Indoors? Outdoors? Johnson Starred In The PV

Celebrating A Century of NCAA Track & Field Championships

Indoors? Outdoors? Johnson Starred In The PV

June 20, 1970

The pole vault competition at the 1970 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships started outdoors, but an injury on the slippery runway convinced officials to move the event indoors.

That’s where “Jan Johnson of Kansas was born as a great vaulter,” as Cordner Nelson wrote in Track & Field News.

Johnson matched BYU’s Altti Alarotu, the pre-meet favorite, and Paul Heglar of UTEP in clearing 17-0 (5.18m), the first time in meet history that more than one vaulter was above 17-feet at low altitude.

Still, Johnson – whose PR was 16-6¼ (5.03m) prior to the meet – aimed higher. Having gone 17-2 (5.23m) in practice, Johnson would need to clear a better bar in order to give Kansas its first NCAA title in the event, as he sat in third place. While Johnson was the only one able to get over 17-4 (5.28m), the competition wasn’t over as Alarotu passed after a single miss.

The bar went to 17-7 (5.36m), equal to the NCAA meet record and – as the event was being conducted inside Drake’s field house – a potential world indoor best.

Johnson sailed over on his first attempt, causing the many fans who followed the competition inside to erupt in celebration.

With victory in hand, the bar was next set at the barrier-breaking height of 18-0 (5.49m), a height confirmed by none other than Dutch Warmerdam, vaulting royalty as the world’s first 15-footer in 1940. Johnson came closest to being history’s first 18-footer on his third attempt, the bar falling after being grazed on Johnson’s descent.

“I hit it with my armpit on the way off,” he said. “If I could have relaxed more, I would have been all right.”

Johnson eventually got over 18-feet, making 5.50m (18-0½) at the 1972 Olympic Trials before earning a bronze medal in the Munich Olympics.

Johnson’s daughter, Chelsea, won the pole vault at the 2004 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships while competing for UCLA, making them the first parent-child combination of champions in meet history in the same event. Chelsea later earned a silver medal in the 2009 World Championships.

posted: January 9, 2021
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.

Memorable Moments
Lindgren Had No Peer In NCAA

Gerry Lindgren of Washington State swept the 3-mile/5K & 6-mile/10K at the NCAA Outdoor Championships three consecutive times between 1966 and 1968.