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Duplantis on The Bowerman Watch List for Fourth Time

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Duplantis on The Bowerman Watch List for Fourth Time

Baton Rouge, La. Mondo Duplantis made his fourth appearance on The Bowerman Watch List on Thursday afternoon. Duplantis stayed on the list thanks to his first-ever NCAA title last weekend at the NCAA Championships in Birmingham, Alabama.

Duplantis cleared 19’ 1.50” at the NCAA meet to earn 10 points for LSU. His 10 points contributed to LSU’s team total of 31 that helped the Tigers to a third-place finish, the best for the men at the NCAA indoor meet since 2006. He became only the second LSU men’s pole vaulter to win an NCAA indoor title; he joined Russ Buller (2000) on that list.

The world-renowned pole vaulter suited up for LSU five times during the indoor season and came away with a title at each meet. Duplantis had three goals coming into the indoor season: win SECs, win NCAAs, and set the collegiate record. He knocked out two of those goals at one meet with his stellar performance at the SEC Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He did not miss a bar en route to the collegiate record with clearances of 18’ 6” and 19’ before he set the collegiate record with a clearance of 19’ 5”.

His other wins came at the Razorback Invitational (19’ 1.50”), LSU Bayou Bengal (19’ 3”) and the LSU Twilight (18’ 7.50”). Four of his five performances featured clearances of 19 feet or higher, and his career-best indoor clearance of 19’ 5” at the SEC meet was a Swedish indoor record and the third-best mark in the world for the 2019 indoor season. He owns four of the top 10 indoor pole vault clearances in NCAA history.