In a sport where Augustana has produced a multitude of NCAA All-Americans and CCIW champions, it would be hard to exclude the name Socrates Catavatis from among the elite to wear the Blue & Gold. His specialty was the decathlon, but when he was a freshman, neither the NCAA nor the CCIW sponsored the event so he competed in the long and triple jumps instead and placed third in the conference meet in the triple jump.
During the 1980 track & field season the decathlon became an official event and the Athens, Greece native made it his personal domain. While continuing to long and triple jump, he set a standard in the decathlon that still exists to this day. He won three straight CCIW titles in the decathlon (1980-81-82), setting a conference record of 6,739 in 1981 that still stands. His most impressive performance, however, may have come in 1982 when he won the 10 event decathlon despite the fact that he failed to clear a height and garnered no points. He still managed to score 5,972 points while scoring in just nine of the 10 events.
It was that kind of mental toughness that helped him out in his first national meet in 1980 at Naperville, Illinois when he missed his first two jumps in the pole vault and had to make his third and final attempt in a steady rain. He cleared the height and went on to place third in the event, earning the first of three straight NCAA All-American certificates, taking third three years in a row.
He was the Most Valuable Performer in the 1980 CCIW championship when he helped the Vikings break a five year North Central stranglehold on the conference title. Not only did he win the decathlon with a score of 6,614 points but he also won the long jump with a leap of 22’ 5” and was third in the triple jump at 45’ 10 ½”. Three weeks later at the NCAA national meet, he overcame the aforementioned trouble in the pole vault to score 6,853 points for third place.
In 1981 he repeated as the MVP in the conference as he won the decathlon with his league record total of 6,739 and also won the long jump with a leap of 22’ 2 ¾” and was fifth in the triple jump. His efforts helped the Vikings set a new conference record for total points with 253 as they won the team title for the second year in a row. At the NCAA Division III national meet he established a new school record in the decathlon with 6,853 points as he took third again and helped Augustana place second in the team standings.
His senior year in 1982 saw him overcome his no-height in the pole vault to win the CCIW title for the third straight year. He was second in the long jump and fourth in the triple jump as the Vikings won the team title for the third consecutive season. In the national meet he scored 6,820 points and took third for the third time in his career.
He graduated from Augustana in 1982 with a degree in business administration and then received his MBA from the University of Minnesota. He is currently serving as a business consultant for MRA International and he currently resides in his hometown of Athens, Greece.
