(KLZA)-- The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Outdoor Track and Field National Championships saw a record go down on Friday as Doane's Kale Wolken (SR/Tecumseh, Neb.) broke the decathlon mark. Wolken posted 7,830 points to break the record of 7,818 points set by Alper Kasapoglu of Western Oregon in 1996.

The 10 events of the decathlon began on Thursday morning in Gulf Shores, Alabama, with the 100m dash. Wolken, setting a goal prior to the season to break the NAIA record, set the tone by hitting a personal best time of 10.94 seconds, best of all competitors. He would go on to win seven of the 10 events, place second in two of them and fifth in the final event.

The first day Wolken had the top mark in the long jump (23-06) despite fouling on his first two attempts. In the shot put he posted the top mark (43-01.75) and had the second-best mark in the high jump (6-05.50). He capped the opening day with a win in the 400m dash with a time of 49.77.

The second day began with back-to-back personal best marks in the 100m hurdles and the discus. He ran a time of 14.88 seconds in the hurdles, the second-best mark, and followed with the top mark of 143-08.25 in the discus.

Where it turned interesting was during the pole vault. Wolken was entered in the open long jump which ran at the same time as the decathlon pole vault. While waiting to enter the pole vault, he was able to get his three jumps in for the long jump. Like the day before in the decathlon portion, he fouled on his first two attempts. On his final attempt in the open long jump, he hit a mark of 24-05.00. The rest of the event finished as Wolken returned his focus to the decathlon. His mark in the long jump held up for 5th place and NAIA All-American honors.

As he returned to the pole vault, Wolken again posted the best mark of the competitors with a height of 15-11.00. In the javelin, he had a throw of 187-06.75 which was also the best mark. Going into the final event, Wolken needed to run a time of 4:45.00 to tie the meet record and his personal best time going in was 4:44.94.

Wolken kept up with the front of the pack but was behind his planned pace time by about four seconds after the first lap. He was able to bounce back in the last 800 meters and let it all out on the track as he crossed the finish line in pure exhaustion but with a personal best time of 4:43.01.

Wolken joins Kasapoglu as the only NAIA decathletes to win three national championships in the event. Kasapoglu won the event four times from 1994-97. Wolken's point total also moved him into 4th on the United States charts and has him in position to qualify for the USA Championships in Oregon which will decide who represents the country at the Olympics in Rio.

Doane had four more competitors in the decathlon including  Michael Lucas (JR/Sterling, Neb.) was 14th with 5,912 points.