Ryan ChartrandFour races, three jumps and three throwing events over two full days make up Cal Poly junior James Nunno’s area of track and field expertise – the decathlon.
On May 6, Nunno won the Big West Conference decathlon title with 6,772 points. Nunno began the final day in second place but leveled the competition when he earned 804 points in the pole vault by clearing 15 feet, 3 inches.
“That was a big goal of mine,” Nunno said. “It feels amazing. My next big goal is breaking the school’s record for the decathlon.”
Cal Poly’s current decathlon record is held by Jon Takahashi, who scored 7,307 points in 2003.
Nunno’s well-rounded athletic ability started well before his career with the Mustangs by playing basketball, football and soccer along with track and field during high school.
Despite Nunno’s history in all types of athletics, he only began experimenting with several of the decathlete events in the last few years. On Nunno’s very first day attempting the pole vault as a freshman at Cuesta College, he cleared 11 feet.
Nunno and other Cal Poly decathletes balance individual events with the track and field team along with the decathlons. The decathletes choose around three decathlons that they will participate in for the season and then compete with the track and field team on the rest of their available weekends.
At the Big West Championships from May 11 to 12, Nunno ran in a 400 relay and tied for fourth in the vault.
“The hardest part about all my training is balancing it with my school work,” he said. “My coach always says that I picked the hardest major, architectural engineering, and the most time-consuming event.”
To stay in shape for the 10 competitive events, Nunno works out every day, with each practice dedicated to working on two or three separate events in the areas of running, throwing and jumping.
The decathlon is a two-day event with five events on each day. The athletes have exactly 30 minutes after the last person finishes an event before they begin competing in the next. In that time, Nunno warms up and practices his technique for his next challenge.
“Up until the actual competition, it is all just mental preparation,” Nunno said. “You can’t get too stressed out. You just need to believe in your abilities,” Nunno said. “The key is to take it one event at a time. For me, I have a rule – you get five minutes after the event is over to vent, then you let it go and move on.”
Nunno has already worked with advisers to plan out his class schedule for his architectural engineering load in order to allow him more time to train next year and accomplish his record-breaking goal.
“The events I personally need to work on improving are the hurdles, javelin, long jump and high jump,” Nunno said. “From day one training for next season, we are going to hit the hurdles hard. My coach thinks I have a lot of potential in that area. Improving these events will give me 300 to 400 more points next year. Weightlifting will be a huge portion of my training getting ready for next season and with the strength will come speed.”
Nunno sticks to a rigorous training schedule, but his diet is not a big factor when it comes to getting ready for the big events. He can eat whatever he wants within reason. His main problem is keeping the calories on.
“Next year we are planning on going to some bigger decathlon meets with better conditions to give me a better chance of performing at my peak,” Nunno said.
Next season will be Nunno’s last competing for the Mustangs.
“I could not have won the championship if it wasn’t for my teammates and coaches,” he said. “Although out there in the events you are technically on your own, it is nice to have the team support.”