FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas — American Ashton Eaton, a University of Oregon senior, set a world record of 6,499 points in the indoor heptathlon to win at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday.

Eaton defended his US college crown and shattered the former world mark of 6,476 points that was set by Dan O'Brien of the United States in 1993 at Toronto.

After setting a personal best in the pole vault with a clearance of 5.10 meters, Eaton had 5,542 points entering the last event, the 1,000-meter run.

Eaton crossed the finish line in 2mins, 32.67secs, 1.91 seconds under the time he needed to break O'Brien's mark and well under Eaton's prior personal best in the event, which was 2:38.02.