Itasca native Zach Ziemek finished seventh in the decathlon at the Summer Olympics in Rio.
UWBadgers.com reported Ziemek, a recent University of Wisconsin graduate, amassed 8,392 points over 10 events — a point total that was 21 off his personal best and gave him the highest placing for a U.S. collegiate competitor since 1984. He finished second among United States competitors behind gold-medal winner Ashton Eaton.
Ziemek's best events in Rio were the discus, 100-meter dash and pole vault, finishing third in each event. He had a best throw of 49.42 meters in discus, a time of 10.71 second in the 100, and made a top vault of 5.2 meters. He finished fifth in the high jump with a leap of 2.1 meters.
In other events, he was ninth in the long jump (7.49), 15th in the javelin throw (60.92), 17th in the 110 hurdles (14.77), 18th in the 1,500 run (4:42.97), 21st in the 400 dash (49.83) and 25th in the shot put (13.44).
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