photo by: Sydney Allan/Kansas Athletics

Kansas junior Ashton Barkdull celebrates his national championship in the pole vault on Friday, March 13, 2026, in Fayetteville, Ark.

The Kansas indoor track and field team has its first national champion since 2019.

Junior Ashton Barkdull cleared a personal-best 5.80 meters in the pole vault at the indoor championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Friday, on his way to a first-place finish.

Barkdull and Texas A&M’s Aleksandr Solovev each missed on three attempts at 5.85 meters, which meant that the title came down to how the two competitors had already performed at 5.80. Barkdull reached that clearance on his second try, while Solovev — who also matched his personal best — did so on his third.

That difference gave the Andover native KU’s first indoor title since Bryce Hoppel won one in the 800 meters in 2019, as well as its first indoor pole-vault title since Hussain Al-Hizam a year earlier.

In the process, Barkdull also avenged his defeat to Solovev in last year’s outdoor track and field championships in Eugene, Oregon. On that occasion, Solovev had cleared 5.78 meters as Barkdull managed 5.73.

“Ever since I got second place last year all I could think about was ‘This is not happening again, I’m winning, I don’t care who’s jumping, I’m showing up here and winning,'” Barkdull said in a press release. “I like to say DFQ, whatever’s thrown at you, don’t freaking quit. Clearing the 19 feet mark and getting that win was incredible.”

It was a big night for the Jayhawks in the event overall — one in which they have experienced a great deal of success in recent years — as senior Anthony Meacham cleared a personal-best 5.70 and came in sixth.

KU vertical jumps coach Tom Hays said in the release he had “almost cried” as a result of Barkdull’s victory “just because of how special it was for him and how special it was for the family.”

“He’s been ready to jump this bar for about six weeks… he really learned how to step up and use his endurance to compete,” Hays said of Barkdull. “Those two together, both PR’ing at the national meet on the same night is pretty cool. I’ve never seen it where roommates pull each other along like that, as those two do, they’re pretty special.”

Barkdull came close to the KU program record of 5.81 meters, set by Zach Bradford at the Tom Botts Invitational in Columbia, Missouri, on April 10, 2021.