Monday, June 25, 2007

"Who are you?"

According to this morning's Mankato Free Press story on Jim Dilling's upset win in the men's high jump at the USA Track and Field Championships Sunday, 'Who are you' was the question of the day.

MSU-Mankato coach Mark Schuck told the Free Press:

"The first thing the TV interviewer asked him when he won was ‘Who are you?’ He wore his MSU jersey and everybody wanted to know where Mankato, Minn. was."

Dilling (pictured) appears from the results to have been jumping solidly but not spectacularly through the earlier heights. He had misses at 7-1 3/4 ... 7-3 ... 7-4 1/4 ... while eventual runner-up and third place finishers Jamie Nieto and Adam Shunk, respectively, had clean sheets through those heights.

At 7-5 1/4, though, only Dilling kept the bar in bar place.

"I just tried to stay relaxed and confident and tried to clear my mind of everything. I’m glad I was able to come through in the end," he told Jim Rueda of the Free Press.

The win sends the four-time NCAA Division II champ to Osaka, Japan for the IAAF World Track and Field Championships in August.

Photo courtesy of MSU-Mankato.

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