SAN FRANCISCO -- Washington State's Sander Moldau has been named the Pac-12 Men's Field Athlete of the Week after lifetime-best pole vault at the Bryan Clay Invitational April 20 in Azusa, Calif.
One day after clearing a lifetime-best pole vault height of 17-feet 1 inch (5.21m) at the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate Meet at Long Beach, Moldau won the men's pole vault at the Bryan Clay Invitational with a PR height of 17-8 1/4 (5.39m). That mark is the fourth-best in WSU all-time and the first time since 2005 that a Cougar vaulter has cleared a height that ranked in the top five in school records.
Moldau's pole vault mark currently leads the Pac-12, is ranked eighth-best in the NCAA West Region and 18th-best nationally.
He just missed claiming the WSU freshman record set in 1988 by Patrik Johansson with a height of 17-8 1/2 (5.40m). At Azusa, Moldau's vault series was brief: he cleared his first bar of 16-8 1/4 (5.09m) on his second attempt but then cleared the next two bars of 17-2 1/4 (5.24m) and 17-8 1/4 (5.39m) on his first attempts. He had three attempts but did not clear the final bar of 17-11 (5.46m).
Sander and his twin brother Martin Moldau, freshmen from Rakvere, Estonia, joined the WSU track and field team as decathletes in January of this year.
This is the second time this spring a WSU competitor has been tabbed for conference's Track & Field Athlete of the Week honors. Moldau joins Cougars hammer thrower Brock Eager who was honored for the week of March 12-18.
One day after clearing a lifetime-best pole vault height of 17-feet 1 inch (5.21m) at the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate Meet at Long Beach, Moldau won the men's pole vault at the Bryan Clay Invitational with a PR height of 17-8 1/4 (5.39m). That mark is the fourth-best in WSU all-time and the first time since 2005 that a Cougar vaulter has cleared a height that ranked in the top five in school records.
Moldau's pole vault mark currently leads the Pac-12, is ranked eighth-best in the NCAA West Region and 18th-best nationally.
He just missed claiming the WSU freshman record set in 1988 by Patrik Johansson with a height of 17-8 1/2 (5.40m). At Azusa, Moldau's vault series was brief: he cleared his first bar of 16-8 1/4 (5.09m) on his second attempt but then cleared the next two bars of 17-2 1/4 (5.24m) and 17-8 1/4 (5.39m) on his first attempts. He had three attempts but did not clear the final bar of 17-11 (5.46m).
Sander and his twin brother Martin Moldau, freshmen from Rakvere, Estonia, joined the WSU track and field team as decathletes in January of this year.
This is the second time this spring a WSU competitor has been tabbed for conference's Track & Field Athlete of the Week honors. Moldau joins Cougars hammer thrower Brock Eager who was honored for the week of March 12-18.