Pierson Ties for 16th Place in Preliminaries :: Sophomore competes well at first NCAA National appearance

June 11, 2008

Des Moines, IA--Sophomore Sam Pierson tipped the bar on his third attempt at the 17-02.75 height which would have qualified him for the final round thus allowing him to tie for 16th place in the preliminaries and ending his stint at Nationals.

Pierson gave an excellent performance Wednesday afternoon in his first NCAA Championship appearance. He easily cleared the first height set for him at 16-02.75 then continued on to reach the 16-08.75 height on his third attempt. Pierson struggled a bit on his first two attempts for 17-02.75, his performance best height he achieved at the Big Sky Conference Outdoor Championship. On his third attempt Pierson came close to clearing the bar but tipped it before meeting the mat.

The NCAA Championship pole vault event was filled with excellent jumpers as 15 vaulters tied for first place in the preliminaries with the height of 17-02.75 which will advance them to the final round held Friday afternoon.

"He did a great job as a sophomore and his first time at the NCAA's," said head men's and women's track and field coach Dave Nielsen about Pierson's performance.

Idaho State has one last contender for All-American in junior Cassie Merkley. She will be competing in the heptathlon which starts on Friday at 1 p.m. with the 100-meter hurdles giving Merkley another day to anticipate her first appearance in an NCAA Championship.