K-State Track’s Erik Kynard Wins High Jump National Championship

After a pitched battle with Indiana’s Derek Drouin and Florida’s Dwight Barbiasz, K-State’s Erik Kynard has won the high jumping national championship, with a school record leap of 7-8.00.

For Kynard, there were tense moments. He missed his first attempt at 7-2.50, a height that rarely gives him trouble. At 7-5.75, he failed to clear until his third attempt, putting him in third–based upon misses–behind both Drouin and Barbiasz, who cleared 7-5.75 on their first attempts.

From that point, Kynard took over, sailing over 7-7.00 on his first attempt, which Barbiasz failed to clear. This put Kynard second, behind only Indiana’s Derek Drouin, who also cleared 7-7.00, on his first attempt.

With the bar set at a school record height of 7-8.00, Kynard wasted no time applying the pressure to Drouin, when he was over on his first attempt. Drouin failed to answer, and the national championship belonged to Kynard. This is the second consecutive high jump national championship for Kynard.