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Chris Nilsen Goes To Record Heights To Beat Mondo Duplantis And Deep Field Of Challengers for Second NCAA Pole Vault Title

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DyeStat.com   Jun 6th 2019, 6:06am
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Nilsen Tops Them All For Second Straight Outdoor PV Title

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

AUSTIN – A resurgent wave of young American-grown pole vaulters pooled together in the Texas sun Wednesday and staged one of the best competitions in NCAA history.

When it was all said and done, Chris Nilsen of South Dakota defended his title successfully by going two bars higher than he ever had before and defeating LSU’s prodigal freshman Armand Duplantis, the all-time collegiate record-holder.

Nilsen cleared 5.95m (19 feet, 6.25 inches) and teased the crowd with three attempts at 6.01m, which would have one-upped Duplantis’ 6.00m from the SEC Championships.

Nilsen became the first back-to-back outdoor winner at NCAAs since Sam Kendricks of Ole Miss in 2013-14.

But what made the competition special wasn’t just the meet-record clearances.

Seven vaulters cleared 5.70m (18-8.25), something that had never happened at the NCAA Championships before. Three made 5.75m. Two made 5.80m. Again, unprecedented.

“Holy crap, man, this competition was nuts,” Nilsen said.

Only five guys went 5.70 or higher at the 2016 Olympic Games.

Wednesday’s competition was every bit about challengers like Clayton Fritsch (Sam Houston State), who jumped 5.75m (18-10.25 for third place), stepping up their game.

Arkansas State’s Michael Carr, who finished fifth, broke Earl Bell’s 1976 school record.

Texas Tech’s Brandon Bray finished seventh, again with 5.70m, one spot ahead of teammate Drew McMichael.

Five of the top eight finishers recorded lifetime bests.

Freshmen KC Lightfoot of Baylor (fourth), Zach Bradford of Kansas (sixth), who both made 5.70m, and ninth-place finisher Sondre Guttormsen of UCLA, who just-missed – were all vaulting in high school 12 months ago.

For that matter, so was Duplantis, who went from Louisiana state champion and high school record holder to European champion and tied for No. 2 all-time in history outdoors competing for Sweden last summer.

"Mondo’s" clearance at 6.05m in 2018 at 18 years old, and his bid to break the collegiate records indoors and out, and win both titles, were all but expected.

“Mondo, a freshman going six meters, we all want to beat him so we’re all going to keep training harder to jump higher,” Lightfoot said.

Asked if he thought he would, or could, beat Duplantis, Nilsen offered a succinct, “No.”

“All of his past success, and the collegiate record and all of that,” Nilsen said. “Everybody’s beatable. Nobody’s not human. Things can happen. Pole vault is a sporadic event.”

Duplantis said he moved on to bigger poles Wednesday and had some difficulty adjusting to them on the fly.

After the crowd of seven made 5.70m, the next bar (5.75m) thinned the herd.

Duplantis made a first-attempt clearance at 5.80m and Nilsen made it on his second try.

Then, both remaining vaulters skipped over 5.85m and made it a race to 5.90m (19-4.25) – meet-record territory.

When Nilsen made it on his first try, and Duplantis missed, suddenly the defending champion was in the driver’s seat.

Duplantis passed his remaining jumps at 5.90m, hoping to recapture the lead at 5.95m (19-6.25).

But again, Nilsen made it. First try.

“I kind of felt like I needed to make the next bar if I wanted to win, because there’s no way I’m beating Mondo with 5.90,” Nilsen said. “The kid’s a stud.”

Duplantis missed two more times.

“I have to tip my hat to Chris,” Duplantis said. “He had an outstanding day. Five-ninety-five first attempt (clearance), you don’t beat that very much … He was just better than me today.”

Suddenly, Nilsen’s knocking on the door of six meters as well. He’ll have six weeks to prepare for the USATF Outdoor Championships in Des Moines, where he will have a chance to challenge Kendricks for the U.S. title and possibly land a spot on the World Championships team.

“By the time July comes, (Kendricks) will be moving, so it’s going to be really, really hard to beat him for a U.S. title, but again, that’s not what I’m going for,” Nilsen said. “I’m kind of just going to jump high and have fun.”

Nilsen’s South Dakota coach, Derek Miles, was one of many who soaked in the entirety of the competition and expressed appreciation.

“It was crazy, unreal,” Miles said. “That was just amazing to watch. We all know Texas is a good place to jump, but to see so many people at 18-8.25 lighting things up, the meet really started at that point. It’s a testament to a lot of guys with the same mentality as Chris. There’s a lot of freshmen out there, not just Mondo, saying ‘I’ve got to push. I’ve got to get better.’ And it keeps raising the bar for everyone else.”



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