Guttormsen completes first men’s sweep of NCAA indoor and outdoor pole vault titles since 2015, Minichello wins deepest javelin final in Division 1 history to help Ivy League boast two schools with winners in same year for first time since 1952

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

EUGENE, Ore. – Marc Minichello and Sondre Guttormsen both made their NCAA Division 1 Outdoor Championship debuts in 2019 in Austin, Texas, with only one athlete representing the Ivy League and neither individual earning a spot on the podium as an All-America first-team honoree.

Since then, Guttormsen joined the Ivy League, moving from UCLA to Princeton to become teammates with his younger brother Simen, Minichello experienced a coaching change at Penn, and both competitors endured a conference-imposed shutdown on athletics as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic that kept them on the sidelines for both the 2020 and 2021 outdoor seasons.

RESULTS | INTERVIEWS

Both competitors found themselves connected again Wednesday at the Division 1 outdoor championship meet at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., each securing individual titles, helping the Ivy League produce men’s winners from multiple schools in the same year for the first time since 1952.

It will also mark the last time they will both represent the conference together, with Minichello deciding to complete his collegiate eligibility next year at Georgia, since the Ivy League chose not to extend extra seasons to student-athletes affected by the pandemic and has never offered redshirt seasons to any competitors.

Minichello, who finished 17th in 2019, won the deepest javelin competition in Division 1 history by throwing a personal-best 266 feet, 3 inches (81.17m) in the third round to emerge against a field featuring five athletes surpassing the 78-meter mark and two others achieving 76-meter efforts, and Guttormsen – ninth in the final in Austin, Texas – prevailed in one of the longest pole vault finals ever showcased at the NCAA championship meet, outlasting the field in a four-hour event with a second-attempt clearance at 18-10.25 (5.75m).

Guttormsen, representing Norway, became the first collegiate pole vaulter since Canadian standout and Akron star Shawn Barber in 2015 to sweep both indoor and outdoor championships in the same year.

He also became the first Princeton male athlete in any event to capture an outdoor crown since Donn Cabral prevailed in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase in 2012, with Simen Guttormsen finishing fourth for the Tigers at 18-6.50 (5.65m).

Princeton also had Sam Ellis advance in the 1,500-meter semifinals, Samuel Rodman qualify for the 800 championship and Ed Trippas move on to the 3,000-meter steeplechase final. 

Clayton Fritsch of Sam Houston State, fourth last year, elevated to second with an 18-8.25 (5.70m) clearance that forced Sondre Guttormsen to pass on his final attempt at 18-6.50 in order to move up a bar and remain in the competition.

Keaton Daniel of Kentucky, runner-up last season at 18-2.50 (5.55m), took third Wednesday at 18-6.50. Branson Ellis of Stephen F. Austin, last year’s winner at 18-8.25, finished fifth overall at 18-6.50.

Minichello became the first Penn male athlete to win the javelin since Brian Chaput in 2003 and the first men’s competitor to triumph for the Quakers in any event since Sam Mattis secured the discus crown in 2015.

Ethan Dabbs of Virginia, the American leader this year at 272 feet (82.92m), placed second Wednesday at 261-5 (79.68m). It was the best showing for the Cavaliers in the event since 2000.

Tzuriel Pedigo of LSU, last year’s winner with a mark of 252-7 (76.98m), produced a personal-best 258-10 (78.90m) to take third.

Wichita State’s Taran Taylor was fourth with a personal-best 258-5 (78.76m) and Nigerian athlete Chinecherem Prosper Nnamdi from Baylor finished fifth at 257-11 (78.61m).

Rudy Winkler of Cornell was the last men’s champion from any Ivy League program, securing the hammer throw in 2017. Gabby Thomas of Harvard was the most recent women’s winner, taking the 200-meter crown in 2018.

In 1952, Brown won the men’s hammer throw title with Gil Borjeson and Columbia captured the triple jump championship with George Shaw, the last time the Ivy League had multiple programs produce men’s individual winners in the same year.

Penn crowned multiple champions in 2003, with Sam Burley securing victory in the 800 to support Chaput in the javelin.

Harvard had multiple women’s individual champions in 2001, with Brenda Taylor emerging victorious in the 400-meter hurdles and Dora Gyorffy prevailing in the high jump, although the conference has yet to have multiple schools produce women’s winners in the same year.