INDIANAPOLIS - Two-time NCAA decathlon champion Jake Arnold posted a clutch performance in the seventh and final event to win the men's heptathlon for the third time in his career Sunday at the 2010 USA Indoor Combined Events Championships on the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington.
Arnold, who needed to defeat 2003 World decathlon champion and three-time Olympian Tom Pappas by 4.50 seconds in the final event of the competition (1,000m) to win the overall title, crossed the finish line first in 2:49.62 (770 points), with Pappas finishing fifth in 2:55.72 (707 points).
Arnold made it a clean sweep of this afternoon's three events in also winning the men's 60m hurdles in 8.05 seconds, prior to capturing the pole vault with a best clearance of 5.00 meters/16 feet 4.75 inches.
Arnold's two-day performance gave him a seven-event tally of 5,861 points, and his third consecutive USA Indoor Combined Events title. Arnold and Paul Terek (2003, '04, '07) are the only two competitors ever to win this event on three separate occasions.
A two-time winner of this event (2000, '02), Pappas finished as the runner-up this afternoon with 5,845 points, with former University of Nebraska standout Skyler Reising, who was in second-place after Day 1 of the competition, finishing third with 5,487 points. Patrick Woods finished fourth with 5,427 points, followed by John Strang (5th-5,251 points) and Edward Broadbent (6th-4,861 points).
For more information on the 2010 USA Indoor Combined Events Championships, visit USATF.org, and for a look at media guides for both championships, visit: DecathlonUSA.
About USA Track & Field
USA Track & Field (USATF) is the National Governing Body for track and field, long-distance running and race walking in the United States. USATF encompasses the world's oldest organized sports, some of the most-watched events of Olympic broadcasts, the #1 high school and junior high school participatory sport and more than 30 million adult runners in the United States.
For more information on USATF, visit USATF.org.
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