Roehrig to Compete in Thorpe Cup

The University of Minnesota's NCAA Heptathlon runner-up Liz Roehrig, will represent the United States this weekend in the Thorpe Cup, a multi-events competition between the USA and Germany named after 1912 Olympic Decathlon champion Jim Thorpe.

The competition which alternates between the two countries, takes place in Manhattan, Kansas this year. Competition begins Saturday and ends Sunday.

“I’m excited to have the chance to wear the red, white and blue and represent my country,” Roehrig said in a Gopher media release. “After the U.S. Olympic Trials I said how excited I was to keep training and improving. This gives me that chance. I won’t have to wait until next spring to do another heptathlon. This is going to be fun."

USA and Germany have split the two previous Thorpe Cup competitions in the heptathlon – the men have contested 14 Thorpe Cups. The USA women won in 2006, but Germany squeaked out a 13-point win a year ago. Each team has seven decathletes and heptathletes compete and the team score is calculated by combining the points earned by those seven athletes.

Defending Thorpe Cup heptathlon champion Lela Nelson returns this year. She gathered 6,022 points to win the gold medal in 2007. Nelson, the 2004 NCAA heptathlon champion, has ties to Gopher head coach Matt Bingle. Bingle recruited Nelson to Eastern Michigan and coached her for one season before he accepted a coaching position at Minnesota.

Roehrig earned a spot on the USA Thorpe Cup team with her 5th place showing at the U.S. Olympic Trials. As a junior for the Golden Gophers this spring, Roehrig captured her fourth career All-American award in finishing as the national runner-up in the heptathlon at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. A six-time Big Ten multi-event champion, Roehrig also won her second Conference heptathlon crown last spring and scored a career-best and Minnesota-record 5,855 points.

“This is a great honor for Liz and our track program,” Bingle said. “She is gaining so much valuable experience this summer, between the Trials and now the Thorpe Cup. Her senior season next spring should prove to be something very special. And she deserves everything that is coming to her. She is one of the hardest working, most dedicated athletes I’ve ever coached."

Roehrig has one outdoor track season of eligibility remaining in her Gopher career. In addition to the school record in the heptathlon, she also holds record marks in the long jump, high jump and pentathlon.

Find more information on the Thorpe Cup HERE.

Photo by Gene Niemi.