GENEVA, Ohio – St. Norbert College senior
Aiden Anderson capped a year to remember under the tensest of circumstances.
Anderson (pictured, center) won an administrative jump-off to claim the national title in the pole vault at the 2025 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championship at SPIRE Institute. The victory was Anderson's second national championship in three months after claiming the indoor national championship in March.
The sweep of indoor and outdoor national championships in the same year marked just the 17th time that has happened in the pole vault since the NCAA Division III Indoor Championship began in 1985. Anderson is the 12th athlete to accomplish the feat and the first since 2018.
"God gave me the strength to pull through!," Anderson said. "It's rare to take 15 jumps in a competition. My coaches did an amazing job helping me through the last few bars and I couldn't be happier!"
Anderson was locked in a duel with Washington University in St. Louis' Tommaso Maiocco, with the two clearing their first attempts at their first seven heights, topping out at 16 feet 10 3/4 inches (5.15 meters). Both vaulters missed on all three attempts at 17-0 3/4 (5.20 meters). Since both had an equal number of attempts with no misses, a jump-off was required to determine the national champion.
The jump-off began at 17-0 3/4 with both missing. The bar dropped to 16-10 3/4, with both athletes again missing. Both cleared 16-8 3/4 (5.10 meters), with the bar then going back to 16-10 3/4. Anderson cleared and Maiocco did not at that height, giving Anderson the title in a hard-fought battle.
"Winning a national championship is hard and this year was the deepest the meet ever was," St. Norbert coach
Don Augustine said. "The opening height was the highest ever at a Division III national meet. I'm extremely proud of Aiden, Coach (Taylor) Pasterski (pictured, right) and Coach (Patrick) Georgia (pictured, left) for finding a way to win the title in the fashion he did."
Anderson's clearance of 16-10 3/4 also set a new St. Norbert school record, breaking his old mark by two centimeters.
