Josh Kirk, who held a healthy 70-point lead after Day One of the Kansas Relays decathlon, wasn’t about to let it slip away Thursday at Memorial Stadium.

Not with several family members, roommates and even his pastor on hand.

“My grandpa kept saying all through the day, ‘You’re going to be in the record books right next to Bruce Jenner, Steve Fritz,'” said Kirk, a Kansas University junior out of Olathe South.

“I am in the books with them now. It’s cool,” Kirk added after placing third in the decathlon’s 10th and final individual event – the 1,500 – and claiming a 556-point victory over Wichita State’s Chris Dickman.

Kirk – who finished with an NCAA provisional qualifying 7,152 points – won the pole vault (15-3) and javelin (185-9), was second in the discus (119-5), third in the 1,500 (4:38.63) and fourth in the 110 hurdles (16.35) Thursday.

Wednesday, he notched firsts in the long jump and high jump.

“Today’s goal was to qualify for nationals,” Kirk said. “They take the top 22 to NCAAs. I know I’m on the list at least.”

Kirk shrugged off a two-hour delay between the pole vault and javelin as the competitors waited for the open hammer competition to end.

“I camped out. I found a little spot under the stadium. I tried to chill out, got some food and sat in the shade,” he said.

KU freshman Jacob Breth placed sixth with 5,826 points.

Nebraska junior Casie Witte, who was competing in her first heptathlon of the season, won in an NCAA provisional qualifying 5,255 points. Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Jenni Saarinen was second in 4,970.

“A couple of weeks ago, the Texas Relays didn’t go as well as I hoped. I barely ‘provisionaled,'” Witte said. “I was more prepared coming into this meet. It was an overall P.R. (personal record) for me, gets me higher on the list for nationals.”

KU’s Chelsea Helm placed seventh with 3,812 points.

Zlata Tarasova, a KU sophomore from Togliatti, Russia, won the women’s hammer with a throw of 203 feet, 2 inches.

“I competed like it was practice,” Tarasova said. “The weather was really, really good, and that helped. I was close to my P.R.”

Victor Chesang, a KU sophomore from Kenya, won the unseeded 3,000 steeplechase in 9:53.16.

“It’s good to win here at home, especially since it has been awhile since I’ve won,” Chesang said. “This is a good boost for me.”

Steven Schoon a KU senior from Winfield, won the open 5K on his 22nd birthday, finishing in 16:11.39.

“It’s just what I wanted. I got my birthday wish today,” Schoon said. “I shocked myself. I ran my P.R. by 14 seconds.”

Michael Smith, an assistant coach in charge of distance runners at Kansas State, won the masters mile in 4:37.91.

“I was hoping I could run faster, but I haven’t run a race in six years so I really had no idea,” Smith said. “I like to race, and I am happy I was able to get here without hurting myself,” he cracked.