TEXAS A&M JUNIOR Lamara Distin dominated the event all year. Indoors, she won the NCAA title at 6-4¾. Outdoors, she jumped a 1.97 (6-5½) PR in April and won the SEC title at 1.95 (6-4¾) 4 weeks ago. In this meet, she would again meet her season-long rivals as the formchart predicted an SEC sweep with Distin as the favorite over Rachel Glenn of South Carolina and Nyagoa Bayak of LSU.
Glenn — the defending champion who won as a frosh last year — and Bayak had finished 2nd and 3rd to the Aggie jumper at the conference meet. Others expected to contend here included ’21 Indoor champ Tyra Gittens of Texas and Abigail Kwarteng of Middle Tennessee State.
When the bar moved up from 6-0 (1.83) to 6-1¼ (1.86) 8 remained in the competition but Gittens, last year’s runner up while competing for A&M, was not one of them. Only 3 would negotiate the height successfully, Distin on first try, Glenn and Kwarteng on second.
Distin and Kwarteng cleared 6-2¼ (1.89) on first attempts, but Glenn would exit, ensuring a new champion. Kwarteng and Distin would go on to clear 6-3½ (1.92) on first try as well. At 6-4¾ (1.95), Distin’s dominance reigned with a first-attempt clearance and Kwarteng’s day would end.
Kwarteng, who competed for Western Texas and Alabama before spending her final season at Middle Tennessee State equaled her Ghanaian Record.
Distin, a native of Hanover, Jamaica, then put the bar to 6-6¾ (2.00) to try to best the Collegiate Record of 6-6¼ (1.99) set by Arizona’s Brigetta Barrett in ’13. Unsuccessful in three tries, she was nevertheless successful at adding the Outdoor title to her Indoor one.
When asked about her attempts at the CR, Distin said, “When it went to 2m, I was pushing it too much. I wasn’t running, I was changing my run up and everything just because the bar went higher when I was supposed to continue doing my normal run. So, I just feel like I was trying too hard.”
WOMEN’S HIGH JUMP RESULTS
(June 11)
1. *Lamara Distin’ (TxAM-Jam) 6-4¾ (1.95) (=2, =2 NCAA);
2. Abigail Kwarteng’ (MTn-Gha) 6-3½ (1.92) =NR;
3. **Rachel Glenn (SC) 6-1¼ (1.86);
4. *Sanaa Barnes (Vill) 6-0 (1.83);
5. *Charity Griffith (Ball) 6-0;
=6. **Nyagoa Bayak (LSU) 6-0;
=6. Marguerite Lorenzo’ (Corn-Can) 6-0;
=6. ***Jenna Rogers (Nb) 6-0;
9. tie, Tyra Gittens’ (Tx-Tri) & **Cierra Tidwell (BYU) 5-10¾ (1.80); 11. ***Elena Kulichenko’ (Ga-Rus) 5-10¾; 12. Jamari Drake (Ga) 5-10¾; 13. *Rylee Anderson (Ks) 5-10¾; 14. ***Daniella Anglin’ (SD-Jam) 5-10¾; 15. tie, *Lucy Corbett (MtSt) & *Sakari Famous’ (McN-Ber) 5-9¾ (1.77); 17. **Morgan Smalls (LSU) 5-9¾; 18. **Nissi Kabongo (SFA) 5-9¾; 19. *Aislinn Overby (WaSt) 5-9¾; 20. tie, **Mahogany Jenkins (In), **Riley Masten (Nb) & ***Nyalaam Jok (Mn) 5-7¾ (1.72); 23. Emma Söderström’ (WF-Swe) 5-7¾; 24. *Sidney Sapp (TxT) 5-7¾.
| 5-7¾ | 5-9¾ | 5-10¾ | 6-0 | 6-1¼ | 6-2¼ | 6-3½ | 6-4¾ | 6-6¾ | |
| Glenn | ppp | xo | o | xo | xo | xxx | — | — | — |
| Jenkins | o | xxx | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Söderström | xo | xxx | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Masten | o | xxx | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Anglin | o | xo | xxo | xxx | — | — | — | — | — |
| Gittens | ppp | o | o | xxx | — | — | — | — | — |
| Drake | o | o | xo | xxx | — | — | — | — | — |
| Kabongo | o | xo | xxx | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Griffith | o | xo | o | xxo | xxx | — | — | — | — |
| Smalls | xo | o | xxx | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Kwarteng | ppp | o | o | o | xo | o | o | xxx | — |
| Lorenzo | xo | xo | o | xxo | xxx | — | — | — | — |
| Overby | xo | xxo | xxx | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Bayak | xo | o | xo | xxo | xxx | — | — | — | — |
| Kulichenko | o | xo | o | xxx | — | — | — | — | — |
| Famous | o | o | xxx | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Distin | ppp | ppp | o | o | o | o | o | o | xxx |
| Sapp | xxo | xxx | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Barnes | o | o | o | o | xxx | — | — | — | — |
| Jok | o | xxx | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Tidwell | o | o | o | xxx | — | — | — | — | — |
| Anderson | o | o | xxo | xxx | — | — | — | — | — |
| Rogers | o | o | xxo | xxo | xxx | — | — | — | — |
| Corbett | o | o | xxx | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1.72 | 1.77 | 1.80 | 1.83 | 1.86 | 1.89 | 1.92 | 1.95 | 2.00 |