Wheat Ridge grad Kunz wins Heptathlon at Olympic Trials

AP Photo/Ashley Landis
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Stringing together a remarkable series of performances that added up to a 550-point lifetime best and an Olympic Trials heptathlon title, Wheat Ridge High School graduate Annie Kunz moved to No. 5 on the all-time U.S. performer list with her  6,703 point tally. Kunz, who did not have the Tokyo standard before this meet, came into day two as the leader with 4,042 points and got things under way with a big PR in the long jump, spanning 6.50m/21-4. She then threw the javelin a personal best 45.06m/147-10 and capped it all off with a 2:15.24 season best in the 800m. It is the highest score in the world this year, and Kunz needed all of it to hold off Kendell Williams, who scored a personal best 6,683 to take second, adding 73 to her previous high. Erica Bougard rounded out the Olympic squad with 6,667 in third.

Taliyah Brooks withdrew from the competition after being carted off the field in a wheelchair earlier in the afternoon as the temperature reached 108 degrees (42 Celsius) on the track.

It was 96 degrees (35.6) at the start of the seventh and final event in the heptathlon.

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