Pappas, Arnold, Pickler lead entries at USA Combined Events Champs

For Immediate Release
Friday, March 5, 2010

Contact:
Tom Surber
USA Track & Field
Media Information Manager
317-713-4690; Tom.Surber@usatf.org


News & Notes, Volume 10, Number 6

Pappas, Arnold, Pickler lead entries at USA Combined Events Champs


INDIANAPOLIS - 2003 World decathlon champion and three-time Olympian Tom Pappas will face two-time defending USA Indoor heptathlon champion Jake Arnold in the men's competition, and reigning USA Indoor pentathlon champion Diana Pickler will lead the women's field this weekend at the 2010 USA Indoor Combined Events Championships on the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington.

Pappas, who won this event in 2000 and 2002, will face Arnold, who is a two-time NCAA decathlon champion and finished fourth at the 2008 Olympic Trials. Arnold won his second consecutive men's indoor heptathlon title last year with 5,748 points, where his standout performances included finishing first in the shot put (14.94m/49-0.25) and pole vault (4.95m/16-2.75), and placing second in the high jump (1.97m/6-5.5) and 60m hurdles (8.15).

Pappas and Arnold lead the 10-man field with respective personal indoor heptathlon bests of 6,361 and 5,909 points. Other contenders and their indoor heptathlon career highs include Eric Broadbent (5,542), Lysias Edmonds (5,669), Ben Jasinski (5,505), Dan Keller (5,712), John Strang (5,532), Chris Randolph (5,508), Skyler Reising (5,485) and Patrick Woods (5,489).

A 2008 Olympian, Diana Pickler brought home her second women's indoor pentathlon crown last year with 4,391 points. Pickler's competition began with a win in the 60-meter hurdles (8.24) prior to posting second-best marks in the high jump (1.79 meters/5 feet 10.5 inches) and long jump (6.14m/20-1.75), and running the third-fastest time that day in the 800m (2:20.05).

Pickler, the reigning USA women's heptathlon champion who will attempt to become the first woman ever to win the USA Indoor Combined Events Championships on three occasions, will be challenged by Sharon Day, a 2008 Olympian in the high jump, who was the runner-up to Pickler last year with 4,320 points. Day, who ended the 2009 season ranked #1 in the U.S. in the heptathlon by Track & Field News, had a win at last year's Indoor Combined Events Championships in the high jump, clearing 1.85m/6-0.75.

Pickler leads the field with a personal indoor pentathlon best of 4,442 points. Other contenders and their personal bests include Sharon Day (4,320), Kirby Blackley (3,843), Bridgette Ingram (4,097), Liz Roehrig (4,386), Abbie Stechschulte (4,088) and Bette Wade (4,366).

For more information on the 2010 USA Indoor Combined Events Championships, visit www.usatf.org, and for a look at media guides for both championships, visit: www.decathlonusa.typepad.com.

High School track enthusiast Doug Speck dies

High school track historian, statistician and enthusiast Doug Speck died Thursday night following a long battle with melanoma, an aggressive form of cancer.

Speck, who was instrumental in developing the Arcadia Invitational in California into one of the leading high school meets in the country, taught and coached cross country and track at Arcadia High School for more than 30 years. He also worked on various state high school advisory committees for both cross country and track and field.

A longtime writer for California Track and Running News, Speck used his vast knowledge in becoming one of the finest high school track P.A. announcers in the country.

An enthusiastic supporter of the USA Junior Track & Field Championships, Speck mailed over 50,000 invitations to high school athletes with information and entry forms for the event between 1987 and 1999. Through the years Speck also contributed generously to the forerunners of the Nike Indoor Nationals, Nike Cross Country Nationals and the Kinney/Footlocker Nationals. Funeral arrangements are pending.

About USA Track & Field

USA Track & Field (USATF) is the National Governing Body for track and field, long-distance running and race walking in the United States. USATF encompasses the world's oldest organized sports, some of the most-watched events of Olympic broadcasts, the #1 high school and junior high school participatory sport and more than 30 million adult runners in the United States.

For more information on USATF, visit www.usatf.org

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