Arnold, Pickler win USA Indoor Combined Events titles

INDIANAPOLIS – Two-time NCAA decathlon champion Jake Arnold and 2007 USA heptathlon runner-up Diana Pickler captured the respective men's and women's national titles Sunday at the 2008 USA Indoor Combined Events Championships at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

Arnold, who placed third in the decathlon at the 2006 and 2007 AT&T USA Outdoor Championships, was the most consistent performer throughout the two-day men's heptathlon competition. Arnold either posted the best mark, or equaled the best performance by other competitors, in four of the seven events.

Arnold held the lead after Day 1 of the competition with 3,220 points, and tallied 5,851 points for the win. 2001 champion Stephen Moore was the runner-up, trailing the winner by 57 points. 2007 runner-up Chris Boyles was third with 5,688 points, with Joe Detmer fourth with 5,603 points. 2004 Olympian Paul Terek dropped out of the competition at the end of the first day.

The women's pentathlon competition was dominated by the Pickler twins, Diana and Julie. Diana, who ended the 2007 season ranked #1 nationally in the heptathlon by Track & Field News, got off to a great start in winning the first two events, the 60m hurdles and high jump, and never looked back in winning the event with 4,378 points. Sister Julie, who was the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Championships heptathlon runner-up, posted the highest scores in the last two events (the long jump and 800 meters) but fell short of Diana's winning total by 82 points. Ryanne Dupree was third with 4,124 points, with Abbie Stechschulte placing fourth with 4,088 points.

For more information on the 2008 USA Indoor Combined Events Championships at Chapel Hill, including the complete results, visit https://www.usatf.org/events/2008/USAIndoorCEChampionships/

McBarnette, Michelson set masters records

Masters greats Bruce McBarnette and Marie-Louise Michelson each improved upon their own masters records in recent competitions.

McBarnette bettered his previous U.S. M50 men's high jump record of 1.92 meters/6 feet 3.50 inches, with his clearance 1.93m/6-4 Saturday at the USATF Mid-Atlantic Open and Masters Indoor Championships at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa.

Also recently, Marie-Louise Michelson posted a new W65 world indoor 1,500m record with her time of 5:52.1 at the New Balance Track & Field Center in New York. Michelson bettered her previous world record by five seconds.

Tom Surber
Media Information Manager
Tom.Surber@usatf.org