Sauder Qualifies for NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships
3/1/2022 10:09:45 PM | Track and Field
Liberty freshman Kennedy Sauder has qualified for the men’s high jump at the 2022 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships, it was announced this evening.
A native of Lauderhill, Fla., Sauder will compete on March 12 at 1:30 p.m. Eastern at the Birmingham CrossPlex in Birmingham, Ala.
Sauder qualified on the basis of his Liberty, meet and facility-record 7-4.25 clearance, Friday at the ASUN Indoor Track & Field Championships. That mark is tied for No. 3 among NCAA Division I men’s high jumpers this season and would have won every NCAA Division I conference meet contested this past weekend.
The only true freshman among the 16 high jumpers headed to Birmingham, Sauder has won three of four competitions to begin his collegiate career. Sauder’s collegiate debut resulted in a Liberty record-tying 7-1.5 clearance at the Virginia Tech Invitational (Jan. 15) for first place. He later claimed the record to himself for the first time with his winning 7-2.5 effort at the Darius Dixon Memorial Invitational on Feb. 12.
Sauder is the first Liberty men’s high jumper ever to qualify for the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships. Matt Parker high jumped at the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships in 2009.
Sauder is Liberty’s first true freshman to make it to the NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships since Josh McDougal competed in the men’s 3K in 2005.
The 2022 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships will take place March 11-12 with live coverage broadcasted on ESPN3.
