Tommy Skipper entered the weekend’s NCAA West Regional Qualifier in Northridge, Calif., saying that improving his technique in the pole vault was all that mattered.
Having taken care of his NCAA qualifying mark with a vault of 18 feet, 8 3/4 inches during the indoor season, the freshman phenom simply wanted to iron out some rough spots before nationals.
“I’m just looking to work on my technique, and I know people are getting tired of hearing that and I keep repeating it,” Skipper said the week preceding the meet. “… Coach (Mark) Vanderville has been working hard with us, and it may come together this week or it may come together later.”
For Skipper, “it” came together sooner than later as the Sandy native broke the Pacific-10 Conference outdoor pole vault record with a clearance of 18-10 1/4 Saturday, regaining the national lead and winning the event by more than a foot over UCLA’s Yoo Kim and Brigham Young’s Robbie Pratt (second-tie, 17-7).
The previous outdoor conference record of 18-9 1/4 was set by Stanford’s Toby Stevenson in 2000. The only Pac-10 vaulter to go higher was Washington’s Brad Walker, who cleared 19-1 1/4 during the 2003 indoor season.
Skipper cleared his opening bar of 17-3 on his second attempt, after passing on the initial three heights. After a first-attempt clearance at 17-7 and a successful third attempt at 17-11, the freshman got into a groove, clearing each of the next three bars (18-3, 18-6 1/2, 18-10 1/4) on his first attempt.
He then went in search of his first-ever 19-foot clearance but missed three attempts at 19-1 1/2. The pole Skipper used on his final three attempts was the biggest in his bag, but was arguably too small to adequately clear 19 feet.
“I had no idea that something like this would happen today,” Skipper said. “Mark told me to only worry about technique today, not heights or places. It’s easy to say that, but I was actually able to. Once I got over 17-11, things started to really get rolling.”
Skipper wasn’t the only Oregon athlete who found success at the Cal State Northridge-held meet. Eric Mitchum entered the weekend with the nation’s second-best time in the 110 meter hurdles (13.50 seconds) and didn’t disappoint.
The Calumet City, Ill., native won the event (13.72) by 0.14 seconds over UCLA’s Anthony Golston, continuing an impressive sophomore campaign in which he broke the Oregon record with a wind-legal time of 13.53 at the Texas Relays.
“It was not my best time or performance,” Mitchum said, “but I tried to stay focused, and come back and get the win. I didn’t worry about what I was ranked coming into today. I just tried to run my race, and today was still a good learning experience.”

Elsewhere, on the track, sophomore transfer A.K. Ikwuakor will join Mitchum in Austin, Texas, for nationals after finishing fifth (14.13), with a season best time in the 110 hurdles. Senior Brandon Holliday and sophomore Matt Scherer will make return appearances to the NCAAs after finishing fourth in the 400 hurdles (51.02) and fourth in the 400 meters (45.95), respectively.
Scherer also anchored the 4 x 400 relay team (Travis Anderson, Holliday, Kedar Inico, Scherer), which came in second with its second-fastest time ever (3:03.93).
Field qualifiers included high jumpers Jeff Lindsey and Teddy Davis, who tied for third (7-1) during Friday’s action. It was the third time Lindsey has cleared 7-1 this outdoor season, while Davis set a 3/4-inch personal best.
Junior hammer-thrower Paul Etter added a fifth place finish (193-0), while redshirt junior Eric Logsdon finished fifth in the 5,000 meters (14:13.45) to qualify for nationals Friday.