FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.—South Dakota freshman
Eerik Haamer and senior
Ethan Bray notched All-America first team performances in the pole vault at the NCAA Championships on Saturday inside Tyson Indoor.
Haamer vaulted a new lifetime best 18-4 ½ (5.60m) to place fourth in the field. Bray finished fifth with a height of 18-0 ½ (5.50m).
Both Bray and Haamer were perfect through the first three bars of the competition with a trio of first-attempt makes leading up to 18-0 ½.
Haamer, hailing from Tartu, Estonia, entered the competition without an 18-foot vault under his belt. He recorded three-straight personal records in the competition, adding makes at 18-0 ½ and 18-2 ½. Haamer's 18-4 ½ vault was a clutch third-attempt make. He remains third in USD indoor program history with the height behind NCAA Champion
Chris Nilsen and Bray. Haamer garners his first career All-America honors in his first collegiate season.
Bray, a native of Fishers, Indiana, had a clean start with three first-attempt makes. He passed on the next bar (18-2 ½) and missed his three attempts to advance at 18-4 ½. This marks Bray's second career All-America distinction.
The men's pole vault was won by Baylor's KC Lightfoot, who set a new NCAA indoor meet record off 19-5 ½ (5.93m).
The Coyote duo combined for nine points, leading South Dakota to a 22nd-place finish in the team race. It ties the highest finish by the USD men at a national meet in NCAA Division I. It's also the second-most points the USD men have scored at a Division I indoor meet (2017).
South Dakota's had 11 women and eight men combine for 43 All-America accolades since the transition to NCAA Division I.
Gallery: (3-13-2021) T&F at NCAA Indoor Championships
