Wally Ellenson Heads To NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships

Marquette junior Wally Ellenson will be in Oregon on Friday evening to compete in the high jump at the 2015 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.  The meet is being broadcast on the ESPN family of networks, with the high jump starting at 6pm Central time on ESPN3 before the broadcast moves to ESPN starting at 6:30pm.

Ellenson set a Marquette record in the high jump during the indoor season earlier in 2015, clearing 2.28 meters (7-5.75 feet) at a meet hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  He also won both the indoor and outdoor Big East titles relatively easily, and finished third at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

On Friday, Ellenson will be part of a 24 man field that advanced from the regional rounds.  Ellenson cleared all four of his jumps at the regional level, maxing out at 2.20 meters (7-2.5 feet) before the competition was stopped because they had cut the field down to the required 12 competitors.  Amongst the 23 other competitors that he's going against are the two guys that finished in front of him at the Indoor meet: Jacorian Duffield and Bradley Adkins, both from Texas A&M.  Adkins and Duffield both qualified from the West regional, but they both missed one jump on their way to clearing 2.20 meters.  Only Arizona State's Bryan McBride matched Ellenson in hitting every one of his jumps.

11 of the 12 qualifiers from the East regional only cleared 2.13 meters to reach Eugene for the finals, with Auburn's Shawn Johnson capping off the six gentlemen that tied for first.  Amongst that six-pack tie for first is Samford's Keyth Fightmaster, who has an amazing name.  If Wally doesn't win, I want KEYTH FIGHTMASTER to win the national championship.

We'll close with a video of Wally talking about his preparations.