Hook ‘Em, Ivan: Wagner Tied Best HJ Margin

Celebrating A Century of NCAA Track & Field Championships

Hook ‘Em, Ivan: Wagner Tied Best HJ Margin

June 5, 1997

Ivan Wagner of Texas found seven feet to be just right, but not as a height when he won the high jump at the 1997 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

Rather, it was the distance he adjusted his approach.

The San Antonio native was in first place with only two jumpers remaining as the bar rose to a familiar height with a familiar opponent. In early April, Wagner had scaled the same height of 2.25m (7-4½) to win the Texas Relays over Staffan Strand of Minnesota.

Wagner again cleared 7-4½, equaling his PR, but Strand didn’t and finished as runner-up at 2.19m (7-2½). With victory clinched, Wagner then cleared 2.30m (7-6½) to increase his winning margin to an impressive 11 cm (4¼ inches) – matching the meet’s largest ever set, by collegiate record holder Hollis Conway of Southwestern Louisiana (now Louisiana) in 1989.

Wagner’s approach adjustment came just a week before the NCAA meet. A midterm basketball transfer from NC State, he was recovering from knee surgery and his coach – USTFCCCA Hall of Famer Dan Pfaff – suggested an approach that was longer and slower than usual.

One of the six jumpers behind Wagner at the runner-up height of 7-2½ was Longhorn teammate Richard Duncan, who was beginning some history of his own. Duncan followed up his tie for fifth with third-place finishes in the long jump and triple jump, becoming the first man to score in that trio of events.

posted: December 21, 2020
1921-2021
The NCAA's First Championships

The NCAA and collegiate track & field will mark a momentous milestone in the spring of 2021 -- the 100th anniversary of the NCAA Championships and with that, the NCAA Track & Field Championships. In June 1921, the University of Chicago hosted the first track & field championships in NCAA history.

This point can’t be emphasized enough: Not only was the event the first for NCAA track & field, but the first championships for any sport under the sponsorship of the NCAA.

To celebrate, over each of the next 365 days, the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) will celebrate moments, student-athletes, and coaches that have made a century’s worth of championships special. From humble beginnings to important historical milestones to the modern-day, collegiate track & field has evolved with the American society.

The 2021 edition of the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships begin with preliminary round action on May 27-29 in Jacksonville, Fla., and College Station, Texas. The championships final site and culmination of the celebration is slated for June 9-12, 2021 at the newly rebuilt Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

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