DALLAS — Team USATF's women had the top two scorers in the heptathlon on the first day of the Thorpe Cup international combined events competition Saturday at St. Mark's School of Texas, putting the squad in good position to win an 11th-straight team title over Germany. Chari Hawkins (San Diego, California/USATF San Diego-Imperial) won three of the four first day events to put Team USATF in a commanding lead over Germany, 10,763-10,267. Hawkins, who was fourth at the USATF Combined Events Championships in May, started the day with a speedy 13.29 in the 100m hurdles, and then cleared 1.80m/5-10.75 in the high jump. A 13.78m/45-2.5 effort in the shot put increased her overall lead to more than 200 points, and she closed out the day with a 24.70 in the 200m to end up with 3,753 points. U.S. teammate Melanie Winters (Stow, Ohio/USATF Lake Erie) set a season best of 13.85 in the 100H and then hit a big lifetime best of 13.03m/42-9 in the shot put to move into second overall. Winters clocked 24.11 in the 200m, the fastest time of the day, and tallied 3,602 to sit in the runner-up spot behind Hawkins. Stanford’s Allie Jones (Santa Barbara, California/USATF Southern California) was fifth in the point standings with 3,408, while NCAA bronze medalist Erin Marsh (Buford, Georgia/USATF Georgia) of Duke and Sarah Glidden (Morrisville, North Carolina/USATF North Carolina) were sixth and seventh. After a lengthy weather delay following the high jump, Austin West (Iowa City, Iowa/USATF Iowa) sprinted to a 46.92 to win the 400m and take the overall lead in the men's decathlon, finishing the first day with 4,308 points. Germany assumed a hefty 796-point lead in the team title race with the scores at 20,749-19,953 and is in position to win the nation's 10th title in the past 11 editions of the meet. West, the NCAA fifth-place finisher for Iowa, started the day off with the fastest overall time in the 100m at 10.75 and then won the long jump with a lifetime best leap of 7.55m/24-9.25. He tacked on solid performances in the shot put and high jump before his 400m win, putting him 55 points ahead of Germany's Max Vollmer, the Pac-12 champion for Oregon this year. Hunter Price (Denver, Colorado/USATF Colorado) hit a lifetime best 14.73m/48-4 in the shot put and briefly took the lead after a 2.05m/6-8.75 high jump, finishing the day in third for Team USATF with 4,217. Jack Flood (Morrisville, North Carolina/USATF North Carolina) was the other U.S. athlete to surpass 4,000 for the day, ending up in sixth with 4,104, bolstered by a 2.08m/6-9.75 winning high jump. Dylan Cooper (Morrisville, North Carolina/USATF North Carolina) and Jackson Walker (Orem, Utah/USATF Utah) rounded out the Team USATF top five in ninth and 11th places, respectively. The final day of competition gets under way at 10:00 a.m. CT Sunday with the decathlon 110m hurdles, and the heptathlon long jump is scheduled to start at noon.
1. Chari Hawkins (San Diego, California/USATF San Diego-Imperial) 3753; 2. Melanie Winters (Stow, Ohio/USATF Lake Erie) 3602; 3. Anna-Lena Obermaier (Germany) 3482; 4. Nicola Ader (Germany) 3424; 5. Allie Jones (Santa Barbara, California/USATF Southern California) 3408; 6. Erin Marsh (Buford, Georgia/USATF Georgia) 3372; 7. Sarah Glidden (Morrisville, North Carolina/USATF North Carolina) 3364; 8. Janina Lange (Germany) 3361; 9. Marieke Roesing (Germany) 3322; 10. Cheyenne Williamson (Bay City, Michigan/USATF Michigan) 3317; 11. Alissa Brooks-Johnson (Long Beach, California/USATF Southern California) 3253; 12. Laura Voss (Germany) 3172; 13. Callie Jones (Bay Minette, Alabama/USATF Alabama) 3161.
1. Austin West (Iowa City, Iowa/USATF Iowa) 4308; 2. Max Vollmer (Germany) 4253; 3. Hunter Price (Denver, Colorado/USATF Colorado) 4217; 4. Nico Beckers (Germany) 4199; 5. Malik Diakite (Germany) 4133; 6. Jack Flood (Morrisville, North Carolina/USATF North Carolina) 4104; 7. Nils Laserich (Germany) 4093; 8. Marcel Meyer (Germany) 4071; 9. Dylan Cooper (Morrisville, North Carolina/USATF North Carolina) 3906; 10. Luca Ole Dieckmann (Germany) 3782; 11. Jackson Walker (Orem, Utah/USATF Utah) 3418; 12. William Eggers (Morrisville, North Carolina/USATF North Carolina) 3037. Photo Credit: Stuart Kantor