C-SC’s Straus takes on heptathlon with gusto, qualifies for NAIA outdoor nationals

CANTON, Mo. — Delaney Straus is no stranger to a heavy workload.

The past two years, Straus has played guard for the Culver-Stockton College women’s basketball team while also participating in multiple events, including the heptathlon, for the track and field team. She is also double majoring in accounting and business administration.

“Sometimes you just have to take the ‘L’ on a test tomorrow because you had practice until 8 p.m. and you just need to go to sleep,” Straus said.

Straus had very little time to rest after a delay at the Heart of America Athletic Conference Track and Field Championships on May 4 at Baker University’s Liston Stadium. On the second day of competition, Straus and the other heptathletes had to wait some 30 minutes before beginning the long jump, their first of three events on the day.

“They had two jumping pits, and the wind changed between day one and day two. They hadn’t prepared the second pit to put the wind at our backs, so it was full of water,” Straus said. “They had to scoop the water out with tiny cups, so we’re just watching them scoop out this water with tiny cups.”

The 30-minute delay could have been even longer.

“All of the heptathlon girls got together and we asked each other, ‘Are you ready? We’re ready. We don’t need any more warm-up time. Let’s just go,’” Straus said. “So, we just went up to the officials and we got the time cut almost in half. You’re supposed to get 30 minutes to warm up, and we only got like 15.”

This limited warm-up was no problem for Straus, as she set a school record long jump at 17 feet, 9.75 inches while becoming the first C-SC women’s track athlete to jump over 17 feet. The delay also meant Straus only had 40 minutes between the end of heptathlon’s 800-meter run and the open 1.500, in which she finished fourth.

Straus said while she could have to compete in as many as five events on any given day, she doesn’t let that mentally weigh on her.

“Instead of getting there and being like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve got to run this, this and this,’ and piling it all together in your mind, just do one event at a time and don’t even think about the rest,” Straus said.

Straus accumulated a Heart championship record 4,654 points in the heptathlon, 211 more than Benedictine’s Shelley Laures, who set the previous record in 2019. Straus also secured a bid to the NAIA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, which begin Wednesday at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Ind.

Straus, a Marion County High School graduate who is in her first year competing in the heptathlon, said it is surreal looking around at her competition and realizing how inexperienced she is compared to some of the other athletes.

“It’s crazy to go to conference and to see these people who have worked on the heptathlon their entire life,” she said. “Like since high school, they’ve been planning on doing this in college, and I’m like, ‘Well, I started this three months ago.’ The confidence that gives you is crazy, but it’s still humbling. Whenever you get to a new event, it’s always so awkward and uncomfortable at first, but it’s also been so fun just to see what you can do and try something new.”

Straus, a middle distance runner by trade, recalled the first time she ran the 100-meter hurdles — the first event in the heptathlon — during the Wildcats’ season-opening meet March 16 at Central Methodist — as well as her interaction with Wildcats coach Hunter Davis afterward.

“I was just laughing the whole time because I just felt so stupid,” Straus said. “I was smiling, I was laughing. I got done and I said, ‘Coach, I’m never doing that again.’ He said, ‘OK, OK,’ and walked away. He came back like 30 minutes later and said, ‘Are you ready to try it again?’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, I think I am.’ The next day, we got on the track and did hurdles again and again and again, then eventually I dropped three seconds in a season in a 100-meter event. It’s wild.”

Before starting training for the heptathlon near the end of basketball season, Straus had never competed in five of the seven events. Davis caught Straus by surprise by suggesting she compete in the heptathlon, but Davis helped calm her nerves.

“Coach said, ‘OK, we’re going to do the heptathlon. I think you’d be really good at it,'” Straus said. “He starts listing off the events and I’m like, ‘You realize I’ve never done like five of the seven events, right?’ He goes, ‘Oh yeah, but don’t worry, you’ll get it.’”

Straus has indeed gotten it, and she will now have even more time to master her craft. Straus will call it a basketball career to focus on track and will also compete in indoor track for the first time. Davis supported Straus’ participation in basketball but is excited about the heights Straus could reach now that she has put her attention solely on track.

“I loved going to basketball games and cheering her on, but I think she’s going to take big strides,” Davis said. “I don’t think she’s anywhere close to her ceiling.”

In the short term, Straus is going into nationals with a worry-free mindset.

“At the end of the day, if you’re stressed about it, you’re not going to do your best,” she said. “Personally, I just give it to God and I say, ‘God, help me through this.’ I go, I do my best in each event and whatever happens happens.”