Arnold's eye is on Olympic team berth

<p>Jake Arnold can't help it.</p><p>He's thinking about the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials, even when he doesn't know it.</p><p>"It's always in the back of my mind," Arnold said. "But sometimes at the most random times I suddenly get that excited and nervous feeling. I know they're coming up."</p><p>Arnold, 24, a Maria Carrillo graduate who is an Olympic decathlon hopeful, will take the next step in his preparation for the much-anticipated Trials starting today at the two-day U.S. National Indoor Combined Events Championship in Chapel Hill, N.C.</p><p>The event will be one of Arnold's final tune-ups before the decathlon at the Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore., on June 29-30. Arnold's final event before the Trials will be at the Multistars Decathlon in Desenzano, Italy, in May.</p><p>The Combined Events Championship -- which will feature an 11-man field competing in the seven-event heptathlon -- will be headlined by Arnold and Paul Terek, a 2004 Olympian who has won the event a record three times.</p><p>At the Trials, Arnold and Terek, 28, are likely candidates to engage in a fierce battle. Former world champs Bryan Clay, 28, and Tom Pappas, 31, are expected to claim two of the three spots on the Olympic team.</p><p>"It's really hard to say, but on paper it figures that Clay will win and Pappas will take second," said Sheldon Blockburger, Arnold's coach. "That probably leaves Jake and Paul fighting for that last spot."</p><p>Arnold, a two-time NCCA champion at the University of Arizona, has stayed in Tucson to train since graduating last spring. After finishing 13th at the World Championships in September, he took about six weeks off to recover from a lower abdominal strain.</p><p>He has since competed in several smaller heptathlons during the indoor season, including one in Lincoln, Neb., and is working at a Home Depot 15 hours a week as part of its Olympic Job Program.</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Eric Branch at 521-5268 or eric. branch@pressdemocrat.com.</p>