EUGENE, ORE. – Saginaw Valley State University freshman Christian Purchase-Ofoeme finished fifth in the decathlon with 6,835 points at the USATF U20 Championships held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. This is the second straight season the Cardinals have had a student-athlete compete in the USATF U20 Championships.

Purchase-Ofoeme was fourth after the first day of competition with three top-five finishes through the first five events of the decathlon. He placed eighth in the 100m after a time of 11.39 seconds and was second in both the long jump (6.97m) and the shot put (14.05m) to top the standings after the completion of the opening three events. Purchase-Ofoeme dropped to fourth in the overall standings after finishing fifth in the high jump when he cleared the bar at 1.84m. He stayed in fourth with his time of 52.38 in the 400m to place ninth in the final event of day one.

Day two began with the 100-meter hurdles in the afternoon. Purchase-Ofoeme finished the race in fourth with a time of 15.25 seconds. The next event was the discus which was the first event win for Purchase-Ofoeme as he recorded a best throw of 45.82m. He finished the competition with a tie in eighth place in the pole vault with a mark of 3.60m, ninth in the javelin with a toss of 38.85m, and sixth in the 1500m with a time of 4:50.72.