This Friday is ... High Jump Day

We've got a pair of high jump items that we'll combine into a single, late-Friday post ...

Jumps Festival ... The Teneo Jumps Festival, hosted by the Kangaroo Track Club at Apple Valley High School, took place last weekend with Sri Lankan Olympian Manjula Wijesekara winning the men's college/elite competition at 7-0 1/2.

The University of Nebraska's Paul Hamilton finished runner-up at the same height; 2009 Chaska High School grad Derek Jerde, a three-time MSHSL State Champion, finished 3rd at 6-6 1/2.

In women's college/elite competition, the University of Washington's Kelly McNamee and Argentine Olympian Solange Witteveen both jumped meet-record breaking heights of 5-11 in the competition, which McNamee won.

Former University of Minnesota multi-event star Liz Roehrig was 3rd at 5-8 3/4

Full results of the event, which included high school and all-comers divisions, are HERE.

There's video from the meet HERE.

Langenfeld's 30th Title ... Last week, we reported that Tom Langenfeld won his 30th career USA Master high jump title with his 4-8 1/4 leap in the M70 division at the USA Master Outdoor Championships in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Here's a bit more detail about the event, in Tom's own words:

"I had been looking forward to this competition for three months as a rematch with Emil Pawlik [who had beaten Langenfeld at USA Indoors this year]. We talked about it back in Landover and marked it on our calendars. As usual, Emil entered both the high jump and pentathlon at Oshkosh, and a few other events as well. He started out as a high jumper at Texas A&M, but has developed into an unbeatable multi-eventer in his later years. He holds the M65 world record in the decathlon.

"The pentathlon was last Thursday, before I left the Twin Cities. While warming up for the pentathlon long jump, I’m told, Emil suffered an injury so severe that he had to withdraw from the meet, He’d departed from Oshkosh before I arrived, so I wasn’t able to talk to him about what happened. Injuries have rarely kept him out of action in the past, so this one must have been nasty. I seem to remember him pole vaulting once with his arm in a sling.

"His absence took a lot of zing out of the competition. But there’s something about the national meet that gets you pretty well pumped up no matter who shows up. The weather was warm, the take-off surface wonderful and the officiating excellent. I felt good and was getting better elevation on my jumps than I have in some time, and my winning height was as high as I’ve jumped in competition in a couple of years. It would have been a good day to take on Emil Pawlik."