University of Tennessee Athletics
Blankenship Set for Pan American Games
July 18, 2015 | Track & Field
July 18, 2015
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee's SEC champion pole vaulter Jake Blankenship looks to continue what has already been a stellar 2015 campaign when he makes his international debut next week at the 2015 Pan American Games. Contested in Toronto, Blankenship is slated for the men's pole vault final on Tuesday, July 21.
"Jake has had just a tremendous year and this is going to be a great summer of competition for him," said Tennessee director of track and field/cross country Beth Alford-Sullivan. "I know it's an honor for him to wear the red, white, and blue and represent the United States."
Blankenship will represent Team USA on the opening day of the track and field portion of the Pan Am Games. The men's pole vault final is scheduled to begin at 10:10 a.m. ET and live coverage can be accessed through ESPN3.com.
The Pan American Games are regarded as the world's third largest international multi-sport games--surpassed only in scope by the Summer Olympic Games and the Asian Games. The competition is held among athletes from the nations of the Americas in the year before the Summer Olympic Games. Over 5,000 athletes compete at the Pan American Games in 36 sports and almost 400 events.
Competing for the Volunteers in 2015, Blankenship put together a remarkable junior season. Not only did the men's team captain become just the 14th athlete in NCAA history to clear 19 feet, he also earned first team All-America honors during both the indoor and outdoor seasons. Blankenship finished as the national runner-up at the NCAA Indoor Championships in March before going on to clinch his first SEC individual title two months later at the SEC Outdoor Championships.
He finished sixth overall at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Blankenship is one of only two collegians to qualify for the Pan Am Games in the men's pole vault and will be joined by three-time national champion Shawn Barber of Akron. Barber, who will compete for Team Canada, has won both the 2014 and 2015 NCAA Indoor Championships and picked up his first outdoor crown at the latest edition of the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
Blankenship will also be competing alongside world-class vaulter Mark Hollis, who has trained in Knoxville with former Olympic gold medalist and UT standout Tim Mack.
In all, 71 total collegians will compete in the track and field portion of Games and will represent 13 countries. Besides the U.S. and Canada, competing collegiate athletes will represent Bahamas, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, Suriname, and Trinidad & Tobago.
Blankenship, who held a world ranking as high as No. 3 in 2015, will make his international debut on Tuesday as the No. 11 vaulter worldwide. He achieved his career-best effort of 19 feet, 0.25 inches twice this past year, first clearing the height at the NCAA Indoor Championships before matching the feat at the Texas Relays two weeks later. He rated as the top vaulter in the SEC for the entirety of the 2015 outdoor season and was No. 2 in the NCAA behind only Barber.
Toronto is just the first stop in what will be a busy back half of the summer for Blankenship. Having achieved a third-place finish at the USATF Championships in late June, the rising senior has also earned a place at the IAAF World Championships. Blankenship will again don the red, white, and blue at the biennial, international track competition held this summer in Beijing, China. Competition runs August 22-30.
