PARKLAND, Wash. – Junior Joe Cerne successfully defended his crown and claimed his second Northwest Conference decathlon title on Tuesday at the NWC Multi-Event Championships on Tuesday. Cerne finished the 10 events with 6,321 points, which was 82 points higher than last year’s winning mark.

Cerne finished day one of the decathlon in fifth place but came all the way back on day two to reclaim the NWC title.Cameron Braithwaite finished fourth with 5,903 points and Myles McDonald took seventh 5,496 points. The trio combined to score 17 points for the Loggers in the NWC Championships. The complete championship meet will take place in less than two weeks.

Sitting in fifth place, Cerne posted the best marks among all competitors in each of the final four events to overcome the rest of the field. He threw the discus 36.99 meters (121-feet, 4-inches). He vaulted half a meter higher than anyone else at 4.35 meters (14-feet, 3.25-inches). Braithwaite was his closest competitor and just over 12 and a half feet.

He threw the javelin 54.1 meter (177-feet, 6-inches), which was over 10 feet farther than anyone else, to take the lead for the first time in the meet. With a lead of over 100 points going into the final event, Cerne wasn’t about to let up. He was the first to finish the 1500 meter run with a time of 4:41.61 to officially claim the title for the second year in a row.

Emily Sheldon also moved in the heptathlon standings on day two. She placed ninth with 3,332 points, moving up one spot from where she ended day one.

The larger Logger team is back on the track this weekend at the Spike Arlt Invitational at Central Washington and the NWC Championships take place on April 26-27 at Willamette.