Led by pole vaulter Sam Kendricks, the Ole Miss men’s track and field team placed eighth at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, the school’s highest ever finish.
“That was one of our goals from the beginning of the year which was to be a top 10 team,” head coach Brian O’Neal said. “We had to take baby steps along the way. We knew for that to happen we were going to have to have our stars step up and be stars for us.”
Kendricks, the brightest star, took home the national championship in pole vaulting. His vault of 18-8.25 gave him the title, as he knocked off last year’s pole vault champion Jack Whitt of Oral Roberts.
As a sophomore, Kendricks is already the best pole vaulter in Ole Miss history, holding the school record in the event and being the only Rebel to reach 18 feet in the event. Now Kendricks is the only Rebel to take home a national championship in the pole vault.
Kendricks is from Oxford which made him especially proud to be the national champion for Ole Miss.
“I chose the right place,” Kendricks said. “The people here at Ole Miss support me like nobody ever had before.”
Last year Kendricks finished tied for 10th in the Outdoor Championships, clearing 17-4.5.
Senior Isiah Young turned in two great performances as well to help the track and field team make history. He finished second in the 200 meter final and third in the 100 meter final.
The sprinter was one of the favorites to win both of the events, and turned in fast times, but fell just short of winning the national championship in both events.
“He’s disappointed that he didn’t win both of them,” O’Neal said. “He lives and breathes to wear the red and blue and see Ole Miss on the top of the podium. He was dejected. Although he ran the best he’s ever run in his life, at the end of the day, what he wanted to do was put the most points on the board for Ole Miss.”
Young posted a 20.17 time in the 200 meter final, good for runner up behind Ameer Webb of Texas A&M who ran it in 20.10.
Young broke his own school record in the 100 meter final by posting a 9.96. This ended up good for third, as Charles Silmon on TCU took home first with a 9.89.
“To come in the top three in two different events is really big,” O’Neal said. “Outside of the World Championships or the Olympic Games this is by far the best there is anywhere in the world.”
Young, who competed in the 2012 London Olympics, is the school record holder in the 200 meter and the 100 meter.
The third male athlete representing Ole Miss was Morris Kersh, who finished 24th in the triple jump by posting a jump of 49-9.
For the women, just one athlete represented the Rebels. Mary Ashton Nall competed in the heptathlon and finished 14th scoring 5,562 points in the event, which is the third best score in Ole Miss history.
O’Neal, who graduated from Ole Miss in 1993, was able to lead the Rebels to their best finish ever in history and said it was “a tremendous honor to be back in the red and blue again.”
“I wanted the expectations to be high,” O’Neal said. “I want Ole Miss to be a household name in the track and field world.”
