Collegiate record holder and No. 2 all-time global competitor Garland matches up with defending U.S. heptathlon champion Bastien in Indianapolis; Kunz, the 2020 national champ in Maryland, returns to pentathlon for first time in three years to square off with Bender, Marsh and Gray

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Reigning heptathlon champion Steven Bastien and collegiate record holder Kyle Garland headline a group of nine male athletes, with 2020 pentathlon national champ Annie Kunz highlighting a lineup of 12 female competitors Saturday and Sunday at the USATF Indoor Combined Events Championships at Fall Creek Pavilion at the Indiana State Fairgrounds and Event Center in Indianapolis.

Garland achieved the collegiate all-time mark and the No. 2 heptathlon performance in global history last year with 6,639 points at the NCAA Division 1 Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, N.M.

Bastien also prevailed in Albuquerque last year at the USATF Indoor Championships with 6,012 points, just off his personal-best 6,074 points.

Devon Williams, third last year at the national meet with 5,898 points, is also scheduled to compete. Williams boasts a personal-best 6,177 points.

Six other male competitors will be looking to eclipse the 6,000-point barrier for the first time.

Jack Flood enters with a mark of 5,803 points, Joseph Delgado has a personal-best 5,775 points, Jakob Tordsen has achieved a top effort of 5,623 points and Josh Cogdill boasts a career-high 5,546 points.

Cason Gardner is looking for a significant improvement from his entry mark of 5,340 points and Colorado State’s Drew Thompson is attempting to surpass 5,000 points for the first time, as his top heptathlon performance is 4,936.

Kunz, who won her lone pentathlon national title in Maryland in 2020 with 4,610 points, returns to the one-day, five-event schedule Sunday for the first time since 2021. She ranks No. 9 in U.S. history with 4,614 points.

Hope Bender, who recently moved from California to train at Texas State, returns after placing second last year in Albuquerque with 4,445 points. Erin Marsh, the reigning Pan American Games heptathlon gold medalist from November in Chile, is also expected to compete after taking third in last year’s national final with 4,432 points.

Shaina Burns is also entered following a fourth-place finish last year with 4,380 points.

Kaitlin Smith (sixth, 4,191 points), Cheyenne Nesbitt (seventh, 4,185 points), Avery McMullen (eighth, 4,112 points) and Katie Eidem (10th, 3,975 points) are also returning from last year’s final.

Nesbitt, formerly Cheyenne Williamson, is the NCAA Division 2 record holder at Saginaw Valley State with 4,292 points. McMullen, competing for Colorado, boasts a personal-best 4,231 points, Kaitlin Smith is entered with a top mark of 4,191 points and Eidem has a career-high 4,019 points.

Jordan Gray, the Pan American Games heptathlon bronze medalist, is scheduled to compete Sunday with a top pentathlon effort of 4,412 points.

Lexie Keller, a former Colorado State All-American, is entered with a personal-best 4,321 points. Melanie Winters, a three-time NCAA Division 3 champion representing Baldwin Wallace, is scheduled to compete with a top mark of 4,134 points.