Tulane Track & Field sweeps podium in pole vault at The American Indoor Championship

Senior Rebekah Markel won her first conference crown in the event

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Green Wave had an incredible day in the pole vault at the American Athletic Conference Indoor Championships on Friday, sweeping the podium with senior Rebekah Markel claiming her first league title in the event at the Birmingham CrossPlex.

Tulane had strong performances all over the CrossPlex with 10 athletes setting new personal records, but the pole vault was where Tulane shined brightest as it was responsible for all 24 of the Green Wave’s points on the day. Tulane currently sits tied for fourth place as a team with those 24 points.

Freshmen Alex Potts and Nastja Modic each set new personal records by clearing 3.99 meters (13-1) in the pole vault, and they took second and third place to score eight and six points for Tulane, respectively.

But, as usual, Markel was the star. The senior cleared 3.99 meters on her first attempt – after passing on the previous three heights – and then proceeded to clear 4.09 meters (13-5) on her first attempt as well. She was the only competitor to achieve that height, earning her the league championship right then and there.

She kept going, though, setting a new meet record on her very next jump by clearing 4.23 meters (13-10.5). She tried for a new personal record with 4.34 meters, but could not get over the height in three attempts.

Markel is just Tulane’s third-ever conference champion in the pole vault indoors. She is the first to win the event indoors since Alyssa Applebee in 2017.

“Rebekah has been our leader the last two years, she has done a really good job of mentoring these freshmen, and it really paid off today,” said Doug Fraley, Tulane’s associate head coach who coaches the pole vaulters.

Also competing in the pole vault and setting a new personal best was Megan Fitzgerald, who cleared 3.69 meters for 12th place. Rose Brutkiewicz finished 15th with a clearance of 3.54 meters on her first attempt.

“I’m really, really proud of the group,” Fraley said. “We came in with high expectations having three young ladies ranked in the top eight, so we were depending on points from that group. It’s a really, really big achievement to sweep the podium as competitive as the women’s pole vault is in this conference.”

Markel entered the meet tied for 12th in the nation in the pole vault with an earlier clearance, and she could be back at the CrossPlex in early march for the NCAA Indoor National Championship on March 8-9 if five pole vaulters don’t surpass her season-best mark of 4.33 meters before Monday. The NCAA takes the top 16 pole vaulters to the national meet.

“Right now we just have to sit tight and wait for all the results to come in to make sure that she’s in that final 16,” Fraley said. “If she is, we’ll have a two-week preparation period before we come right back to Birmingham for the national championship, which would be a big deal. We’re sure looking forward to the opportunity if we get it.”

Kyah Loyd and Brandi Hughes had strong showings in the 60-meter hurdle prelims, winning their heats with times of 8.46 and 8.51 seconds, respectively. Those times put them second and third overall in the preliminaries, easily getting them to Saturday’s final. Loyd’s time was a personal best and improves on her third-best time in program history.

Pauline Helm started the day in the pentathlon with a time of 9.27 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles, scoring 854 points. She followed that with a clearance of 1.53 meters (5-0.25) in the high jump on her first try before failing to clear at 1.56 meters, which would have tied her personal record. That scored her 655 points. In the shot put, Helm reached 8.64 meters (28-4.25) to come up just four centimeters short of her indoor personal best. That scored her 458 points and had her in 15th place through three events.

But Helm saved her best for last, reaching 5.30 meters in the long jump to move up four places to 11th, and she won the 800 with a personal record of 2:20.83 to move up two more places in the standings. In the end, Helm just missed out on scoring in the pentathlon, placing 10th with a score of 3,405.

Aldrianna Dupree was .07 shy of qualifying for the finals of the 60-meter dash when she placed 11th in 7.53 seconds. The eighth-place finisher and last qualifier for Saturday’s final crossed in 7.46 seconds.

In the mile, Emma Newton came in 13th in 5:00.86, just missing out on the final spot to advance her to Saturday’s final. The time was an impressive personal best, though, knocking nearly three full seconds of her previous best career mark and moving her up to ninth all-time in team history.

Mckenzie Melius was 21st in the mile in 5:05.87 – setting a personal best by a second and a half –and Jennifer LaMori was 24th in 5:11.83, also breaking her personal best by more than three full seconds.

Maya Harewood set a new indoor personal best in the 200, crossing the finish line in 24.38 seconds as Tulane’s only competitor in the event. Harewood finished 14th, only 0.27 seconds away from qualifying for Saturday’s final.

In the 400, Harewood led the way for Tulane, taking second in her heat and 11th place overall with a time of 55.95. Louise Jones was 30th in 58.94 seconds, Kyra Ness-Lanckriet was 31st in 59.21 and Oneke Gwan was 33rd in 59.73.

Mary Catherine Stovall shattered her personal record in the 5K, running a time of 18:32.81, nearly half a minute faster than her previous best 19:00.85. She placed 23rd in the race.

The Tulane quartet of Melius, Harewood, Newton and Gwan closed out he meet in the distance medley relay. They finished 10th in 12:06.65.

Tulane will have plenty more opportunities to score on Saturday in the Championships’ final day with event finals in the triple jump, high jump, 60-meter hurdles, 3K and the 4×400 relay.