Decathlon national champ Josh Davies, center, is shown with father-coach Brad Davies, Eric Hoff of BHS, Zack Gilroy of RHS, Abbie McKinney of Brentwood, Holly Van Grinsven of BHS, Austin Billings, coach Gary Kinder, Kyle McFarlan and Jake Lazas of BHS.

Brentwood resident, BHS senior finish 2-3 in girls heptathlon for Kinder Sports

Updated 9:30 a.m. Saturday
Brentwood Home Page news reports
Brentwood Academy graduate Josh Davies captured the AAU Club Nationals decathlon championship at Disney's ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando on Tuesday, while Brentwood High rising junior Eric Hoff took second.

Josh Davies is pictured with parents Nise' and Brad Davies at Disney's ESPN Wide World of Sports.

Brentwood resident Abbie McKinney, an incoming freshman at the University of Virginia, was runner-up in the girls' heptathlon, and BHS rising senior Holly Van Grinsven placed third. Qualifiers from the event will advance to the Junior Olympics.

Davies, the Division II high school state runner-up while battling an illness and injury in May, scored 6,408 points in the AAU national multi-event. Hoff, his teammate on the Kinder Sport track and field club, finished with 6,197 points.

Ravenwood's Zach Gilroy placed fourth for Kinder Sports with 5,465. New TSSAA Class AAA state high school decathlon champion Jake Lazas, a rising senior at Brentwood High, had to withdraw during the national competition due to injury.

Davies, who will attend Samford University this fall on a track scholarship, continued the family tradition of winning gold. After 10 years of training six days a week plus recovering from Achilles surgery last year, he follows in his siblings' footsteps of winning the AAU national  championship and becoming an All-American.

Ben Davies, Josh's older brother, was an All-American, national champ and a four-year TSSAA state decathlon champion at Brentwood Academy. Ben now runs track at the University of Georgia. Josh's older  sister, Philipa, was an All-American in the heptathlon and ran track at the University of North Carolina.

Lazas started off strong with a second-place finish in the 100-meter dash on Monday in 11.53 seconds, with training partner Davies fifth in 11.65.

Lazas, whose older brother Kevin holds the meet record, then won the long jump in 21 feet, 7.25 inches for 716 points. Davies , Hoff and Kinder Sport teammate Kyle McFarland were third, fourth and fifth.

Eric Hoff

Davies and Hoff went 1-2 in the shot put, with Davies amassing 796 points with a throw of 49 feet, 7 inches to Hoff's second-best 40-10.25 (634 points). Gilroy's 39-10.75 was third (616 points).

But Lazas had a foul on his first toss, then didn't compete in any more of the remaining seven events.

Davies also won the discus throw  in 123-07 (617 points), and he, Hoff and Gilroy were 1-2-3 in the javelin.

Hoff was third in discus at 109-10 (533 points), and Gilroy was fifth at 104-5 (500 points).

Davies ran the 110-meter hurdles in 15.29 seconds for the second-best time and 815 points, while Hoff scored 787 points in fourth at 15.53. Davies and Hoff were 3-4 in the 400-meter race at 51.77 and 52.56 respectively.

Hoff had the best pole vault at 12 feet, 11.50 inches for 603 points, and Gilroy tied for second at 11-11.75. Davies was sixth.

Gilroy's highest finish was the second-best high jump at 6-00.75 for 670 points. Davies tied for fourth, and Hoff was sixth.

Gilroy and Hoff were fifth and sixth in the final event, the 1,500 meters with sub-5-minute runs.

In the girls' heptathlon, McKinney scored 4,370 points and Van Grinsven had 4,308 despite battling an injury.

Abbie McKinney

McKinney out-jumped the field in the high jump at 5 feet, 1 inch for 678 points, with Van Grinsven tied for seventh at 4-9.

The Franklin Road Academy graduate also threw the shot put farthest at 35 feet, 5 inches for 581 points, while Brentwood's Van Grinsven had a fourth-best 30-00.75 (475 points).

Holly Van Grinsven

McKinney had the second-best long jump at 16 feet, 8 inches for 581 points. Van Grinsven was sixth at 15-11.50 (522 points).

Van Grinsven ran the second-fastest 200-meter dash at 25.71 for 823 points, while McKinney was sixth.

Van Grinsven finished third in the final race, the 800-meter race, in 2.28.73, with McKinney placing sixth.

The two Kinder Sport competitors also tied for third with 15.32 seconds in separate heats of the 100 hurdles for 800 points each.

Van Grinsven also had a third-best javelin toss at 87-04, while McKinney mustered just a 68-01 in eighth.