May 13, 2008
Deacon Combined Events Schedule
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Several of the nation's top multi-sport athletes are headed to Wake Forest on Wednesday and Thursday in hopes to earn top times at the Deacon Combined Events, one of the last decathlon/heptathlon meets before the 2008 Olympic Trial deadline.
Headlining on the men's side will be Chris Boyles, who finished third at the 2008 USA Indoor Championships earlier this year. Boyles is currently 13th on the Olympic Trials list, holding a personal decathlon record of 7804.
Joining Boyles will be former University of Tennessee standout out and Southeastern Conference Champion Chris Helwick, who became an All-American seven times as a Volunteer. Helwick took fifth place at the USA Indoor Championships and will be looking to better his current place of 18th on the Trials list.
Also competing on the men's side will be Ryan Olkowski. Olkowski set a 7895 personal record in 2004, but has battled injuries and is looking to regain a prominent place in the global decathlon scene.
The provisional decathlon qualifying marks for the 2008 Olympic Trials are 7600-7900 points, with the automatic mark falling at 7900 or above.
On the women's side, Lela V. Nelson will headline the heptathlon events. Nelson was the champion in the U.S. vs. Germany dual meet, and holds a hot heptathlon PR of 6022. Nelson serves as a volunteer assistant coach for the Wake Forest Track and Field team, and uses the track at Kenter Stadium as her primary training site.
"It's really exciting to compete here, I didn't get to participate in many events at the Wake Forest Open early this year, so I'm really looking forward to it," Nelson said. "It's always fun to be competitive on your home track."
Big West Champion and current U.C. Irvine athlete Lauren Collins will be looking to build on her current 5572 personal record alongside 2007 Indoor Pentathlon Champion Bridget Ingram, who posted a 5288 performance at the 2007 Sea Ray Relays in Knoxville.
Women's heptathlon legend Heather Sterlin-Bigelow will also compete on Wednesday and Thursday. Sterlin-Bigelow was an All-American athlete with Colorado, and following her 2007 graduation, went on to be ranked in the national long jump top 10. She placed ninth in the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2004 and holds a personal record of 5866.
The Olympic provisional mark for the heptathlon is 5500 while the automatic qualifying mark sits at 5750.
Molly Kennedy will be the only Wake Forest athlete that will compete in the complete multi-event circuit. Kennedy placed fourth at the ACCs earlier this season and has the second best all-time performance in the outdoor heptathlon for Wake Forest. Kennedy will be looking to match the 5,050 provisional qualifying mark for the NCAA Regional Championships later this month.
Demon Deacon track athletes Caroline Vaughn and Aaron Payne will be running selected events during the week.
The Heptathlon events will begin at 3 p.m. on Thursday with the 100m hurdles and high jump. Results from the Deacon Combined Events will be posted at WakeForestSports.com.
- www.WakeForestSports.com -
