Plutowski Third, Gagnon Fourth After Day One of Aztec Invitational Decathlon

SAN DIEGO - The North Dakota State men's track & field team opened the 2013 outdoor season with three decathletes competing at the Aztec Invitational on Thursday. After five events, Bison redshirt freshman Kellen Plutowski stands in third place, and sophomores Beau Gagnon and Alex Koppy are fourth and seventh, respectively.

Plutowski posted the third-fastest 400m dash time at 51.56 seconds and the fourth-best performances in the 100m dash, long jump and shot put to total 3,202 points on the first day of the decathlon.

Gagnon cleared a personal-best 6-07.00 (2.01m) in the high jump on his way to 3,188 points through five events, and Koppy posted 2,903 points.

Utah Valley's Michael McPherson leads the decathlon with 3,767 points.

The decathlon will conclude on Friday when competition will be held in the majority of the track & field events.