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INDIANAPOLIS – Slippery Rock University pole vaulter Drew Layton earned first team All-America honors and broke the SRU and all-time Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference records Saturday at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field National Championships.
 
Layton earned his second career All-America honor after picking up second team honors last May at the outdoor national meet when he placed 10th. He upped that recognition to first team honors and earned his first career podium finish Saturday with a sixth place showing while making his indoor nationals debut.  
 
The sophomore from Waynesburg, Pennsylvania entered the meet seeded 17th out of 18 vaulters with his career-best jump of 5.06 meters (16' 7.25") from earlier this winter. He was clean over the first two bars of the competition at 4.84 meters and 4.99 meters before his first miss came on the first attempt at 5.14 meters.
 
Layton cleared the bar at 5.14m on his second attempt, setting a new career-best and advancing to 5.24 meters (17' 2.25") with 14 other vaulters still in the competition. After missing his first attempt at 5.24m, Layton cleared the mark on his second attempt to give him his first career clearance at a bar over 17 feet.
 
That effort locked up a sixth place finish after he missed three attempts at 5.34 meters. The 5.24 meter clearance also broke the Slippery Rock indoor record held by former Division II national champion Cameron Daughtery, who jumped 5.20 meters (17' 0.75") in 2013. It also topped former IUP pole vaulter Derek Horton, who jumped 17' 1" in 2019, for the best jump by any athlete in PSAC history.
 
Layton was one of two Slippery Rock men making their indoor nationals debut Saturday. Shot putter Seaton Wozniak took 15th in his first appearance at nationals with a throw of 16.88 meters, narrowly missing out on the second team All-America honor that comes with positions 9-12.
 
Saturday's meet marked the end of the indoor season and the official end to winter sports seasons at The Rock. The track & field team will now shift focus to the outdoor season, which is set to kick off March 20-22 at the University of North Carolina – Charlotte.
 
 
 


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