Germantown Academy grad Kyle Garland sets collegiate decathlon record

Kyle Garland of Philadelphia, a junior at Georgia, set a collegiate record Saturday in the decathlon with a score of 8,720 points at the two-day USA Track and Field Combined Events Championship in Fayetteville, Ark.

Garland’s performance, which bested the former record of 8,539 points set in 2017 by Lindon Victor of Texas A&M, earned him a berth on the U.S. team for the 2022 World Track and Field Championships beginning July 15 in Eugene, Ore. The score moved him into seventh place on the all-time U.S. list.

A graduate of Germantown Academy, Garland posted six personal-best marks out of 10 events, including the final three — pole vault (15 feet, 11 inches, 865 points), javelin (195-7, 732 points) and 1,500 meters (4 minutes, 43.21 seconds, 660 points).

Garland’s top two scores came in the long jump (25-9½ , 1,025 points) and the 110-meter hurdles (13.71 seconds, 1,012 points). His 4,660 points in Friday’s first five events also set a collegiate record.

Garland easily topped his own personal-best score of 8,196 established last year at the SEC Championships. His only 2022 decathlon before this weekend was an 8,133-point performance at the Tennessee Relays.

Garrett Scantling, a former Georgia star, won the weekend competition with a score of 8,867 points. Zach Ziemek, like Scantling a 2021 Olympian, took the third qualifying spot with 8,573 points.