Trevor Stephenson Finishes Fourth in Pole Vault Final at NCAA Indoor Championships

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Michigan State track & field fifth-year senior Trevor Stephenson used a school-record breaking performance to finish fourth in the men’s pole vault Friday night at the NCAA Indoor Championships at the Albuquerque Convention Center. 

Stephenson, who set three personal bests and broke the school record twice en route to his fourth-place finish, ended the competition with a mark of 5.66m. He began the night with two first-attempt clearances at 5.31m and 5.41m before passing at 5.46m. The bar was then raised to 5.51m, where Stephenson cleared after two attempts. Stephenson followed with personal-best first-attempt clearances at 5.56m and 5.61m, his mark of 5.61 breaking the school record of 5.60m set by Tim Ehrhardt in 2018. With four athletes remaining in the competition, he cleared another personal best and school record of 5.66m in his second attempt. Stephenson then passed at 5.71m after two misses to remain in the competition. He missed his remaining attempt at 5.76m to finish fourth. 

Stephenson earned his third All-American honor and first First-Team All-American nod with his finish. Friday also marked his second-straight indoor All-American honor after finishing 13th in 2022. 

The Caledonia, Michigan native is the first Spartan to earn First-Team All-American honors in the indoor men’s pole vault since Ehrhardt in 2017. 

Earlier on Friday, senior Heath Baldwin completed the first day of the heptathlon. 

Baldwin kicked off the first day of competition with a pair of personal bests in his first two events. Starting the day with the 60m, he set a personal best of 7.09, surpassing his previous best of 7.19. He followed with a personal-best mark of 7.29m in the long jump, totaling 1,734 points after two events. 

Baldwin’s best performances of the day came in the final two events of the first day, securing two-top five finishes in the shot put and high jump. He used a 15.09m throw on his third and final attempt in the shot put for the fifth-best mark in the field and 795 points. Baldwin wrapped up the first day of competition with a clearance of 2.09m in the high jump, the second-best clearance in the field, for 887 points. 

Baldwin ended the day in fifth place with 3,416 points. His point total after the first four events surpasses his first-day total of 3,402 at the Big Ten…