Track & Field

Montana State’s Wilson breaks Big Sky pole vault record, soars more than 18 feet

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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The 18-foot mark was in Montana State pole vaulter Colby Wilson’s mind long before he stepped on the runway at the Albuquerque Convention Center at the UNM Team Open this Saturday.

In fact, he’s been thinking about clearing that height for over a year.

Last year, the junior from Olympia, Wash. cleared 18 feet for the first time in practice on what he said wasn’t “necessarily that great of a jump.” It was almost serendipitous. Yet throughout his breakout sophomore season — complete with setting the MSU indoor school record, winning a Big Sky title indoors and qualifying for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in outdoor season — that 18-foot mark was still a weight on his shoulders. 

Finally, Wilson put it all together.

Breaking not only the MSU record, but also the Big Sky Conference’s indoor record, Wilson cleared 5.52m (18-1.25) to take third at the UNM Team Open. The previous record of 18-0.5, held by Idaho State’s Paul Litchfield, had stood since 2003 prior to this past week. His mark is tied for the eighth-best in Division I so far, plus it likely punched his ticket to the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.

“This is definitely a big weight off of my shoulders,” Wilson said. “I’ve been gunning after clearing [18 feet] for a while, so it’s definitely taken a lot of pressure off. I want to be able to focus on jumping, having fun and dialing in rather than shooting for a high bar like that. It’ll be fun to go back to nationals and jump against some of the same guys I was competing with last outdoor season.”

Wilson’s conference record was a result of taking a few steps in the offseason, according to Montana State pole vault coach Craig Hunter. The whirlwind of a sophomore season didn’t allow for much time to work on the details like speed, strength and technique, but Hunter and Wilson took a different approach in practice over the past week in order to make necessary improvements. Going into the UNM Team Open, both Wilson and Hunter knew the meet would be one of the best shots at putting up an NCAA-qualifying-caliber mark.

“He always likes to be in a new facility with either people who can compete with him, or people who are better than him. That leads him to compete better himself,” Hunter said. “Coming into today against some of the better pole vaulters in the country — and even some of the best in the world — I knew that Colby was going to come in with good energy.”

After getting the jitters out on the first jump, Hunter noticed Wilson wasn’t stressed or worried — he was having fun. By the time the bar was raised to 5.52 meters, only Wilson, Jorge Luna and eventual winner Branson Ellis of Stephen F. Austin were left. Wilson failed to clear the bar on his first attempt, but he came through on the second. He took ten long, loping strides before breaking out into his sprint, nailed the takeoff and barely disrupted the bar as he fell back to earth.

“As soon as I took off, it felt good, then after making the jump, I was pumped,” Wilson said.

Although Saturday’s mark was historic, Wilson and the Bobcats have plenty of season left ahead of them. As for indoor, Wilson has at least three more regular-season meets to improve his mark before defending his indoor pole vault title at the Big Sky Championships in late February. Coincidentally, the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships will also be held at the Albuquerque Convention Center in March. Then in outdoor season, Wilson’s aiming higher. His ultimate goal is to make the USATF Outdoor Championships this summer.

“He’s a patient guy, he’s a hard worker and he really wants it,” Hunter said. “For me, my goal is to contain all of that excitement and put it into a really good jump. It’s been a long time coming, but it took a few blows in the early season to help us go for broke and try different stuff in practice so things can shine through in a meet.”

Wilson was not the only Bobcat to compete on Saturday. Earlier in the meet, senior hurdler Elena Carter cruised to an easy win in her 60-meter hurdles heat, then placed seventh in the finals with a time of 8.57 seconds. Her time was less than 24 hours removed from taking seventh in the long jump with a mark of 5.83m (19-1.5).

The Bobcats will make their final trip to The Podium for the WSU Open and Combined Events on Feb. 2-4. All meet information can be found on the men’s and women’s track team’s schedule pages on msubobcats.com.

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