VU’s Sophia Salvi claims third straight Pole Vault National Championship

LUBBOCK, Tex. – Vincennes University sophomore Sophia Salvi (Sao Paulo, Brazil) claimed her third straight Pole Vault National Championship over the weekend at the 2025 NJCAA Indoor National Championships in Lubbock, Tex.

Salvi paced the field to defend her title after clearing a height of 4.15 meters, setting a new Personal Best.

Salvi's Championship gave the Vincennes University Women's team 10 points for the meet, allowing the Trailblazers to claim 17th place overall as a team over the weekend.

The VU women's team had a strong showing at the National Championships along with Salvi, headlined by the 4x800 relay team of sophomores Adi Fuller (Evansville, Ind.), Jasmyn Self (Casey, Ill.) and freshmen Alexis Hale (Evansville, Ind.) and Sara Belgacem (Tunis, Tunisia), who placed 10th overall with a final time of 9:53.88.

Fuller, Self and Belgacem then teamed up with freshman Zoe Allen (Anderson, Ind.) in the women's Distance Medley Relay where the Trailblazers claimed 12th place overall with a time of 12:52.19.

Allen competed on her own over the weekend in a packed field in the 400 meter dash, claiming 24th overall with a time of 59.58 seconds.

Belgacem would also place 24th in her solo event, finishing the 800 meter dash with a time of 2:34.60.

Adi Fuller rounded out the Vincennes University Women's results over the weekend with a time of 5:39.74 in the Mile run to finish 28th overall.

The Vincennes University Men's team was led over the weekend by freshman Anis Abdaoui (Kairouan, Tunisia) who qualified for the finals of the 1000 meter race by placing seventh in the prelims Friday before coming back Saturday to move up one spot to finish 6th overall with a final time of 2:30.42.

Abdaoui would also compete over the weekend in the Distance Medley Relay alongside sophomores Tanner Spence (Carmi, Ill.), Caden Hostetler (LaGrange, Ind.) and Malik Ferdinand (Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines), with the Trailblazers placing 10th overall with a time of 10:14.13.

Spence and Hostetler would also run in the 4x800 relay with freshmen teammates Kelvin Kipsang (Kapsabet, Kenya) and Dakoda Greci (Danville, Ind.), placing 16th overall with a time of 8:03.35.

Ferdinand would then take part in the 4x400 relay with sophomores Zion Pruitt (Avon, Ind.), Olamipo Ladipo (Sao Paulo, Brazil) and freshman Artezz Butler-Sanders (Indianapolis, Ind.) where Vincennes placed 15th overall with a time of 3:18.45.

Ladipo's busy weekend was not finished there however, taking 16th overall in the 400 meter dash at 47.79 seconds and placing 28th overall in the 200 meter sprint at 21.60 seconds.

Zion Pruitt also competed in the 400 meter dash, claiming 35th place overall with a final time of 50.94 seconds.

In the field events, freshman Chase Guthrie (Indianapolis, Ind.) had a strong showing in the long jump, placing 18th overall with a best jump of 6.90 meters.

Sophomore Maliek Bush (Jeffersonville, Ind.) closed out the weekend results for the Trailblazers by competing in the grueling Heptathlon.

Bush opened the two-day, seven event Heptathlon Friday by placing fourth in the long jump at 6.72 meters, fifth in the 60 meter sprint at 7.09 seconds, fifth in the high jump at 1.85 meters and 10th in the shot put at 10.90 meters.

Bush then returned to the Sports Performance Center Saturday for the final three events, taking 10th overall in the 60 meter hurdles at 8.74 seconds, 11th in the pole vault at 3.50 meters and 12th in the 1000 meter run with a time of 3:10.06.

Bush overall placed ninth in the Heptathlon, collecting a total of 4,664 points during the seven events.

The VU men's team overall placed 28th in the meet, claiming three points off of Abdaoui's sixth place finish in the 1000 meter run.

"Maliek started off both days of competition in the Heptathlon," VU Interim Head Track and Field Coach Tyler Steigenga said. "After day one he was in fourth place, a bit off his projected pace. He started off with a solid showing in the 60 hurdles, falling back slightly to fifth place. In the Pole Vault he didn't quite have the day he wanted, which dropped him back to seventh place. Going into the 1000 meter, which is usually his weakest event, he needed to beat one of two runners to stay in All-American position. Unfortunately, he didn't quite have enough and finished a few seconds behind eighth place. He still managed t improve on his score from a month ago, which has him ranked fifth in school history."

