DECATHLON HANDBOOK & MEDIA GUIDE 20th THORPE CUP USA vs GERMANY TEAM DECATHLON CHULA VISTA, CA July 27-28, 2013 by: Frank Zarnowski The Decathlon Association www.decathlonusa.typepad.com [email protected] TABLE of CONTENTS Team Rosters USA, Germany Page 2 Time Schedule 2 Outlook for 2013Meeting 2 -3 Meet History 3 Previous Team and Individual Medalists 4 Individual Meet Records 5 Recent Results 6-8 2008 6 2009 6 2010 7 2011 7 2012 7-8 Individual Event Records: World 8 American 8 Collegiate 9 German 9 Thorpe Cup Meet, 9 German Delegation: 10-14 Georg Zwirner, Head Coach 10 Christopher Hallman, Assistant Coach 10 Arthur Abele 10 Tom Bechert 11 Maximilan Gilde 11 Simon Hechler 12 Mattias Prey 12 Patrick Spinner 13 Rene Stauss 13 Alternates: Moritz Cleve 13-14 Lars Niklas Heinke 14 USA Delegation: 15- Jamie Cook, Head Coach 15 Travis Geopfert, Assistant Coach 15 Austin Bahner 16 Wesley Bray 17 Dan Gooris 18 Ryan Harlan 19-20 Gray Horn 21 Dakotah Keys 22 Isaac Murphy 23 David Klech 24 Jack Szmanda 25 PR Page & Information about Results and Live Coverage 26 ROSTERS U S A Name club age hometown Lifetime 2013 Bahner, Austin Wichita St ‘13 22 Wichita, KS 7847 (13) 7847 Bray, Wesley unat (Houston ’10) 25 Houston, TX 7932 (12) 7632 Gooris, Dan Northern Iowa ‘13 23 Albuquerque, NM 7780 (13) 7780 Horn, Gray unat (Florida ’12) 23 Wapakoneta, OH 7954 (12) 7954 Keys, Dakotah U of Oregon ’14 21 Sweet Home, OR 8001 (13) 8001 Murphy, Isaac U of Texas ’13 23 Fort Hood, TX 8086 (13) 8086 Harlan, Ryan unat (Rice U ’04) 32 Hewitt, TX 8171 (04) 6125 Aletrnates: David Klech Oregon Track Club 25 San Ramon, CA 7581 (11) ------ Jack Szmanda U of Minnesota ’13 23 Wausau, WI 7862 (12) 7317 Coaches: Jamie Cook, University of Oregon; Travis Geopfert, University of Arkansas; GERMANY ----best scores----- Name club age hometown Lifetime 2013 Abele, Arthur VfL Sindelfingen ` 26 Muttangen 8372 (09) 8151 Bechert, Tom Manhattan College 26 Munich 7767 (13) 7767 Gilde, Maximilan LG Hannover 23 Hannover 7720 (12) 7720 Prey, Mattias Ahrensburger TV S 24 Hamburg 8215 (13) 8215 Spinner, Patrick LG Ortenau Nord 26 7818 (11) 7708 Strauss, Rene LAV Tübingen 26 7616 (13) 7626 Hechler, Simon [wild card] LG Team Saar 25 Saarland 8058 (11) ----- Alternates: Cleve, Moritz TV Wattenscheid/ex Kansas St 25 Bochum 8004 (09) 7620 Heineke, Lars Niklas LAV Bayer Uerdingen 23 Ierdingen 7648 (12) 7648 Coaches: Georg Zwirner, Christopher Hallman Staff: Hermann Holzfuss(Coordination), Dr. Sven Reuter (physician); Heiko Kleeman (Physio) Meet Schedule: Saturday- July 27, 2013 Sunday- July 28, 2013 Introduction of teams at 11:45 am 100 meters noon 110m Hurdles 11:00 am Long Jump 12:50 pm Discus 11:45 Shot Put 2:20 Pole Vault 1:05 pm High Jump 3:25 Javelin 4:00 400 meters 5:00 1500 meters 5:10 Outlook for 2013 Meeting Team USA selected itself from the recent 94th USA national championships in Des Moines. Spots were offered to athletes after 3rd place and a number of athletes declined nomination. Coaches added a discretionary selection. Team USA has only three returnees from last year’s lineup in Marburg and this is decidedly a lineup-up of youngsters. In fact the 2013 team averages (sans Ryan Harlan) 22 years of age, is the youngest American team ever. Page 2 Rice grad Ryan Harlan and Houston grad Wesley Bray are the elder statesmen at 32 and 25. Harland is the 2005 winner. Bray was 5th at the weather-bitten USA nationals in Des Moines. Gray Horn, who placed 4th in Des Moines, will be relied upon for a big score in Chula Vista. The remaining 4 team members are all collegians. Isaac Murphy of Texas, the 2012 Big 12 champs, and Dakotah Keys, the current Pac-12 champ, both have career 8000 marks. Wichita State’s Austin Bahner and Northern Iowa’s Dan Gooris both had solid college campaigns. Germany’s Team Zehnkampf, will send European champion Pascal Behrenbruch, Rico Freimuth and Michael Schrader to the World champs in Moscow. The current German Thorpe Cup team is deep, many coming off the high scoring meeting in Ratingen in early June. 2011 winner Simon Hechler (8058) was unable to finish the Ratingen qualifier and was a wild card pick. And the remaining team is deep and talented. 