SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Jagger Gran took an unconventional route but emerged victorious and captured the men's pole vault national title on Friday at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships. Teammate Scott Greenman also added to USF's team finish with a sixth-place mark in the pole vault to earn All-American honors as well, and the University of Sioux Falls Men's Track & Field team finished tied for 19th with 14 points the highest in program in Division II history and the best men's team finish of the 13 NSIC teams. The USF women's team tied for 34th with six points carrying over from day one.
Coming in as the top seed, Gran overcame struggles to earn his first, and USF men's team's first, individual national title despite the season-best mark he posted a month prior to Saturday's competition. He opened the meet with a clearance on his first height, but his next three heights would come not nearly as easily.
The junior from Shoreview, Minn. missed his first two attempts on the next three heights, but he managed to clear the bar on his third and final attempt each time. Once Gran and Greenman cleared 5.05 meters (16 feet-6.75 inches), eight vaulters remained in competition, guaranteeing them All-American honors for the third time each.
All eight vaulters missed their first two attempts at 5.15 meters (16-10.75); and, if that held true on each of their final attempts, Gran would have been relegated to eighth place on the account of his two previous heights needing three attempts to clear. But, Gran wouldn't let his previous misses dictate his finish and he cleared the bar on his final attempt for the third straight height. Six more vaulters had a final chance at clearing the bar, including a three-time national champion in Texas A&M-Kingsville's Jordan Yamoah, but none would have what it takes to push Gran to another height.
It is the second individual national title for Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Reid Ehrisman, who guided four vaulters to All-American finishes this weekend. Gran and Greenman join Kimberly Peterson and Courtney Crandall, who finished fourth and eighth, respectively, in Friday's women's pole vault competition. Gran joins former teammate Bridgette Gross as a Division II pole vault national champion for USF -- Gross won the 2014 women's indoor national championship.
Greenman, who placed third at last year's NCAA indoor Championships, was seeded third and struggled like the rest of the 16-athlete field. The 2015 NSIC Indoor Champion made it through the competition cleaner, needing two attempts at the final three heights he made, but it was those misses that dropped him to sixth despite being one of the seven vaulters to clear 5.05 meters.
Hailing from Clovis, Calif., Greenman has now earned All-American honors at three consecutive NCAA Championship meets. The junior tied for sixth at the 2014 outdoor national meet, adding to his third place from the indoor season of the same year.
Opening the final day of competition for the Cougars at the NCAA Championships, Katlyn Sawtelle placed 12th in the women's pentathlon. The senior from Luverne, Minn. tallied 3,468 points to finish her indoor career.
Sawtelle, who was coming off a strained hamstring at the NSIC Championships, opened the competition with an 8.90-second run in the 60-meter hurdles. She followed it by clearing two heights on her first attempt in the high jump, her highest being 1.54 meters (5-0.5), but couldn't keep her momentum going in the event.
In the shot put, Sawtelle recorded a 10.38-meter (34-0.75) tosson her first attempt and it would hold as her best of the third event of the day. She then jumped 5.13 meters (16-10) in the long jump and sat 13th entering the 800-meter run, the final event of the day. She moved up one spot after the 800, clocking a 2:27.71 in her four laps around the track.
The Cougars concluded the indoor season with five All-American performances, including the men's distance medley relay team, who recorded the first track event All-American finish for USF since their transition to Division II three years ago. The Sioux Falls men placed a program-best second at the NSIC Championships -- the women finished eighth at the conference meet -- and the teams would combine to win six individual conference titles this season.