Indiana University Athletics
Drouin Jumps At Pre Classic on Saturday
5/30/2013 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
May 30, 2013
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Derek Drouin will get a taste of life after college this weekend, as he competes at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Ore., a Diamond League event. Drouin is one of nine competitors in a field that includes all five of the London Olympic medalists. The high jump competition begins at 3:58 p.m. ET, and the meet will be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. ET and on NBC from 4:30 to 6 p.m. ET.
Drouin enters the meet ranked number two in the world this season, behind fellow collegiate competitor Erik Kynard of Kansas State, who also will jump at the Pre Classic. The meet is at Historic Hayward Field, which is the site of next week's NCAA Championships. Drouin will remain in Eugene and be joined by his teammates on Monday.
The top three finishers in Diamond League events score points toward the Diamond League standings, with the leader in the points standings at the end of the Diamond League season is the unchallenged World Number 1 in their event.
This is Drouin's second time competing in the Diamond League, as he took third at the Herculis Monaco last July, finishing behind Jesse Williams of the U.S. and Robbie Grabarz of Great Britain, both of whom will be at the Pre Classic.
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An Olympic bronze medalist, four-time NCAA Champion, seven-time Big Ten Champion, five-time Big Ten Athlete of the Year, two-time National Field Athlete of the Year, three-time Penn Relays champion and one-time Texas Relays champion,>Derek Drouin has accomplished a lot in the high jump, yet he is nowhere near a lock to be the best jumper in the NCAA this season. Kansas State's Erik Kynard returns as well, with his Olympic silver medal, setting up the most intriguing NCAA Championships matchup of the season, regardless of event.
Drouin has competed head-to-head with Kynard 12 times, dating back to the 2009 Pan-American Junior Championships. In those 12 meetings, Drouin has won seven times, including both meetings in 2013, but both jumpers have won three of the last six meetings.
They are the first Olympic medalists in a single event to return to college in that event since 1984, when Kirk Baptiste (Houston) and Thomas Jefferson (Kent State) returned after winning silver and bronze in the 200m. The last time two Olympic medalists returned as collegiates in the high jump was 1937.
Drouin was on top in 2011, having won the NCAA Indoor title with a clearance of 2.33m (7-7.75) to set a new indoor record in Canada and in the Big Ten. He was named National Indoor Field Athlete of the Year, and then things went south. In the first meet of the outdoor campaign, he broke his foot, which kept him from jumping until January 2012, which makes his 2012 season even more miraculous.
Drouin won the Big Ten indoor meet with a clearance of 2.26m, but he also took third in the heptathlon with an IU record 5,817 points. A big chunk of his score came from a clearance of 2.30m (7-6.5) in the high jump, which is an all-time world best in the heptathlon high jump. Drouin's clearance also bettered the Big Ten meet record in the high jump, which he set himself two years earlier. For his efforts, Drouin garnered Big Ten Field Athlete of the Year, Field Athlete of the Big Ten Championships and USTFCCCA Great Lakes Region Field Athlete of the Year accolades.
At the NCAA Indoor meet, Drouin cleared 2.35m (7-8.5) for the win, en route to National Field Athlete of the Year honors. He became the first ever three-time NCAA Indoor Champion in the high jump. Drouin backed up that performance with a win over Kynard at the Texas Relays and then jumped an outdoor IU and Big Ten record of 2.33m (7-7.75) for the win at Penn Relays. The 2.33m jump also broke the Penn Relays and Franklin Field records in the high jump.
At the Big Ten Outdoor Championships, Drouin cleared 2.24m (7-4.25) to win the seventh Big Ten high jump title of his career and his fourth outdoors. Having clinched the victory in the event, Drouin called it a day. He is Indiana's 14th seven-time Big Ten Champion, and is IU's first ever seven-time champion in a single event.
Drouin returns to Hayward Field for the first time since winning the NCAA Outdoor High Jump crown in 2010, his only outdoor crown. His only other trip to Eugene was for the 2009 Pepsi Team Invitational, where the Hoosiers took the victory, winning by six over the host Ducks with 200 points. A freshman, Drouin scored 12 points in the meet, but took second in the high jump to NCAA Champion Scott Sellers, of you guessed it, Kansas State.
Players Mentioned
