NCAA Women’s High Jump — Not Fit To Be Tied

For the third straight NCAA Elena Kulichenko found herself atop the high jump podium. What was different about this one was that unlike the ’25 Indoor and ’24 Outdoor, she was there alone. No ties this time for the Cypriot senior, whose 10 points weren’t really needed in Georgia’s landslide.

“I think Coach [Caryl Smith Gilbert] just said, ‘You know what you need to do, and do it for the team.’ She didn’t really, like, put pressure on us. She was like, ‘Just go there, have fun, and everything’s gonna work out.’”

It worked very well as Kulichenko cleared 5 heights in a row, including the winning 6-5 (1.96), without a miss. By way of contrast nobody else cleared as high as 6-2¾ (1.90) without incurring a flaw. Just 4 were left in the competition at 6-4 (1.93) and only Rose Yeboah of Illinois was successful, on second attempt.

Formchart fave Temitope Adeshina of Texas Tech (who had shared the undercover title with Kulichenko) started well, making three heights without a miss before failing at 6-2¾ (1.90) and ending up 5th. She had cleared a yearly outdoor-leading 6-5¼ (1.97) in winning the Big 12.

Said the winner, “It’s amazing. I think I don’t realize it yet, but I’m very happy. It was the goal, and I was working towards it a lot, and I’m just really happy to achieve it and close my NCAA career on such a really nice note.”

WOMEN’S HIGH JUMP RESULTS

FINAL (June 14)

1. Elena Kulichenko’ (Ga-Cyp) 6-5 (1.96);

2. Rose Yeboah’ (Il-Gha) 6-4 (1.93);

3. Jenna Rogers (Nb) 6-2¾ (1.90);

4. *Alyssa Jones (Stan) 6-2¾ (1.90);

5. **Temitope Adeshina’ (TxT-Ngr) 6-1½ (1.87);

6. Kristi Perez-Snyman’ (Mo-SA) 6-1½ (1.87);

7. *Celia Rifaterra’ (Va-Spa) 6-½ (1.84);

8. ***Valentina Fakrogha (UCLA) 6-½ (1.84);

9. tie, *Ajia Hughes (SnUt) & *Spirit Morgan (NCAT) 6-½ (1.84); 11. Claudina Diaz’ (Mo-Mex) 6-½; 12. *Eva Baldursdóttir’ (Pitt-Ice) 6-½ (1.84); 13. tie, *Cheyla Scott (SC), Miracle Ailes (Al) & **Diamonasia Taylor (Murr) 5-10½ (1.79); 16. tie, Amaya Ugarte (OhSt) & *Zharia Taylor (UCI) 5-10½; 18. ***Maria Arboleda’ (Ia-Col) 5-10½; 19. tie, **Sharie Enoe’ (KsSt-Jam), **Kendall Ward (GaT), Carly Tarentino (Va) & Zahra Amos’ (Buf-Aus) 5-8½ (1.74); 23. tie, *Svenia Deconinck (Kent) & **Alice Taylor’ (Rice-NZ) 5-8½.