Bryant Wilson (GVSU Photo)

ALLENDALE, MICH. – Bryant Wilson has experienced a lot of highs and lows through his years of competing in the pole vault.

Of course, each jump involves equal portions of both. But for Wilson, a Grand Valley State University sophomore that finished his high school career at Hale with two state titles, a career-best jump on March 10 provided the highest of highs thus far in his college career.

Wilson brought a lot of high school meets to a standstill as he would try to top the 14-foot mark.

It took a lot more than that – 17 feet, 5-3/4 inches – to bring home the NCAA Division II indoor national championship in the pole vault. Just a week earlier, he flew over the 17-foot mark for the first time.

“It really hasn’t sunk in yet,” said Wilson of his national title.

At the college level, most athletes compete in a winter indoor season, then switch gears to head outdoors come March. Wilson’s indoor season hadn’t been bad, but for awhile it didn’t look like it would end the way it would.

“I switched from a 15-6 to a 16-foot pole this year,” he said. “You wouldn’t think it would make that big of a difference, but it took me most of the season to get used to it. My form just wasn’t there, but during conference (championship) week, things started to fall into place.

“The two weeks before that I was barely landing in the pit. I was falling off onto the basketball court, all over the place.”

But when things finally did fall into place, they really came together.

A week before the national championship meet in Boston, Wilson and his GVSU teammates competed at a tune-up meet at Carthage College in Wisconsin.

“It was just a little meet at a Division III school,” he said. “There wasn’t a lot of pressure but it was the first time I’d gotten over 17 feet, and after that I knew I had a decent chance.”

Ironically, that first 17-foot, ¾-inch jump happened at one of two meets that his parents, Steve and Carole, haven’t been able to attend. Trapped in Hale by the ice storm that left tens of thousands without power that weekend, the Wilsons had to settle for hearing that news via a phone call.

“That’s (the Carthage meet) the only meet they’ve missed in two years, and both times its been the same one,” he said. “Last year I was sick and didn’t think I would jump, but I ended up feeling OK and competing. I called and was joking with them that I’d gone 17 feet.

“So this time, that was the first thing I thought of when I cleared it, and when I called to tell them they thought I was doing it again. They didn’t believe me at first.”

That jump broke the previous GVSU record by more than six inches, as well as setting the Carthage field house record. It also was a sign of things to come.

At the national meet, Wilson went in with the goal of minimizing his misses, especially early on, as those come into play when competitors top out at the same height.

After 16-8, there were three left – Wilson, Derik Brugger of Moorhead and Lucas Handley of Missouri-Rolla. Wilson and Brugger each had two misses in their first two heights, but the national leader coming into the meet, Kyle Dennis of Abilene Christian, had already been eliminated.

Wilson was the last of the three to vault, and when he cleared 17 feet on his first attempt, “I knew I had it at that point,” he said. “When the other guys went, people were slow-clapping, but our coach doesn’t like that, so when I went up it was dead silent. It was pretty eerie.”

Neither Brugger nor Handley cleared that height. With the championship in hand, Wilson took it up another two notches to his final height, again breaking his own school record and wrapping up his first national title.

The points from Wilson’s jump, as well as a fifth-place from teammate Garron Lucius in the 60-meter hurdles and Nate Peck in the 5,000-meter run lifted the Lakers to an eighth-place finish overall.

Now the outdoor season begins, and while Wilson hopes to be in a similar position in June, he hasn’t been setting height goals for himself. He qualified for the national outdoor finals as a freshman last spring, finishing third with a jump of 16 6-3/4. The national champion came in at over 17-8, which may well be Wilson territory by then.

“I don’t like to set height goals,” Wilson said. “It puts extra pressure on, and when I don’t meet them I have a tendency to get down.

“I just keep working at getting better and I need to clean my form up. It hasn’t been the best lately. Hopefully I can get back to nationals, and you always hope to get your PR (personal record) there. Obviously, that doesn’t always work out.”

No matter how he finishes, the one thing Wilson knows is that he’ll have his contingent of fans with him, as he did in Boston.

“I owe a lot of thanks to my folks, brothers and friends who made the trip,” he said. “And the community’s support and well-wishing have meant a lot too.”

Photos from the meet - (PrettySporty.com)