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INDIANAPOLIS - Team USA's men and women combined events squad will look
to continue their winning ways this weekend at the 14th Thorpe Cup. The
meet pits Team USA against Germany August 18-19 in Bernhausen, Germany.
Each team is made up of seven decathletes and heptathletes. Team USA has
four consecutive victories in the decathlon and holds a 10-3 record
while the women are 1-0 in the heptathlon.
The men's side will see Chris Boyles (Carlisle, Pa.) and Ryan Harlan
(Hewitt, Texas), who finished fourth and fifth respectively at the 2007
AT&T USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, lead a team that includes
Mustafa Abdur-Rahim (Brookline, Mass.), Joe Detmer (Lodi, Wisc.), 2006
NCAA runner-up Chris Helwick (Greely, Colo.), Ryan Olkowski (Baltimore,
Md.) and two-time NCAA DII champion Chris Randolph (Lone Tree, Colo.).
They will be coached by 1996 Olympic gold medalist and three-time World
champion Dan O'Brien and 1997 U.S. champion Steve Fritz.
The women's team will be comprised of 2005 NACAC U23 champion Fiona
Asigbee (Columbia, Mo.), three-time NCAA champion Jackie Johnson (Yuma,
Ariz.), 2005 NCAA champion Lela Nelson (Detroit, Mich.), 2004 U.S.
Junior champion Gayle Hunter (Riverside, Calif.), Ryanne Dupree (San
Antonio, Texas), Danielle McNaney (Manhattan, Kan.) and Julie Pickler
(Sachse, Texas). The women will be coached by James Knoedel, who is
entering his 13th season as head coach for the men's and women's cross
country and track and field teams at the University of Illinois Chicago.
In 2006, Team USA's men's and women's squads overcame blistering hot
temperatures and a strong team from Germany to win the 2006 Nike
Combined Events Challenge at Kansas State University in Manhattan,
Kansas. The women won the inaugural heptathlon competition with 15,716
points to Germany's 15,619 points, while the men tallied 37,792 points
to Germany's 37,735, to win by a mere 57 points.
For more information and complete results, visit USATF.org.
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