NCAA, but the world. Owens-Delerme owns two of the top six point totals on the planet in the decathlon this calendar year. He collected a career-best 8,528 points at the Mt. SAC Relays in California in April, at the time a collegiate record. That point total ranks fifth in the world, and his 8,457 at the NCAA Championships is sixth.
Next up for Owens-Delerme are the World Championships July 15-24 at Hayward Field. Owens-Delerme has competed in multiple international competitions at the youth level, but this will be his first at the adult level. His college career is not yet over, though. He is still working toward his MBA and said he plans on competing for Arkansas next season.
But when the calendar flips to 2023, qualifying for the 2024 Summer Olympics will take center stage. Owens-Delerme fell just short of qualifying for the last Olympics, but he’s got a great shot to do it this time around. In order to qualify, he will need to reach the 8,350-point qualifying mark some time during a window he said will be open for 18 months. His top mark in the previous Olympic qualifying cycle was 8,238.
“Considering that I didn’t qualify this past year, it’s going to mean the world to me,” Owens-Delerme said. “That is my real childhood dream. When I was young, it was to play in the NFL or NBA, but then I started running track and I wanted to be an Olympic champion. That’s back when I was 10 years old. To fulfill that dream would be wild.”
Owens-Delerme was one of five former WPIAL athletes who competed at the NCAA Championships, and one of two who came home with a medal. Connellsville graduate Madison Wiltrout continued her outstanding career by finishing third in the javelin. Wiltrout, who attends North Carolina and won an ACC title this season, had a top throw of 185-3, placing her behind only BYU’s
Ashton Riner (191-1) and Nebraska’s Maddie Harris (1893). Wiltrout also finished third in 2019.
Upper St. Clair’s Savannah Shaw and Brownsville’s Gionna Quarzo both run for North Carolina State and both competed in distance events — Shaw the 5,000 and Quarzo the 10,000. Shaw placed 20th and Quarzo 16th. Shaw finished in 16:02.32 and Quarzo in 33:46.78. It was Shaw’s second appearance at the NCAA Outdoor Championships after placing 16th in the 5,000 a year earlier.
South Park’s Maura Huwalt made her debut at the championships and placed 17th in the discus with a top throw of 164-4. Huwalt won an SEC title this season while setting a new school record.
Penn State had six athletes competing at the meet, a group led by Tyler Merkley, who claimed a second-place finish in the hammer throw. Merkley’s heave of 238-6 was second to only Southeast Missouri State’s Logan Blomquist’s 240-8. Madison Smith was 17th in the javelin and Mallory Kauffman 19th in the shot put. Rachel Gearing and Victoria Tachinski competed in the 800 and Yasmin Brooksin the 100 hurdles, but none of them qualified for the finals.
Collin Ebling became only the third Duquesne man to compete at the championships and the first since 2014. Ebling, who is from Pottsville, finished 17th in the 800 after running a 1:48.02.
Felix Wolter (decathlon) and Noah Walker (hammer throw) represented Pitt, but the meet didn’t go as planned for either. Wolter was unable to compete due to a hip injury he suffered while winning the ACC title. Walker fouled on all three of his attempts and finished in last place. Still, Walker became the first Pitt athlete to earn All-American recognition in the event.