Pau Tonnesen - MCC Olympian
Pau Tonnesen set an NJCAA record that can never be broken. But records are made to be broken you say. Not this one.
The Mesa CC Olympian won all four possible multi-event championships at the NJCAA Division I Track and Field title meets, capturing both the indoor pentathlon and outdoor decathlon in 2012 and 2013, becoming the first athlete in history to accomplish the feat. It can never be bettered.
We call him an MCC Olympian because after completing his career at the University of Arizona he went on the represent Spain at the 2016 Rio Olympics and placed 15th in the decathlon, arguably the most difficult event in all of sports anywhere in the world.
The Tempe, AZ, native and gradate of Tempe Prep H.S., began his NJCAA run by winning the pentathlon as a freshman and then following that with the decathlon title during the outdoor season. Along the way he also won the outdoor pole vault title that year.
A year later, as a sophomore, he repeated all three championships, giving him six national crowns in his MCC career.
To top things off, he was even a high jump All-American three times.
Completing his Mesa career, Tonnesen moved on to the University of Arizona where he continued to excel.
As a junior he earned second team All-America honors in the pentathlon.
In his senior season he excelled once again. He won the PAC-12 decathlon title and then moved on to the NCAA championships where he finished second with 8,247 points, a Wildcat school record. That helped him earn PAC-12 Field Athlete of the Year honors.
He was eligible to compete for Spain at the Olympics since his mother was born in that country.
Tonnesen has continued to compete in championship meets around the world
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