| INDIANAPOLIS - 2008 Olympian and defending women's champion Diana Pickler will face two Olympic teammates at The Eddie Smith Field House on the campus of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. 
The third-place finisher in the heptathlon at the 2008 Olympic Trials, Pickler will be challenged by fellow Olympic heptathlete Jacquelyn Johnson and Olympic high jumper Sharon Day, who owns a pentathlon personal best of 4,276 points and a heptathlon career best of 5,642 points set last year. Johnson enters the competition with the highest pentathlon personal best in the field of 4,496 points. Pickler has the second best PR in the field with 4,378 points from last year's championships.
The 2008 women's indoor pentathlon title came down to a battle between Pickler and her twin sister Julie, who was the NCAA heptathlon runner-up in 2007. Julie, who will challenge her sister again this weekend, posted the highest scores in the last two events in 2008 (long jump, 800m), but fell short of Diana's winning total by 82 points.
Other contenders to keep an eye on in the women's competition include 2006 USA Indoor Pentathlon champion Lela Nelson and 2007 runner-up Bridget Ingram.
For more information on the 2009 USA Indoor Combined Events Championships, visit www.usatf.org. |
