Westmont’s Dana Nemitz won the national championship in the women’s pole vault on Thursday at the NAIA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships in Mobile, Ala.
Nemitz cleared 12-5.5 (3.80 meters).
“It doesn’t even feel like it happened,” said Nemitz. “I wanted to come out here and honestly just hit my PR.”
Nemitz missed on her first two attempts at 3.70 meters, but made the third to advance to the next height with three other vaulters. At 3.75 meters, Victoria Faber from Aquinas (Mich.) cleared on her first attempt after Nemitz had missed. Nemitz responded by making her next attempt while two other competitors failed to clear the height. That set up a showdown between Faber and Nemitz at 3.80 meters.
Nemitz had cleared the height only once before and did so more than a year ago. Nemitz went over the mark on her second attempt, putting the pressure on Faber.
