Mullings wins men’s decathlon

Mullings wins men’s decathlon
University of The Bahamas (UB) sophomore Ken Mullings (centre) receiving his gold medal in the decathlon at the 2018 Penn Relays.

University of The Bahamas (UB) sophomore Ken Mullings came up with the biggest victory of his collegiate career Wednesday on Franklin Field at the 2018 Penn Relays.

Mullings used a strong opening day performance to win the men’s decathlon with 5231 total points. Darryl Workcuff from St. Mary’s University (SMU) was second with 4,803 points and Christopher Gabor, also from SMU, took bronze with 4,716 points.

Mullings dominated the first five events of the decathlon, particularly the high jump.

Mullings jumped 6’, 6 ¼” at Franklin Field and topped everyone else in the 10-man field by at least 8 ¼”, rolling up 794 points to take a 208-point lead at that stage of the competition. He closed with a 50.84-second performance in the 400 meters and finished the second day of competition with 3,839 points.

Earlier this year, Mullings set a new Bahamian national record in the heptathlon at the Fred Wilt Invitational at the Lambert Fieldhouse at Purdue University in West, Lafayette, Indiana.

In achieving his accomplishment, the 20-year-old shattered the previous indoor record of 4,141 points, set by Desmond Major at the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Championships on March 8, 2014, by accumulating a total of 5,059 points.

Mullings also established school records in the high jump (2.09m) and the pole vault (3.64m).

The university held a special day in Mullings’ honour, following the heptathlon record.

Kimberley Rolle, the Athletic Director at the University of the Bahamas (UB), called it a historic day because there are very few institutions that can claim a national record holder in their midst.

“What Ken represent is the best in The Bahamas and he has done that as a University of the Bahamas student-athlete and we thought that for a brief moment that it was worthy of recognition,” she declared.

“Ken, we want to say how proud we are of you. You are a good role model as a student, as an A-1 athlete.”

About Randy Smith

Randy Smith is the producer of the widely-watched local television show “Beyond The Headlines” and the web content manager of Eyewitness News. He joined Eyewitness News as a sportscaster in 2018, a role he still performs, and has previously covered a slew of international sporting events, including the 2015 Pan American Games, the Nike EYBL Showcase, several IAAF World Relays, the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, the Commonwealth Youth Games, the Bahamas Bowl and multiple CARIFTA Swimming and Track & Field Championships. Randy has been recognized by the Bahamas Press Club with awards for “Best Sports Broadcast” as a sportscaster and “Best TV Talk Show” as a producer.