27 year old Arhur Abele, finally free from 4 seasons of nagging injuries, is healthy again and the 2008 Olympian posted an 8151 mark in Ratingen. Reliable Mattias Prey, 24, managed a 8215 effort in Ratingen giving Team Zehnkampf a trio of recent 8’s. Manhattan College and IC4A champ Tom Bechert was added to the team as was Patrick Spinner, Rene Stauss and Max Gilde. All are experienced. As always, there is no way to forecast the outcome of this meet. There are five reasons why the visiting German team will be favored: -experience: a pair of former Thorpe Cup winners (Abele and Hechler) -they have a timing advantage since it is now the height of the German CE season and late for the Americans who peaked for the NCAAs and USA nationals last month. -Team Zehnkampf has a 3 year win streak and will be hungry to extend the run to four. Last year’s margin was substantial. - Team Zehnkampf returns two of their 2012 winning lineup. There are five reasons why team USA will be favored: -experience in the names of Harlan and Horn, both of who have had substantial international success in the past. Harlan’s eight USA international teams and leadership will prove invaluable. -Team USA has 4 seasoned, high scoring collegians. -History: Team USA has on 13 of the 19 previous meetings.. -The weather conditions in Chula Vista have to be significantly better than at the USA nationals in Des Moines. -It’s time to bring the Cup home. Nothing is ever taken for granted at the Thorpe Cup and it is always hotly contested. In 1999 the meet was decided by a miniscule, microscopic, tiny, infinitesimal, atomic…(you get the picture!) five points. One German coach described the margin as “a puff of wind.” It was the closest team match anywhere in decathlon history. In 2010 Team Zehnkampf won by two puffs of wind, just 13 points out of a total score of over 77,000. The 2006 winning USA margin in Manhattan was a mere 57 points. This one shapes up as very close. It’ll be no 1993 “Shellacken in Aachen.” It’s always intense, and that’s why it’s the planet’s best team affaiur. Thorpe Cup History Now the world’s most important nation vs. nation team decathlon, this meet has been variously called the VISA CUP Meet or the JEEP Challenge. And in 2007 officially took the name of The Thorpe Cup in honor of 1912 Olympic Decathlon Champion Jim Thorpe, Carlisle, PA Page 3 The concept of an annual team match was initially conceived by VISA-USA team coach Harry Marra and Team Zehnkampf coach Claus Marek in 1993. This is the 20th of a series of annual international team decathlons between the USA and Germany. The US teams holds a 13-6 W-L advantage, but the German team has won the most recent three matches (‘10,’11,’12). In the current series, the first meeting was arranged in Aachen, Germany in 1993 where Stefan Schmid of Germany and the VISA USA team were victorious. The American team won 6 of the initial 7 team battles. One, the 1999 affair, also in Aachen was decided by a mere 5 points. Team USA got back on the winning side in 2002 with a major win in Walnut, CA, led by Tom Pappas and repeated in 2003 in Bernhausen. The 2004 meet, scheduled for Kansas State U, was cancelled by the German federation (DLV) in June, 2004. In 1996, with the meet in Edwardsville, IL, the USA squad set a world 5 man team record averaging 8121.4 points per man. Only Kip Janvrin, Mike Maczey and Pappas have won the individual title more than once. See below. In the years before the current series, USA and German decathlon teams met twice. Team USA won both, with Bruce Jenner getting a world leading score in 1974 in Tallinn, Estonia (tri meet: USA/USSR/ Germany). Team USA won again in 1983 in Baton Rouge, LA. So, counting the two earlier team meetings, the Americans hold a historical 15-6 national team advantage. History of Team Series: Year Site team scores won/loss differential date 1993 Aachen, Germany USA 39,353 GER 38.292 W + 1061 8/8-9 1994 San Luis Obispo, Ca USA 37,997 GER 37,580 W + 471 8/6-7 1995 Ratingen, Germany USA 39,725 GER 39,831 L – 106 7/29-30 1996 Edwardsville, IL USA 40,607 GER 39,605 W + 1065 7/17-18 1997 Kreutzal, Germnay USA 39,299 GER 39,141 W + 158 7/26-27 1998 Lubbock, Texas USA 39,016 GER 38,667 W + 349 8/8-9 1999 Aachen, Germany USA 38,980 GER 38,975 W + 5 8/7-8 2000 Uniondale, NY USA 38,360 GER 38,832 L – 472 8/12-13 2001 Bernhausen, Germany USA 36,991 GER 39,605 L – 2,614 7/21-22 2002 Walnut, CA USA 39,908 GER 37,817 W +2,091 7/27-28 2003 Bernhausen, Germany USA 37,447 GER 34,962 W +2,475 8/2-3 2004 Manhattan, KS cancelled 2005 Bernhausen, Germany USA 38,548 GER 37,144 W +1,404 7/23-24 2006 Manhattan, KS USA 37,792 GER 37,735 W + 57 8/5-6 2007 Bernhausen, Germany USA 38,084 GER 36,976 W +1,108 8/18-19 2008 Manhattan, KS USA 40,093 GER 38,496 W +1,597 8/2-3 2009 Marburg, Germany USA 39,462 GER 35,927 W +3,535 8/8-9 2010 Marburg, Germany USA 38,255 GER 38,268 L -13 8/7-8 2011 Chula Vista, CA USA 38,870 GER 38,870 L -870 8/13-14 2012 Marburg.