CABOT -- Joey Saucier lived up to the legacy.
A second-place finish in the discus helped Saucier win the 52nd annual high school decathlon Thursday at Panther Stadium, marking the third consecutive year that a Rogers Heritage athlete has won the title.
Daniel Spickes won the decathlon in 2014, after Alex Miles started the War Eagles' run with a victory in 2013.
"I'm really proud of the Heritage legacy that we have," said Saucier, who was joined in the top 10 by teammate Brandon Shaw, a junior who finished sixth. "We have athletes who are strong in almost every event, and I'm pretty sure Brandon will do good next year."
Saucier, a senior, turned in a personal-best throw of 132 feet, 3 inches in the discus to finish second behind Bentonville's Shelby Story (140-1 1/2), but the runner-up finish helped propel Saucier to the decathlon title.
"My goal was between 110 and 120 and threw 132," said Saucier, who will play football at Air Force. "I could have thrown it farther if I had more throws, but I was really proud of what I did today."
Saucier won the decathlon with 6,012 points. Lake Hamilton's Donell West was second with 5,890 points, while Hamburg's Lorenzo Watkins finished third with 5,846 points.
Rogers Heritage Coach Jay Miles said Saucier made gains in the discus over the past couple of weeks.
"The discus was big for him," Miles said. "Those were big point scorers for Joey."
Saucier finished sixth in the triple jump (41-4 1/2), 10th in the pole vault (10-6) and 16th in the 110-meter hurdles (17.43). He went into the final event, the 1,500-meter run, first overall with 5,649 points, and his time of 5:37.56 -- good for 39th -- was good enough to nail down the title.
"I gained some confidence, but I knew some people were creeping up on me," Saucier said. "I just had to maintain."
Completing the top 10 were Crossett's Trayvon Caldwell (5,713), Genoa Central's Hayden Hampton (5,652), Shaw (5,631), Fayetteville's Cameron Case (5,597), Rogers' Tony Roller (5,473), Melbourne's Dalton Romero (5,445) and Beebe's Conner Patrom (5,400).
Watkins won the 110-meter high hurdles in 15.43, earning 798 points. Caldwell took the triple jump title with a leap of 44-2. Springdale Har-Ber's Zach McWhorter won the pole vault by clearing 13-6 1/4, and Patrick Hill of Heber Springs won the 1,500 in 4:25.50.
Miles said before the decathlon this week that Rogers Heritage, which opened in 2008, is becoming known for decathletes. The latest chapter only reinforces that.
"We count on the sprinters and jumpers doing a lot of events, so that lends itself to breeding a decathlete," Miles said. "It's kind of the way we do things."
Sports on 05/22/2015