IGNACIO MURILLO | The Daily Mississippian
Sam Kendricks competes during the Ole Miss Invitational.
Junior pole-vaulter Sam Kendricks has an impressive resume in his two and a half years with the Rebels.
In addition to a collection of school records, he won the first pole vault national title in Ole Miss history at the 2013 NCAA Outdoor Championships, and he currently has a world leading height in outdoor track. So that begs the question, what’s next?
“My goals fall in line with what the team wants from me. My job, first and foremost, is to represent the Rebels and try to win every meet,” Kendricks said. “I want to consistently jump higher than I did last year. I was consistently around 18 feet last outdoor season. I want to raise that to 18.6, 18.7 because there’s not many guys In the NCAA that can say they consistently jump that level, and I want to be that guy.”
Kendricks started off this season smoothly with two victories, the first coming at the Ole Miss Open by way of a record-shattering performance.
“My goal coming into that field meet was jump that field record by a centimeter. I did, and that was great,” Kendricks said. “That mean’s I’ve got 100 percent of the field records in the last two years.”
His second performance came at the Texas Relays, which he won for the second year in a row and where he posted his world leading height.
“I had a great meet,” Kendricks said. “No misses all the way up to 18.825. I won the competition by 8 inches.”
Kendricks will look to cap this outdoor season by defending his national title. He has competed at National Championships in both indoor and outdoor track, so he’s familiar with the stage.
“The cool thing about competing at the national championship is all the guys there, they’re good and they all have their own ways of doing things,” Kendricks said. “They’re trying to compete for their schools, and they’re trying to beat you just as bad as you’re trying to beat them. So I kind of like that ‘fight for your life’ aspect of the national championship.”
In addition to his NCAA aspirations, Kendricks has national goals.
“This summer is the USA national championships. That’s where I go individually,” Kendricks said. “I’m gonna wear Ole Miss on my chest surely, but I’m competing as Sam Kendricks at that meet.”
Although he competes at these individual events, Kendrick stressed the important role Ole Miss has filled for him, saying that without Ole Miss, he’d have nothing. Kendricks also looks to one day compete at the highest level possible.
“Everybody has an Olympic dream,” Kendricks said. “(The 2016 Summer Olympics), I am looking to compete at that, and if I wasn’t, I wouldn’t be doing myself any favors.”
Despite his bigger goals, Kendricks will first focus on the Rebels’ next meet.
The Alabama vs. Mississippi Meet features six schools from the two states: Alabama, Auburn and the University of Alabama at Birmingham will be pitted against Ole Miss, Southern Miss and Mississippi State.
“I’ve never jumped at a meet like that before,” Kendricks said. “It’s going to be fun.”
