Tyler Clarke's mom believes her son is the best athlete in the history of Duke University.
Her logic isn't that crazy: If the decathlon is the sporting event designed to identify the best all-around athlete, and Clarke is Duke's all-time record holder in the decathlon, then he is the school's best athlete ever.
"I don't actually think that," said Clarke, downplaying his mother's statement as loving hyperbole. "I know there are far greater men that have come through Duke's athletics system than me."
The title of best Duke athlete ever can be left up for debate, but Clarke has certainly left his mark on the Blue Devils' track and field program during his four years at Duke.
Last season, he set school records for the heptathlon during the indoor track season and then followed that up by breaking the decathlon record in the spring.
As the postseason nears with the ACC championships in Atlanta this weekend, the IC4A championships in May and potentially the NCAA championships in June, Clarke is looking to further cement his status as the Blue Devil's best decathlete and gain recognition on the national level.
Clarke set the mark by posting a 6,811 in 2007. The qualifying number for the IC4A is 6,200, while the standard for the NCAA is 6,200.
But it didn't always come so easily for Clarke, who was a hurdling and high-jumping champion at Clackamas High School in Clackamas, Ore. Duke recruited him to compete in the decathlon, which meant training for eight new events-six of which he had never even tried before arriving in Durham.
"It's a really steep learning curve," Clarke said. "The toughest thing was definitely the pole vault. It's scary as hell to run as fast as you can down the runway and put your life in the pole's hands. It took me a year and a half not to be scared to death every time I was on the runway."
After initially doubting his ability to compete in the decathlon on the college level and seeing his spring season come to an end prematurely because of a hamstring injury as a freshman, Clarke began to see progress in some of the more difficult events as a sophomore.
For a decathlete, that progress comes at a higher price than anyone else because of the rigorous training necessary to perform all 10 events.
On any given day, Clarke practices two or three events, with the goal of working on each at least once a week. Some events, like the hurdles and 400-meter were natural for Clarke. Others, like the throwing competitions, took more work.
"He's put in a lot of time not only to learn to do all the events, but to do them well," said assistant coach Ryan Dall, who oversees Clarke's progress. "He's worked very hard over the past three and a half years to become one of the best decathletes in the ACC."
Clarke's tenure at Duke won't end with this spring's postseason run, because of an NCAA rule change last year regarding medical-redshirt policy. The new law means that Clarke will get a reprieve for his shortened outdoor freshman season and would be able to come back and compete again as a fifth-year senior.
"Everyone told me I had the rest of my life to work and only one more year to compete," Clarke said. "I didn't feel comfortable leaving an extra year of eligibility on the table. I love what I'm doing here."
That will give Clarke an extra year to train, with one last, lofty goal: Reach his first national-championship competition.
"That would be the ultimate way to finish things off," he said.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.