NCAA Men’s Vault — Bar Stayed Up For Rademeyer

THE VAULT PROJECTED to be a near replication of the titanic Indoor battle in which Princeton’s Sondre Guttormsen and Texas Tech’s Zach Bradford went 1–2 and Guttormsen equaled the Collegiate Record. After all, that pair had accumulated a half-dozen 19-foot clearances this year and the rest of the field had a total of 3.

One of those belonged to Kyle Rademeyer, who had made 19-1 (5.82) in late April but failed to clear a height at the Sunbelt Champs in mid May. He opened here at 17-10½ (5.45) and needed 2 jumps, then 3 at 18-4½ (5.60).

With the bar at 18-8¼ (5.70), the South Alabama junior nudged it with his chest on try No. 1. It wiggled but stayed. Suddenly, he was in the lead, as no other vaulter had cleared on first attempt.

“I’ve never jumped very well at this track,” the No. 4-seeded South African said. “But you come to every meet with the plan to win.”

Guttormsen, the favored defending champ, opened at 18-4½ (5.60), but needed two tries. Bradford had opened at 17-10½ with a strong clearance, and looked sharp at 18-4½ as well. Both passed at 18-8¼.

Hunter Garretson of Akron, the MAC champ in and out, was the busiest vaulter. He needed 2 at 17-4½ (5.30), 3 at 17-10½ (5.45), 2 at 18-4½ (5.60) and a pair at 18-8¼ (5.70). With that clearance of that last bar, he jumped into 2nd.

Bradford came back in at 19-¼ (5.80) and was not close on any of his 3 tries. Jacob Englar, a senior at Washington, was the cleanest of all vaulters, topping 4 bars on first tries and tying Bradford for 3rd at 18-4½. That was a PR for Englar. Bradford’s former teammate at Kansas, Clayton Simms, made 18-4½ (5.60) on his third for 5th.

Guttormsen never looked comfortable after his second-attempt clearance at 18-4½ (5.60) — chopping his steps on the approach and running the clock to 0.0 on one of his failed attempts at 19-¼ (5.80). “Some days, it just doesn’t go well,” he admitted.

1. *Kyle Rademeyer’ (SAl-SA) 18-8¼ (5.70) (=7, x NCAA);

2. *Hunter Garretson (Akr) 18-8¼ (5.70) (=7, x NCAA);

=3. Zach Bradford (TxT) 18-4½ (5.60);

=3. Jacob Englar (Wa) 18-4½ (5.60) PR;

5. **Clayton Simms (Ks) 18-4½ (5.60);

=6. Sondre Guttormsen’ (Prin-Nor) 18-4½ (5.60);

=6. Caleb Witsken (BYU) 18-4½ (5.60) out PR;

=8. *Ben Conacher (Bay) 17-10½ (5.45) PR;

=8. *Keaton Daniel (Ky) 17-10½ (5.45);

=8….