Keith Orona was a high jumper at Enochs High School in Modesto. He added the javelin and long jump in his first year at Modesto Junior College before becoming a decathlete as a sophomore.
Two and a half years later, Orona has ascended to the national stage. The Cal State Fullerton student-athlete competed against 23 others in the decathlon at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
Orona was joined in Eugene by Titans teammates Ian Dossman, Abel Jordan, Isaiah Emerson, Dominic Gates and Maleik Pabon. The four-day meet took place at the University of Oregon’s historic Hayward Field and was televised and streamed on ESPN outlets.
Dossman competed individually in the 100 meters and 200 meters, while Jordan raced in the 100 meters. The pair joined Emerson and Gates in the 4x100m relay. Pabon, a rising senior from Las Vegas, was the relay alternate.
“It’s awesome being on the national stage. It’s something I didn’t expect,” said the 6-foot-5 Orona, who played quarterback on his high school and junior college football teams and power forward on his junior college basketball team.
Orona qualified for the NCAA decathlon finals by scoring 7675 points in a second-place finish at the Big West Outdoor Track and Field Championships in May at Long Beach State. Orona finished first in the discus (46.71m) and javelin (60.39m) and placed second in five other events in setting a Fullerton record for decathlon points.
Read more on the Titans Athletics website.