CRETE, Neb.—Barbara Nwaba of the Santa Barbara Track Club captured her second title at the U.S. Combined Events Indoor Championships at Doane College in Crete Nebraksa.
Nwaba set a personal record of 4,415 points in the pentathlon on Saturday, beating Kaylon Eppinger by more than 100 points. She led three SBTC women on three of the four podium spots. SBTC’s Chari Hawkins, one of the squad’s most recent additions, set a personal record of 4,225 points to finish with a bronze medal while SBTC’s Lindsay Schwartz took the final podium position with 4,222 points, also a personal record.
On the men’s side, Tom Hopkins finished in 8th place with 5,424 points to lead SBTC in the men’s heptathlon competition.
In all, nine athletes represented the SBTC at the U.S. Combined Events Indoor Championships, qualifying the largest team to kick off the 2016 season. With the exception of Nwaba who will compete at World Indoor Championships in March in Portland, Ore., the next competition for the SBTC combined events athletes will be the fifth Sam Adams Combined Events Invitational in Santa Barbara on April 1-2. The Sam Adams Invite will mark the first major outdoor competition for some of the World’s Greatest Athletes on their Road to Rio de Janeiro for this summer’s Olympic Games, including reigning Olympic decathlon gold medalist Ashton Eaton.
SBTC Adds Kirkwood, Youngberg
The SBTC welcomes Benjamin Kirkwood, Jr., a high jumper who has already jumped over 7 feet in 2016 and will represent the SBTC at the USATF Indoor Championships in Portland on March 11-12. He is a San Marcos alum. The team also welcomes Lexi Youngberg, a sprinter and 2016 Paralympic hopeful. Youngberg represented the U.S. at the World Championship in 2015.