Wheeling, W. Va. – The best of the best across NCAA Division II Track & Field are making their way to Pueblo, Colorado this week for the 2023 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track & Field National Championships. For the second year in a row, the Cardinals will be represented at the event as junior Andrew Taylor prepares to take on the Men's High Jump. Taylor's event is one of the last events of the event, jumping on Saturday at 6:45 PM, as he waits to try to bring home the first Individual National Championship since 1994.
At the 2022 Mountain East Conference (MEC) Outdoor Track & Field Championships, Taylor broke the MEC meet record when he jumped 2.15 meters. He was slightly under that height to start the 2023 season, as he tied his PR hitting the 2.05-meter mark at the Stan Romanski Invitational. He would not fall under the 2.00 meter mark for the entire season and continued to climb as the season went on. He hit 2.07 meters at the High Point Verteklasse and followed that with a season-low 2.03 meters at the Lee Flames Invitational. However, he was back up at the next meet at the Bucknell Invitational, hitting a PR at 2.11 meters, and followed that with another 2.05 meter mark at Bethany. With one more meet remaining before the conference championships, Taylor was looking to get back to that 2.15-meter mark to defend his title.
He did just that at the Jesse Owens Classic, tying his PR of 2.15 meters, clearing the mark on his first jump. He headed into the 2023 MEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships as the top seed in the conference and was looking to beat his record that he set the year prior. While he didn't hit the mark, he weathered the elements in Frostburg, Maryland, and hit 2.05 meters to claim the individual championship for the second year in a row. With one more last chance meet on the schedule, Taylor was back at it at the Lee Flames Last Chance Invitational and cleared 2.10 meters to round out his postseason. He finished the year ranked first in the Atlantic Region in the High Jump as well as sitting top 10 Nationally in the event.
The men's High Jump is scheduled as the second to last field event at 6:45 PM on the final day of competition. Taylor joins a field that includes 19 other jumpers and is seeded as the eighth highest jumper in the field. He is one of two MEC competitors taking on the High Jump, with West Liberty's Liam Vinskovich joining him in the field. The opening height will be right around the NCAA Provo Mark of 2.04 meters, with athletes getting three attempts at each height before the bar is raised.
The History
The Wheeling University Men's Track & field team has sent at least one representative to the NCAA DII Outdoor Track & Field National Championships in each of the past two seasons and three of the past four seasons. They will be looking for their first individual national champion since the 1994 season when former Cardinal Sergei Bykov won the honor in the Men's Triple Jump. It is the second consecutive year that Andrew Taylor will be appearing in the event, after competing in last year's National Championships in High Jump.
In last year's competition, Taylor would come within .02 meters of his PR, finishing eighth in the field with a height of 2.13 meters. He attempted 2.16 meters to advance into the top five, but just missed on the mark ending his day. He enters this competition with a year of experience and says that is helping him tremendously.
"I feel a lot more confident than last year," said Taylor. "I have already been there, I already know what it's going to be like, and I know what to expect. I feel good and I'm really confident about it this year."
The Details
Andrew Taylor will be competing on the final day of the 2023 NCAA DII Outdoor Track & Field Championships on Saturday, May 27th, at 6:45 pm. You can follow along with Live Results by clicking HERE.
