MANHATTAN, Kan. The Nike Combined Events Challenge concluded on Sunday at R.V. Christian Track, despite blistering temperatures that soared to around 110 degrees. Team USA used a remarkable comeback in the final events of the heptathlon and decathlon to capture the team titles.
Entering day two of the heptathlon, the German delegation held a 63-point edge in points (10,104 to 10,041). The team scores are calculated by using the top three scores from each team. After the first two events on Sunday, the Germans had pushed their lead to 1,176 points on the strength of Julia Machtig, Maren Schwerdtner and Annelie Schrader holding the top three positions in the individual standings.
The three Germans were slotted into adjoining lanes for the final event, the 800-meter run. After the first 400-meters, Reidun Wallin of Team USA held the lead followed closely by Machtig and Danielle McNaney from Team USA. Schwerdtner and Schrader trailed the pack and just needed to finish the race to hold their individual positions and preserve the win for the Germans. After the second turn on the R.V. Christian Track, Schwerdtner collapsed due to an asthma attack. While medical personnel began looking after Schwerdtner, Schrader collapsed 75 meters away on the back straight with an ankle problem.
Wallin held on for the discipline win in a time of 2:16.90, while her teammate McNaney passed Machtig for second with a time of 2:19.58. Machtig finished third with a clocking of 2;21.07. Lela Nelson and Tacita Bass recorded finishes in the 800 to push Team USA’s point total to 97 points beyond their German counterparts (15,716 to 15,619).
Both Schwerdtner and Schrader were helped from the track and treated for their ailments by the medical staff on-site.
The first heptathlon individual title went to Machtig with a point total of 5,799 points. Finishing in second was the Gardner, Kan., product McNaney with 5,475 points.
In the decathlon, the United States captured its first team lead following the javelin, with a 30-point advantage (34,691 to 34,661). It was the first lead for the U.S. since the 100-meter dash early Saturday afternoon.
Team USA used a strong final effort from Travis Geopfert. Geopfert did not figure into the final scoring but his courageous performance spurred the Americans to victory. Geopfert, a two-time Drake Relays decathlon champion, held a one lap lead but was overtaken by Arthur Abele and Johannes Schwuchow of Germany. With just 50-meters in front of him, Geopfert’s right foot caught the rail on the inside of the track causing him to fall to the ground. He regained his composure and collapsed across the finish line for a third-place finish in 4:40.92. Trailing just behind Geopfert in the 1500 were Joe Cebulski, Will Thomas and Paul Terek. All three figured into the final team points.
The team scoring for the decathlon was made up from the top five athletes from each team. The United States finished with 37,792 points, while the Germans recorded 37,735. The point differential of 57 points is the smallest margin of victory by the United States since 1999, when the Americans defeated Germany by just five points in Aachen, Germany.
Winning the individual decathlon title was Abele with a score of 7,838. The top American finisher was Chris Boyles with 7,672 points for a third-place finish. Thomas, Terek and Cebulski recorded fourth, fifth and sixth-place finishes, respectively.
