ACU senior Camille Vandendriessche picked the perfect weekend to post a personal-best in the decathlon.
Not only did his final total of 7,674 points earn him a record-setting third straight NCAA Division II national championship in the event, but he did it while performing in front of his father, Laurent, who was in the United States for the first time to see his son compete.
Vandendriessche's performance gave the Wildcats 10 big points Friday in their pursuit of an eighth straight men's outdoor championship at the LeGrand Sports Complex on the Angelo State campus. His point total also eclipsed his previous personal best of 7,559 points that he set in April 2008 at the Texas Relays in Austin.
With his victory in the decathlon, Vandendriessche becomes the first athlete in NCAA Division II history to win three straight multi-event championships, the third athlete in NCAA history to win three straight multi-event titles, and only the fourth athlete in NCAA history to win three multi-event titles in a career.
Vandendriessche trailed Angelo State's Ryan McWilliams by less than 100 points after Thursday's opening day of competition, and then went into Friday's final day of competition knowing he was in good shape to win a third straight title. The senior from Paris, France, has always been a second-day performer, and he proved it again Friday, despite having to deal with less-than-ideal wind conditions.
After a solid performance in the 110 hurdles (796 points), Vandendriessce poured it on over the next three events, winning the discus (150 feet, 10 inches; 787 points) and the pole vault (16-0.75; 880 points) and finishing a strong second in the javelin (179-2; 657 points) to take a commanding 400-point lead into the final event of the competition. All Vandendriessche had to do to win the event was finish the 1500 meters, and he did that, finishing a solid fifth (4:51.17) to finish off his personal best and win the decathlon.
"The key for me was how I performed (Thursday)," said Vandendriessche, who in March won the first NCAA Division II men's heptathlon at the indoor championship meet. "I knew that I couldn't be too far behind and still have a chance to win, and I was able to stay close. Once I did that, I knew I had a very good chance to win (Friday)."
As is usually the case with Vandendriessche, he devoured the competition in the three middle events on the second day, scoring 2,324 points in those three events alone. The pole vault was the turning point as he was able to put a pretty large gap between himself and McWilliams. While Vandendriessche cleared 16-0.75 for 880 points, McWilliams cleared just 13-5.25 to earn 645 points.
"That event was the key," Vandendriessche said. "I knew if I could make a solid bar and put up some big points in that event that I would win the competition."
ACU head coach, Don D. Hood, was more impressed with his senior's perserverance than anything else on Friday.
"The pressure that Camille has felt all year to win three in a row has been tremendous," Hood said. "He wanted to do it for a lot of reasons, and he knew everyone was gunning for him this year, both indoors and outdoors.
"Then he gets out here today and the elements are against him in his key events," he said. "But I'm so proud of the way he fought through it and came away with the championship."
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