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Hansen: UA's Tonnesen contender for NCAA decathlon title

Pau Tonnesen can pole vault 17½ feet, high jump 7 feet, run 100 meters in 11.3 seconds and throw a javelin farther than you can hit a 9-iron.

He won the Pac-12 decathlon championship two weeks ago, which often is accompanied by a headline that includes something about the Olympic Games and America’s best athlete.

If it keeps going this way, you’ll know it is P-a-u (no L) without spellcheck.

It’s not that this is some sort of shock, or that Arizona doesn’t have a history of world-class decathletes.

As recently as 2007, Arizona’s Jake Arnold won back-to-back NCAA decathlon championships, carrying the torch for a string of All-Americans that includes national champs Klaus Ambrosch and Derek Huff.