Vashti Cunningham Brings a New Age to High Jumping at Pre Classic

(The 42^nd Prefontaine Classic, a member of the IAAF Diamond League of elite international track & field meets, will be held May 27-28 at historic Hayward Field.)

            Eugene, Oregon – Vashti Cunningham has the world eager to see more of the youngest woman to ever win a gold medal at the World Indoor Championships.  The Prefontaine Classic is set to be her outdoor pro debut as she continues on the road to the Rio Olympics.

            Her competition at the Pre Classic looks like a preview of the Olympic Games,  as the field will include the top 4 high jumpers from the recent World Indoor in Portland, where all cleared the same height of 6-5 (1.96).  Cunningham earned the gold by virtue of having no misses.
 
            Vashti Cunningham, 18, has soared to records every year of her high school career, owning the best ever in all four prep classes.  Now a senior at Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, Nevada, Cunningham’s first-ever indoor season produced a world-leading 6-6¼ (1.99), merely the best in the world by an 18-year-old in more than 25 years and the best ever indoors.  Only three other Americans of any age have ever jumped higher indoors.

            Both Cunningham and her coach see higher heights, openly talking of 6-7 (2.01) and 6-8 (2.03) this year.  Her coach is her father, Randall Cunningham, known best as an all-pro NFL quarterback with dazzling athletic ability.  The dad was a 6-10 (2.08) jumper as a prep before concentrating solely on football.

            Vashti is part of one of the world’s best high jumping families.  Her brother, Randall II, is two years older and an All-American at the University of Southern California – he raised his PR to 7-5 (2.26) during the recent indoor season.  The siblings made history last summer by each winning gold medals in the high jump at the Pan-American Junior Championships in Edmonton, Canada.
 
            Ruth Beitia, 37, may be twice the age of Cunningham, but she is the closest at matching her this year – she earned her second silver at the recent World Indoor Championships.  Beitia is also the reigning Diamond League winner and will be seeking a third-straight European Championships gold in preparation for the Rio Olympics.  At the 2012 London Olympics, Beitia finished 4^th, the best ever by a Spaniard in this event.

            Poland’s Kamila Licwinko, 30, is a former World Indoor gold medalist, winning the 2014 edition before settling for a bronze this year.  She equaled her outdoor national record of 6-6¼ (1.99) at last year’s World Championships in Beijing, finishing 4^th.

            Airine Palsyte, 23, of Lithuania also cleared 6-5 (1.96) at the Portland World Indoors.  Due to earlier misses, she was the only one at 6-5 without a medal.  She won last summer’s World University Games in China.  Palsyte has held her country’s national record since she was 19, when she first jumped 6-5 to claim silver in the 2011 World University Games.

            Alessia Trost, 23, of Italy has won gold medals at both the World Youth Championships (2009) and World Junior Championships (2012).  Last year she won her second European Under-23 gold and was silver medalist in the European Indoor Championships, losing the gold in a jumpoff.

            Levern Spencer, 31, is from the small island of St. Lucia.  With a best of 6-6 (1.98), she is the highest jumper from the Caribbean outside of Cuba.  Twice her country’s flagbearer at the Olympics, she won St. Lucia’s first gold medal at last summer’s Pan-American Games.  Spencer is a former NCAA Division II champion while at Albany State College in Georgia.

            Germany’s Marie-Laurence Jungfleisch, 25, cleared her PR of 6-6¼ (1.99) last summer with her best finish to date in a major international, taking 6^th in the World Championships at Beijing.

            Isobel Pooley, 23, is Great Britain’s best high jumper at 6-5½ (1.97) and has set a PR every year since she was 16.  When Pooley first set the national record in 2014, it broke a mark that had stood for 32 years. 
 

            Fans can follow the event lineups on <link http: eugene.diamondleague.com _blank>eugene.diamondleague.com. The direct link to current start/entry lists is posted <link program_results_eugene>HERE , and will include updates to all announced fields. Additional news, photos, and videos may be found on <link http: www.preclassic.com>preclassic.com, <link https: www.instagram.com preclassic _blank>Instagram, <link https: www.facebook.com preclassic _blank>Facebook, and <link https: twitter.com nikepreclassic _blank>Twitter.
 
            Tickets for the 42^nd annual edition of the Prefontaine Classic, to be held May 27-28 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., are available now at <link http: www.goducks.com>www.GoDucks.com as well as from 1-800-WEBFOOT.

            The Prefontaine Classic is the longest-running outdoor invitational track & field meet in America and is part of the elite IAAF Diamond League of meets held worldwide annually.  The Pre Classic’s results score has rated No. 1 or No. 2 in the world in each of the last five years by All-Athletics.com, the official data partner of the Diamond League.  Sponsored by NIKE continuously since 1984, the Prefontaine Classic will be shown live to an international audience and by NBC and NBC Sports Network.

            Steve Prefontaine is a legend in the sport of track & field and is the most inspirational distance runner in American history.  He set a national high school 2-mile record (8:41.5) while at Marshfield High School in Coos Bay, Oregon, that is the fastest ever in a National Federation-sanctioned race.  While competing for the University of Oregon, he won national cross country championships (3) and outdoor track 3-Mile/5000-meter championships (4), and never lost a collegiate track race at any distance.  As a collegiate junior, he made the 1972 U.S. Olympic Team and nearly won an Olympic medal, finishing 4^th in the 5K at the 1972 Munich Olympics, at age 21.  After finishing college in 1973 and preparing for a return to the Olympics in 1976, he continued to improve, setting many American records.  His life ended tragically on May 30, 1975, the result of an auto accident, at age 24.  The Pre Classic began that year and has been held every year since.