June 17, 2012
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – At the 2012 United States Junior Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Georgia Tech men’s track and field athlete Nikita Kirillovset a new personal record, school record and US Junior meet record en route to a first place finish in the pole vault.
With the victory, Kirillov earned a spot in the Junior World Championships to be held in Barcelona this summer.
On his second try at 5.54m (18-2), Kirillov nailed the vault and in doing so sealed the victory for himself and the new USA Junior meet record, breaking Lawrence Johnson’s nearly 20 year old record of 5.51m (18-1) set back in 1993. Earlier this season, Kirillov earned the rights of being the first Yellow Jacket to clear 17 feet, this weekend he also became the first Jacket to leap over 18 feet.
Kirillov started the meet off at the 5.10m (16-8.75) height and was the only competitor to clear 5.35m (17-6.5), 5.54m (18-2) and attempted 5.63 (18-5.5) at the meet.
Also competing for Tech was freshman Jeremy Greenwald in the 1,500m run. Greenwald clocked in at 3:52.66 in Friday’s semifinal in 11th place, good enough for a spot in the finals on Sunday afternoon. Greenwald was consistent with his efforts finishing 11th on Sunday afternoon with a time of 3:55.95 in the finals.
