RUDY WINS!
3/10/2007 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
Montana State sophomore Ellie Rudy won a dramatic jump-off against Florida's Natalie Moser to win the first NCAA Championship by a Bobcat women's track and field athlete in Fayetteville, Ark. on Saturday. Rudy, Moser and Kate Sultanova of Kansas all cleared 14-1.5, but the former two advanced to the jump-off on fewest misses.
Rudy was exhausted but excited after claiming her crown. "When I got done I was exhausted, then I had to get ready to jump again," she said. "Tom (Eitel) told me right after I jumped that I was tied, so I never got out of it mentally. That was important."
"Ellie was one of two girls tied at 14-1.25," said MSU coach Dale Kennedy. "After they missed (at 14-5.25), they moved the bar back down until there was a make." Rudy made her third jump at 13-10 to win the Championship. "Very emotional, very exciting," Kennedy said.
"If you get to 14-1 without a miss you have a great chance to win," said MSU vaults coach Tom Eitel. "You have to make four or five clearances without a miss, and that's what we worked on all week in practice."
A sophomore from Woodland Park, Colo., is the second Bobcat to win a national title, joining two-time men's distance champion Shannon Butler (1990 and '91). With her performance Saturday Rudy also joins MSU's Shannon Agee Jones as the Big Sky Conference's only two-time women's pole vault All-America.
BOBCAT NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
2007 - Ellie Rudy, pole vault (indoor)
1991 - Shannon Butler, 5000 (outdoor)
1990 - Shannon Butler, 10,000 (outdoor)
BOBCAT WOMEN ALL-AMERICAS
2007 - Ellie Rudy, pole vault
2006 - Erin Jones-Graf, heptathlon
2006 - Ellie Rudy, pole vault (outdoor)
2002 - Shannon Agee Jones, pole vault (indoor)
2001 - Shannon Agee, pole vault (outdoor)
1998 - Christy Otte, 400 (indoor)
1993 - Jen Bayliss, 3000 (indoor)
1983 - Janet Buntin, long jump (indoor)
BIG SKY CONFERENCE INDOOR NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
2007 - Ellie Rudy, MSU, pole vault
2006 - Johanna Nilsson, NAU, mile and 3000
2005 - Ida Nilsson, NAU, 5000
2003 - Johanna Nilsson, NAU, mile
2001 - Charles Clinger, WSU, high jump
1993 - David Morris, UM, 3000
1991 - Eugene Green, BSU, triple jump
1989 - Paula John, WSU, high jump
Rudy was exhausted but excited after claiming her crown. "When I got done I was exhausted, then I had to get ready to jump again," she said. "Tom (Eitel) told me right after I jumped that I was tied, so I never got out of it mentally. That was important."
"Ellie was one of two girls tied at 14-1.25," said MSU coach Dale Kennedy. "After they missed (at 14-5.25), they moved the bar back down until there was a make." Rudy made her third jump at 13-10 to win the Championship. "Very emotional, very exciting," Kennedy said.
"If you get to 14-1 without a miss you have a great chance to win," said MSU vaults coach Tom Eitel. "You have to make four or five clearances without a miss, and that's what we worked on all week in practice."
A sophomore from Woodland Park, Colo., is the second Bobcat to win a national title, joining two-time men's distance champion Shannon Butler (1990 and '91). With her performance Saturday Rudy also joins MSU's Shannon Agee Jones as the Big Sky Conference's only two-time women's pole vault All-America.
BOBCAT NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
2007 - Ellie Rudy, pole vault (indoor)
1991 - Shannon Butler, 5000 (outdoor)
1990 - Shannon Butler, 10,000 (outdoor)
BOBCAT WOMEN ALL-AMERICAS
2007 - Ellie Rudy, pole vault
2006 - Erin Jones-Graf, heptathlon
2006 - Ellie Rudy, pole vault (outdoor)
2002 - Shannon Agee Jones, pole vault (indoor)
2001 - Shannon Agee, pole vault (outdoor)
1998 - Christy Otte, 400 (indoor)
1993 - Jen Bayliss, 3000 (indoor)
1983 - Janet Buntin, long jump (indoor)
BIG SKY CONFERENCE INDOOR NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
2007 - Ellie Rudy, MSU, pole vault
2006 - Johanna Nilsson, NAU, mile and 3000
2005 - Ida Nilsson, NAU, 5000
2003 - Johanna Nilsson, NAU, mile
2001 - Charles Clinger, WSU, high jump
1993 - David Morris, UM, 3000
1991 - Eugene Green, BSU, triple jump
1989 - Paula John, WSU, high jump
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