"The first running event of the meet for VU was the Women's DMR, which finished 12th overall and improved on their season best time by five seconds to become the third fastest team in VU history," Steigenga added. "The men's DMR team put up a solid showing but it wasn't quite enough as they ended up 10th overall, just outside of scoring position. Malik ran a fantastic 400 meter leg, which was his fastest of the season by 1.5 seconds and Caden ran four seconds faster on his 800 meter leg."

"In the field events, Chase started a streak of PRs, jumped his best distance in the long jump as a Trailblazer, Steigenga said. "The jump of 6.9 meters moved him up to ninth in school history."

"The highlight of the weekend was Sophia, who won her third NJCAA Pole Vault Championship with ease," Steigenga added. "After winning the competition at 3.95 meters, she continued to raise the bar and came away with a new PR of 4.15 meters. It was her first PR in over three years. On the VU Top 10 list, she is ranked second, only behind NJCAA Pole Vault Record Holder and NJCAA Hall of Famer Natalia Bartnovskaya."

"Zoe also had a big breakthrough as she broke 60 for the first time in the 400 meters," Steigenga said. "Her time of 59.58 is the seventh best ever by a Trailblazer. Olamipo followed up Zoe's performance with a PR of his own, running 47.79 and placing 16th overall. He also came back an hour later on a difficult double to finish just off his best time in the 200 meters."

"Anis closed out Friday night with the 1000 meters by finishing third in his heat and qualifying for the finals on Saturday," Steigenga added. "The women started off the running events on Saturday with the 4x800 relay. They improved on their finish in the DMR by finishing 10th just 0.4 seconds off the school record. The men placed 16h overall and ran the eighth fastest time in school history."

"Anis ran a great race in the 1000 meter finals, holding the third or fourth position most of the race, just falling back in the last 50 meters of the race to finish sixth overall," Steigenga said. "It was his first All-American award in track as a Trailblazer."

"The men's 4x400 finished off the day, running 3:18.45, less than two seconds off their school record from a month ago," Steigenga added. "The women finished 17th overall and the men finished 28th."

The Trailblazers will return to Vincennes where the Trailblazers will look to rest and regroup as VU now prepares to head outdoors for the 2025 Outdoor Season.

Vincennes will kick off the Outdoor schedule with the WashU Distance Carnival in St. Louis, Mo. Thursday, March 27 and Friday, March 28, before heading to Indiana State University Saturday, March 29 for the ISU Pacesetter in Terre Haute, Ind.

"The women had a really good meet," Steigenga said. "We were hoping to score a few points in the distance events, so it was tough to finish just outside of scoring. It was a rough meet for the Men as we were expected to score in a few more events but unfortunately had a few bad days that hurt us. That along with the increased level of competition in the NJCAA has made it extremely tough to score points. We've still got a lot of good things going for us that we will look to capitalize on during the Outdoor Season."

VINCENNES RESULTS

WOMEN'S RESULTS

VU (17) – 10 points

400m

Zoe Allen – 24, 59.58

Sara Belgacem – 24, 2:34.60

Mile

Adi Fuller – 28, 5:39.74

4x800

Fuler, Self, Hale, Belgacem – 10, 9:53.88

DMR

Belgacem, Allen, Self, Fuller – 12, 12:52.19

Pole Vault

Sophia Salvi – 1, 4.15m

MEN'S RESULTS

VU (28) – 3 points

200m

Olamipo Ladipo – 28, 21.60

400m

Olamipo Ladipo – 16, 47.79

Zion Pruitt – 35, 50.94

1000m

Anis Abdaoui – 6, 2:30.42

4x400

Ferdinand, Pruitt, Butler-Sanders, Ladipo – 15, 3:18.45

4x800

Kipsang, Hostetler, Greci, Spence – 16, 8:03.35

DMR

Spence, Ferdinand, Hostetler, Abdaoui – 10, 10:14.13

Long Jump

Chase Guthrie – 18, 6.90m

Heptathlon

Maliek Bush – 9, 4,664 points

60m – 5, 7.09, 851 points

Long Jump – 4, 6.72m, 748 points

Shot Put – 10, 10.90m, 540 points

High Jump – 5, 1.85m, 670 points

60m Hurdles – 10, 8.74, 804 points

Pole Vault – 11, 3.50m, 482 points

1000m – 12, 3:10.06, 569 points