Wally Ellenson set a new Big East conference record in high jump as part of Marquette’s pair of second-place finishes in the Big East Indoor Championships this past weekend.
The junior high jumper leaped 7-feet, 3.25-inches en route to both a first overall finish in his event and a meet record. Ellenson earned Big East Conference Most Outstanding Field Performer for his accomplishments.
After the meet, Ellenson tweeted, “Had a lot of fun getting a new Big East Record at 2.22[m] (7’ 3.25”)! Blessed to get field MVP on an amazing team effort!”
Immediately after his record-setting jump, Ellenson attempted a jump with the bar set at 7-feet, 6.5-inches, which would have been good for a national lead, but the Olympic hopeful couldn’t quite clear the bar.
Ellenson’s high jump victory represented just one of four individual events that Marquette won over the course of the meet. Sophomore Joel Swanburg set a school record for pole vault Saturday at 16 feet on his way to winning the event, then followed up that performance by taking first place in the heptathlon Sunday. Marcell KirkmanBey captured the last of Marquette’s wins with a time of 8.50 seconds in the 600-meter hurdles.
The men led the meet at the conclusion of the first day, but ultimately finished 30 points behind the back-to-back Big East champion Villanova Wildcats.
“Going into the meet, we felt like our men were a first or second-place team and that we had a good shot at challenging Villanova,” coach Bert Rogers told GoMarquette.com. “And that’s how it ended up with us and Villanova the whole way and they just had a little more depth in the distance races.”
The women’s team also achieved a second-place finish, finishing 42.5 points behind the meet-winning Villanova Wildcats.
“On the women’s side, we felt it was more of a four-team race,” Rogers told GoMarquette.com. “On paper, it was going to be an uphill battle and I think we won that battle by taking second place. Villanova is just really deep on the women’s side.”
High jump was also a strong point for the women; the Golden Eagles managed to secure four of the top six spots in the event. Tatyana Pashibin, Omo Tseumah, Bridget Bodee and Taylor Keating all submitted impressive jumps in excess of 5-feet, 1-inch to claim the spots.
Freshman phenom Cassy Goodrich also had a solid meet. She set a new Marquette record in the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.59 seconds in the qualifying round. Goodrich finished third in both the 200 and 400 meter dashes and was also part of a 4×400 team that took second place.
“It was an amazing weekend,” Rogers said to gomarquette.com. “Both teams really competed and the performances really showed across the board with individuals setting (personal record) after (personal record) and a couple school records when it was all said and done.”
Both the men and women athletes now look toward the NCAA Indoor Championships March 13 and 14 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Marquette’s representatives for those meets have not yet been announced.
