Youngstown State pole vaulters Wyatt Lefker and Dorian Chaigneau have qualified for the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships which will be held on Friday, March 10, in Albuquerque, N.M.

Lefker and Chaigneau have qualified in the top 16 to reach the NCAA meet which will be held at the Albuquerque Convention Center. It will be the first time the indoor championships have been held in New Mexico since 2014. The last time the meet was held in New Mexico, YSU's Bobby Grace finished third in the shot put. 

On the strength of school-record-setting efforts on Feb. 10 at the Tyson Invitational hosted by Arkansas, the pair made the NCAA Championships. Both Lefker and Chaigneau cleared a height of 5.52m (18 feet, 1.25 inches) within minutes of each other. After the conclusion of all the conference championship events this past weekend, both secured their spot at the NCAA meet.

Lefker is coming off his third indoor Horizon League Championship which he earned this past Saturday. Lefker cleared 5.16m to win the title, his first since the 2021 season. At the end of the outdoor season, Lefker qualified for the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon, where he placed 22nd earning Honorable-Mention All-America honors.

Chaigneau is no stranger to reaching the National Championship meet. At Harding before transferring to YSU this year, he won the 2021 Division II Indoor Pole Vault National Championship clearing a height of 5.27m. In 2022, he placed fourth at the Championship meet with a mark of 5.25m. At the recent Horizon League Championships, he finished second to Lefker.

Officially, Chaigneau qualified as the 12th-highest athlete while Lefker sits in 14th place. They are the only two athletes from the Horizon League to reach the NCAA Championships.

The pair become the seventh and eighth YSU athletes to reach the Indoor National Meet and first since 2019. 

NCAA Pole Vault Qualifiers

Wyatt Lefker, YSU
Dorian Chaigneau, YSU
Sondre Guttormsen, Princeton
Zach Bradford, Texas Tech
Branson Ellis, Stephen F. Austin
Keaton Daniel, Kentucky
Caleb Witsken, BYU
Cole Riddle, Memphis
Clayton Simms, Kansas
Kyle Rademeyer, South Alabama
Trevor Stephenson, Michigan State
Hunter Garretson, Akron
Simen Guttormsen, Princeton
Christyan Sampy, Houston
Alexander Slinkma, Rice
Garrett Brown, Stanford