Courtesy of RobertsRedHawks.com
PUEBLO, Colo – Considering that she had gone nearly six weeks without competing and had only one full practice prior to the meet, it’s easy to understand why Brynn King wasn’t sure what to expect at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday.
Throw in some swirling winds and the altitude of 4,692 feet and the Roberts Wesleyan University graduate student’s performance in her outdoor finale as a Redhawk at Colorado State University Pueblo’s ThunderBowl is even more impressive.
King endured a battle with Pittsburg State junior Isabelle Peters before clearing 4.52 meters (14-feet,10-inches) to become the first DII women’s outdoor pole vaulter to repeat as national champion since Emily Presley of Missouri Southern State in 2017.
The national title was the fourth overall for King, who has won the NCAA DII indoor and outdoor championships each of the past two years.
“It was definitely nice to win a fourth,” said King, who is the only student-athlete in Roberts history to win an NCAA championship. “It was a rough indoor season and then outdoors started well and it kind of turned into a rough outdoor season. I got hurt at Brockport two weeks after jumping my record at Texas Relays and then I hadn’t competed until today.
“I wasn’t as prepared as I would typically like to be for this meet, so it was nice to be able to bring home the win even without as many practices as I would have liked.”
King, a native of the Woodlands, Texas, is the fifth student-athlete to win two outdoor championships since women’s pole vault became a DII championship sport in 1999.
After making the bar at 4.52, King passed all the way up to 4.80m (15-9) to try to break the all-time NCAA women’s outdoor record of 4.78m (15-8¼) set by the University of Washington’s Amanda Moll on May 17.
King, whose energy was zapped due to her limited training and the altitude, missed on all three attempts at the all-time mark.
“I didn’t have very much of my legs left,” King said. “In terms of going for the record, it was then or never.”
Roberts Wesleyan sophomore Sarah Ferguson came within a half-inch of a personal record while placing sixth. Redhawks freshman Karis Kraf finished 19th while Roberts freshman Austin Melvin finished 10th in the men’s competition on Thursday.
“Anytime you can get a win you take it,” Roberts pole vault coordinator Jenn Suhr said. “We were happy with the results this weekend from all the athletes – Austin, Brynn, Sarah and Karis.
“Brynn and Sarah are experienced jumpers and to have Austin and Karis, who are both freshmen, there to learn from them and experience the meet is just the start for our program. We came away with two first-team All-Americans and one with a win. That’s a very successful weekend and a great way to end Brynn’s last outdoor meet as a Roberts’ student-athlete.”
King entered the competition with a quick make at 4.32m (14-2) after the field of 22 had been pared to two, but things got tense soon after.
She and Peters both missed their first attempts at 4.37 meters (14-4), but King regained control with a make on her first attempt at 4.42 meters (14-6).
“Sometimes you get caught in an all-out dogfight and Brynn had to fight it out with her,” Roberts assistant track and field coach Rick Suhr said.
Peters, who had already achieved a personal best, passed to 4.47m (14-8), but missed on both of her attempts to secure the title for King.
“I kind of got into a battle at lower bars, which is not what I would like to do,” King said. “I usually like to take just a few bars and then put it up on a record to be fresh, but you can’t do that in a championship meet. You have to win the meet first.”
After missing her first try at 4.52, King made her second attempt to give her three chances at the all-time mark.
“I’m happy,” Rick Suhr said. “National titles are not easy to come by, no matter how good you are.”
And King, who has the option to compete during the 2025-26 indoor season for Roberts, is unbelievably good.
The Duke University transfer stands at the top of almost every list for Division II women’s pole vault.
She ends her outdoor career with the DII indoor (4.66m, 15-3½) and outdoor (4.75m, 15-7) records and is the only woman in Division II history to clear 15 feet in competition.
A member of the 2024 United States Olympic team, King also owns the NCAA Division II championship records for both indoors and outdoors.
King has the seven best jumps in NCAA Division II outdoor history and the top eight jumps and nine of the top 10 in indoor history.
When King looks back on her time at Roberts, it gives her plenty of reasons to smile.
“I think there’s a lot to be proud of, and I don’t know if I could pick a certain thing,” King said. “Obviously, the Olympic Trials and making the Olympic Team was a big thing, but also a meet like this and even indoor. Last year, I was kind of jumping good the whole year on a straight, upward trend. This year I’ve, I’ve had my battles cut out for me, but I’ve come out with two national championships again and that’s not easy to do, especially you get one chance at indoor and one chance at outdoor, and I haven’t had the seasons or the amount of training that I’ve wanted.
“So, I am proud of the fact that I could turn it on no matter the circumstances and come out with two wins. It’s not as glamorous as some of the other things, like breaking the NCAA record that I did earlier in the season or making the Olympic team, but It shows me that I’m improving as an athlete and improving in mental toughness, which is what you need at this level, but also if you want to go to the next level. It’s showing me that I’m evolving and I can make something good happen even when the circumstances are not how I would like them to be.”
First team for Ferguson
Ferguson, a sophomore from Lexington, Ky., earned her second DII first-team All-America finish after placing sixth at the indoor championships in March.
Ferguson entered Saturday’s competition on the second bar, 3.92m (12-10¼) and made her first attempt. She missed her first try at 4.07m (13-4¼) before rebounding nicely on her second try and making her first attempt at 4.17m (13-8¼).
Ferguson very nearly cleared her third and final attempt at 4.27m (14-0) for a personal record, but the bar did not stay up.
“It was a tough field and she jumped well,” Rick Suhr said. “She basically tied her PR and that’s tough to do in a championship meet.”
Kraf finishes 19th
Kraf earned her first trip to nationals and placed 19th.
Kraf cleared her third attempt at 3.77m (12-4½) but was unable to make 3.92m (12-10¼).
“She made a bar at nationals and she jumped well and she jumped aggressively,” Rick Suhr said.
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