Aug. 8, 2010
MARBURG, Germany - Texas A&M senior Trinity Otto scored 7,390 points in the decathlon to place fourth among the seven-man United States team that competed against a German squad of seven decathletes during the annual Thorpe Cup held this weekend at the Georg-Gassmann Stadion. Otto's tally placed him 10th overall.
In the team scoring, where the top five scores of each team were combined, Germany edged Team USA by 13 points to win the Thorpe Cup for the first time in nine years. It marks just the fourth victory for Germany in 17 meetings. The top five Germans totaled 38,268 points with the United States crew reaching a total of 38,255. It was the closest finish since an American victory by five points in 1999.
Joe Detmer led Team USA with a score of 8,090 points as he produced the only tally over 8,000 points. Fellow American Chris Helwick had the second best score with a 7,799. The top German score was 7,789 by Rico Freimuth with other Germans placing 4-5-7-8-9.
In completing his fifth decathlon this season, Otto produced marks of 10.89 (885 points) in the 100 meters, 23-6.25 (854) in the long jump, a shot put of 44-5.25 (700), and a high jump clearance of 6-3.25 (723). Then he closed out day one of the event with a career best 48.73 (874) for the 400 meters. His first day score of 4,036 placed him in fourth among the field of 14.
Starting the second day with the 110 hurdles Otto ran 15.51 (789) and then threw the discus 124-8 (624). A pole vault clearance of 14-9.5 (763) preceded a javelin toss of 163-3 (585). Otto wrapped up the competition with a 4:54.28 (593) in the 1,500.