News Story - Idaho State Journal

Idaho State assistant track and field coach Jackie Poulson spent the weekend in Manhattan, Kan., representing America.

Based on her performance at the U.S. track and field Olympic trials in June, the American Falls native qualified to compete for Team USA in the Thorpe Cup, which took place Saturday and Sunday at Kansas State University.

"It's awesome," Poulson said. "I feel very honored, and I worked really hard to get to that point to wear that uniform."

The Thorpe Cup is an annual dual event for multi-event athletes that pairs the United States against Germany. To decide the winner, the top three scores in the heptathlon from each country are totaled.

Despite having the top finisher in Lela Nelson, the Americans fell to the Germans 17,267 to 17,182.

Poulson said she felt good going into the competition but ended up straining her hamstring in the 200-meter dash, the final event of the first day.

"After that, the goals change just to finish and help the team anyway I could," she said.

She did finish, tallying 5,271 points, well shy of the 5,741 she scored at the Olympic trials.

Still, Poulson said the international competition was a good experience.

"It definitely pushes me forward," she said, "and it keeps me motivated to be able to do something like this."

This document was originally published online on Wednesday, August 06, 2008

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