By Gary Smith 

American Decathlon athlete Tom Pappas, who has had did not finish (DNF) beside his name in his last two major championships, easily won the men’s Shot Put event at the Kansas State Wildcat Invitational in  Manhattan, Kan. Friday evening.

Pappas, who told World-Track Sport Media in a brief chat during the meeting that he “was going to give the Olympic Games in Beijing another shot,” following his injury worries in the last few seasons, had a best throw of  16.83m to take the event over Damon Birk of Emporia State who took second with 16.27m.