FAYETTEVILLE -- BYU's Robbie Pratt cleared his way to a second-place finish in the pole vault at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field National Championships Friday.
"It was a classic battle between the two best pole vaulters in the country and Robbie came up second but with a great height," pole vault coach Larry Berryhill said. "When you have two national champions competing against each other, that's pretty intense."
Going into the championships, Pratt was 1/4 inch behind Oregon's Thomas Skipper. The pair pushed each other to greater heights and each cleared a final height of 18 feet 6.5 inches, but Skipper cleared in less attempts than Pratt to earn the national title. Their height was Pratt's NCAA personal best.
Pratt is the reigning outdoor national champion and took sixth at these championships last year. He was recently crowned as the Mountain West Conference Indoor Champion. His current personal best is 18 feet 8.5 inches, which was set earlier this season at a non-NCAA sanctioned meet.
BYU men will be competing in two more events, the distance medley relay and high jump, at the championships. For more information about the BYU track and field program, please visit their web sites at www.byucougars.com and www.byutrack.com.