Germantown Academy graduate and University of Georgia star Kyle Garland has won the men’s heptathlon and set a new collegiate record in the 2023 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships. Sean Reider reported the achievement for the Albuquerque Journal.

Men’s heptathlon (a seven-component track-and-field challenge) stood out among a sea of great events.

“It exceeded the hype,” said Garland. “This is by far the greatest competition I’ve been a part of and probably the greatest heptathlon competition the world has seen.”

Seven of eight podium finishers got 6,000 or more points.

Both Garland and second-placed Ayden Owens-Delerme broke Ashton Eaton’s 13-year-old NCAA record: Garland with 6,639 and Owens-Delerme with 6,518.

The performance statistics also represent the second- and third-highest scores of all time.

Garland predicted how well he would do in a comment he made to his manager last year.

“After I finished second [to Owens-Delerme] in the heptathlon [last year], I told him, ‘Next year, I’m gonna get that world record’ and we just kind of joked about it,” he said.

“But in the back of my head, I always knew I was capable of doing something absolutely incredible like that.”

As an undergrad in Fort Washington, Garland won 2018 PAISAA state championships for:

• Long jump
• Javelin
• 300 meter hurdles
• 100 meter hurdles

Read more about Kyle Garland in the Albuquerque Journal.

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Kyle Garland’s reaction to his record-breaking performance.