Chris Randolph & Julie Pickler to compete in Thorpe Cup...

MARBURG, Germany--Former Seattle Pacific decathlete Chris Randolph, who missed a spot on Team USA's squad competing in next week's IAAF World Track & Field Championships in Berlin by finishing fourth at the USA Championships in June, leads the Americans into battle at the 2009 Thorpe Cup decathlon dual meet in Marburg, Germany Saturday and Sunday.

The Thorpe Cup (named after 1912 Olympic champion Jim Thorpe) is an annual multi-event meet featuring the teams from the USA and Germany.

This is the 16th of a series of annual international team decathlons between the USA and Germany. 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. Recently, the US won the 2005 meeting in Bernhausen, the 2006 meeting at Kansas State University in Manhattan, a return affair in Bernhausen and last year‟s major win in Manhattan where the Americam squad, for onl;y the 2nd time in history, averaged over 8000 points per man.

Randolph is looking to redeem himself, as he failed to finish in last year's meet in Manhattan.

In the women's heptathlon, former Washington State University standout Julie Pickler, who has yet to compete in a heptathlon this season, is scheduled to participate in the meet as a guest competitor.

Julie's twin sister Diana, who is preparing for next week's heptathlon competition at the IAAF World Championships in Berlin, is scheduled to compete in several individual heptathlon events, but not complete all seven events.

For more information on the Thorpe Cup, please visit decathlonusa.typepad.com.