2nd day is on ESPN3 right now. Long jump is going which is Maddie's best event.
Maddie Holmberg Nickal is 10th at NCAAs in the Heptathlon after the first day
- Thread starter NoVa Lion
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Maddie finished 2nd in the Long Jump and has moved into 7th place with two events remaining.
She still stands a chance. The last two events are the longer jump and the longest jump.
Maddie finished 9th in the javelin but moved up to 6th in the overall standings with just the 800 meters remaining. Generally there isn't much movement in the standings based on the 800 meters, however 5th thru 7th are all very close so we will see..
Maddie ran a PR in the 800 but it wasn't enough to move her up and she finished 6th, her 3rd AA finish, twice outdoors and once indoors. Congrats Maddie.
I now want to live long enough to watch their kids compete at Anything!
I give each a half a scholarship and let the slush fund cover the difference
Ditto, both have great athletic genes. Isn't Nolf's wife still playing professional soccer? Seattle maybe?
If she only had "noodle arms", she would finished in 1st in the javelin. 😜
But I want her to catch me! Isn't that part of the fun?
It's OK if she outruns me. When I catch her I know she wants me to.
How many Rules of Ragdolling do you need?
Maddie qualified for the Olympic trials in the heptathlon and will be back in Eugene competing on 6/26 and 6/27.
Heptathlon entries
Heptathlon entries
It’s ongoing. First event 100 hurdles she came in 9th. High jump going on now. Two more events tonight and the remaining tomorrow.
Looks like she finished a very respectable 7th at the Olympic Trials this weekend in a very hot Eugene Oregon. The top 3 made the Olympic team (if they met the Olympic qualifying standards):
1, Annie Kunz, unattached, 6703. 2, Kendell Williams, Nike, 6683. 3, Erica Bougard, Nike, 6352. 4, Michelle Atherley, Miami, 6352. 5, Ashtin Mahler, Tracksmith, 6273. 6, Chari Hawkins, On, 6236. 7, Maddie Holmberg Nickal, Penn State, 5895. 8, Juanita Webster-Freeman, Santa Barbar TC, 5887. 9, Hope Bender, unattached, 5867. 10, Erin Marsh, Duke, 5839. 11, Jordan Gray, MultiStars Inc., 5781. 12, Jadin O’Brien, Notre Dame, 5671. 13, Asya Reynolds, Georgia, 5642. 14, Erinn Beattie, unattached, 4653. 15, Lindsay Flach, MultiStars Inc., 2834. DNF, Anna Hall, Georgia, Riley Cooks, Oiselle, Taliyah Brooks, Asics.
1, Annie Kunz, unattached, 6703. 2, Kendell Williams, Nike, 6683. 3, Erica Bougard, Nike, 6352. 4, Michelle Atherley, Miami, 6352. 5, Ashtin Mahler, Tracksmith, 6273. 6, Chari Hawkins, On, 6236. 7, Maddie Holmberg Nickal, Penn State, 5895. 8, Juanita Webster-Freeman, Santa Barbar TC, 5887. 9, Hope Bender, unattached, 5867. 10, Erin Marsh, Duke, 5839. 11, Jordan Gray, MultiStars Inc., 5781. 12, Jadin O’Brien, Notre Dame, 5671. 13, Asya Reynolds, Georgia, 5642. 14, Erinn Beattie, unattached, 4653. 15, Lindsay Flach, MultiStars Inc., 2834. DNF, Anna Hall, Georgia, Riley Cooks, Oiselle, Taliyah Brooks, Asics.
Very respectable performance indeed against an outstanding field in unusually challenging conditions! Interestingly, the winner's father was a member of the 1976 Oakland Raiders Super Bowl championship team. Of course, Maddie's father was also an outstanding footballer who play LB at PSU and in the NFL.
It may have been mentioned in the past, but if not, Maddie's Dad is Rob Holmberg who played football in the NFL (and at Penn State) and was PA state runner-up at 189lb his senior year in HS.
An article (below) about the heptathlon trials and photo of Nickal just prior to the final event:
triblive.com
Excessive heat delays Olympic track trials for Maddie (Holmberg) Nickal, Hanna Green
Because of excessive heat in the Eugene, Ore., area, the U.S. Olympic trials were suspended Sunday until midnight. Temperatures exceeded 100 degrees, and the stadium was evacuated because of the heat. Hempfield graduate Maddie (Holmberg) Nickal has one event left to compete in the heptathlon...
triblive.com
Wow. After 2 days, multiple events and thousands of points.......to lose out on the Olympics via tie-break is amazing and heartbreaking.
Another website lists the top three finishers with these scores (the third place number is different than previously quoted): Annie Kunz (6,703), Kendell Williams (6,683), Erica Bougard (6,667).Wow. After 2 days, multiple events and thousands of points.......to lose out on the Olympics via tie-break is amazing and heartbreaking.
Bougard's actual point total was 6667, 315 points higher than Atherly's. Bougard also had met the Olympic qualifying standard and Atherly had not. The top three were clearly the best in the field and deserve to be going to Tokyo.Wow. After 2 days, multiple events and thousands of points.......to lose out on the Olympics via tie-break is amazing and heartbreaking.
trials results
Hate linking a Washington Post article, but YES. Transferred in from Navy. Was a WR there and came into PSU as a LB
https://www.washingtonpost.com/arch...players/7dbed6d1-150d-4469-b699-6f1b10c801ca/
WIki page shows that he is an owner of a few Denny's in the Pittsburgh area.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Holmberg
Is it surprising/extra impressive that she finished seventh in the Olympic Qualifier and only sixth at NCAAs? I mean, in wrestling, we would expect that Olympic hopefuls are way better than the current #6 college kids. Relatedly, can someone who knows tell us whether and how high any other just-competed NCAA athletes placed at the Olympic Qualifier in Maddie’s event? Thank you in advance for any answers.
I had some free time, so did some research for you:
NCAA champ Tyra Gittens is ranked 3rd in the world and will represent Trinidad and Tobago, as long as she qualifies(points system).
2nd place Atherley got 4th at OTT
3rd place Blazevica is Latvian, but I didn't find anything verifying that she will be competing for them.
4th place Marsh finished 10th
5th place Eikeng is Norwegian, but like Blazevica, couldn't find anything about whether or not she is representing Norway at the Olympics.
One thing that people often overlook is that women peak a lot sooner than men. The older they get the worse they do. (or put another way - they get older a lot sooner than the men athletes do) Of course gymnastic is the biggest example of this, but other sports follow the same trend. Cross country and softball have similar results. I am guessing track does also.
I am not sure, but I think being rag dolled is the one thing they can do into their twilight years with the same or better results as when they were young.
I am not sure, but I think being rag dolled is the one thing they can do into their twilight years with the same or better results as when they were young.
it's more explosive vs strength than just young vs old. you see a lot of young people excel at sprint events but longer distances are won more often by older people. obviously part of that is learning the strategy of when to push and when to just run with the pack. you just can't get that in sprint events because you're pretty much going all out until you reach the finish line. with gymnastics, there are more strength based events like the rings and pommel horse.
then you consider the fact that if women want to have biological children, they need to sacrifice over a year of competition just to have the baby and they may never get back to their peak performance afterwards. also, for college 'non-revenue' sports, there are fewer opportunities to go pro for women then for men so many forgo that dream and just get a 'real job' so there are fewer older women competing.
