Reid Pakkebier closed out the win in the Central College Last Chance Decathlon Wednesday afternoon and improved his chances of qualifying for the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

Pakkebier finished with a total of 6,402 points in the two-day, 10-discipline event. The new career-best effort places Pakkebier at #19 nationally. The top 22 marks will go to the national meet and that list will be announced on Friday.  The sophomore improved his score by 404 points from the American Rivers Conference Championships over the weekend.

Lucas Heitz wrapped up his collegiate career by taking fourth with 6,140 points. He finishes as a three-time national qualifier, finishing as high as 12th at the 2022 outdoor national meet in the decathlon. He’s been an all-region performer four times and an American Rivers All-Conference performer three times, including a 2021 indoor conference title in the pentathlon. Freshman Grant Miller completed his second decathlon of his career with 5,562 points, adding 255 points from his first attempt on April 21-22. He finished in fifth place Wednesday.

Central sends a contingent of other student-athletes to the Midwest Twilight Qualifier hosted by Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois today. They will all be looking to join the list of national qualifiers headed to Rochester, New York next weekend.