Selle Overcomes And Rallies To Post A Runner-Up Finish
Junior Peyton Selle overcame a season-long lower-leg injury and rallied to post a second-place finish at the MIAC heptathlon.
NORTHFIELD, Minn. (5/05/23)---Junior Peyton Selle overcame a season-long lower-leg injury and rallied to post a second-place finish at the MIAC heptathlon.
Selle, who hasn't been able to train on a consistent basis for the outdoor season, started Day 2 in fourth place and then had stellar performances in the long jump, javelin and 800 meters.
Selle posted three straight second-place finishes in the three events on Friday, scored at least 550 points in all three events and jumped two places to finish with a total of 4,343 points. Her total is 21 points better than her final score in last year's conference heptathlon when she won the event by 71 points.
Selle's total over the two days is currently No.18 on the NCAA Division III list. She is preesently inside the qualifying number of 22 that earn a spot at the NCAA National Outdoor Meet.
Selle started the second day 74 points behind Grace Blanchette of St. Olaf, who totaled 2,599 points on Day 1. Selle cut into that margin by 55 points when she recorded a career-best distance of 16-11.25 in the long jump. That mark earned her the first of three runner-up finishes on the day among the 13 competitors.
Selle turned her attention to the javelin, and after failing on all of her warm-up attempts, she uncorked a throw of 114-03, earning her 568 points for the career-best effort. Her total catapulted her into second place in the overall standings, with only one event remaining in the competition.
Selle finished the MIAC multi-event by clocking a 2:33.71 in her first 800 meters of the season. That time was only 1.16 seconds off her career-best mark. Her finishing time also helped her hold off a charge from Rebekah Salfer of St. Olaf, a middle-distance specialist who won the event with a time of 2:26.15.
Selle finished the heptathlon 14 points ahead of Salfer to earn her third straight All-Conference honor in the heptathlon. She has now finished in the Top 2 in five consecutive MIAC multi-event competitions.
Selle's second-place finish earned the Cobber eight team points heading into next weekend's conference championship meet.