If it wasn’t for a Twitter post by OregonTCElite I don’t know if very many people would have heard about this today.

Even Princeton’s athletics web site makes no mention of Friday results at this weekend’s Princeton Relays, where Oregon alum and Bowerman Award winner Ashton Eaton is making his professional debut.

What we do know is that he added 42 inches to a shot put personal best that has long been one of the weak spots in Eaton’s 10-event bag of tricks.

Eaton threw 46-6.25 on Friday. His previous best was 43-0.25. (I’m not going to get into the meters here).

Now, what does that mean in terms of point-scoring potential?

Eaton is world record holder in the indoor heptathlon (6,499) and has a decathlon best of 8,457 points.

His previous shot put best was worth 674 points. And the new mark is worth 739. Sixty-some points is a significant bump.

Eaton is using the Princeton meet to warm-up for a three-event showdown with Trey Hardee and Bryan Clay at Millrose, and then he’ll go to a indoor heptathlon competition in Europe.

Clearly, Eaton has put time and effort into improving the throws. And Friday, as he turned 23 years old, he began to see some of the dividends.