Junior Honored as Indoor All-American

Competing against the nation’s best in the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships at the University of Arkansas’s Randal Tyson Track Center seems like a pretty high bar. But, for Becky Christensen, clearing high bars comes easy.

The junior high jumper tied her career best jump at 1.83 meter to claim the fourth spot and earn All-American status.

“This weekend really shows that the hardest part [about indoor NCAAs] is getting in,” Christensen said. “Indoors doesn’t take as many people as outdoors, so the competition is a lot different...it’s a lot more consistent. It was just really great to finally make it to the indoor nationals.”

Having failed twice on the 1.80-meter bar in Friday’s event, she cleared it on her third attempt, then prepared herself for the 1.83-meter mark.

“When it went up to 1.83, I knew if I wanted to do well in this meet then I had to jump it on the first try,” Christensen said. “It really helped that I knew I had jumped it once before.”

Christiansen cleared 1.83 meters on her first attempt, but was unable to surmount the following bar at 1.86 meters, keeping her at the fourth spot to end the day. Washington State’s Ebba Jungmark took the event with a 1.89-meter clearance.

“This meet really proves that Becky rises to the occasion,” Harvard coach Jason Saretsky said. “She put herself in the position to be in the thick of it at the height of the competition.”

Of course, Christensen is no stranger to the NCAAs or being an All-American. In last year’s spring outdoor season, the Celina, Texas native finished 10th in the NCAA Championship with a 1.77m jump to notch her first All-American nod. Prior to that she finished fourth in the 2006 outdoor NCAA East Regionals to qualify for the NCAA Championships as a freshman.

Christensen’s first 1.83 meter clearance came last year at home against Yale in the outdoor season.

But the indoor season is decidedly different from outdoor competition, making this weekend’s achievement all the more impressive.

“I’m sure if you were to ask Becky, she’d say she’s a better outdoor jumper than indoor jumper,” Saretsky said. “So it’s good for her to be at her best going into the outdoor season.”

With her success at Arkansas, Christensen moves into an elite rank of Harvard high jumpers who have received All-American honors in both the indoor and outdoor NCAAs. Only two other Crimson women—Dora Gyorffy ’01 and Kart Siilats ’02—have accomplished the feat.

“She’s earned it,” Saretsky said. “She’s worked incredibly hard. She’s earned that spot to be in the same conversation as Dora Gyorffy and Kart Siilats.”

“I’ve been hearing about [Gyorffy and Siilats] since I was in high school,” Chirstensen added. “It’s really cool to get the same award they did.”

—Staff writer Dixon McPhillips can be reached at fmcphill@fas.harvard.edu.