Huskies' Olivia Gruver named USTFCCCA women's D1 indoor field athlete of 2020 season...

NEW ORLEANS--The United States Track and Field & Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA)
has named University of Washington redshirt senior pole vaulter Olivia Gruver (left /photo by Paul Merca) as its National Women’s Field Athlete of the Year for the 2020 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field season.

The senior from Reisterstown, Maryland went undefeated against collegiate competition, with her only loss being a third place finish at the Toyota USATF Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, where she cleared 15-5 (4.70m), where she attained the Olympic qualifying standard.

That bar also made her the second best performer with the second best performance in collegiate history, sitting only behind the collegiate record of 4.75m (15-7) set by Demi Payne in 2015.

At the UW Preview, she took three shots at 15-7.25 (4.76m) in an attempt to overtake Payne and own both collegiate records indoors and outdoors.

Gruver is the current collegiate record holder outdoors at 15-6.25 (4.73m), which she set at last year's Stanford Invitational on March 29th.

In her four meets during the indoor season, the lowest bar that she cleared was 14-7.25 (4.45m) at the MPSF Indoor Championships at the Dempsey Indoor.

She opened the season at the UW Indoor Preview meet on January 18th by clearing 15-3.5 (4.66m), then won the UW Invitational on February 1st by clearing 14-9 (4.50m).

This marks the first time that a pole vaulter has earned the honor in award history. It is also the first time that an athlete from the MPSF brought it home since 2012 (Brianne Theisen, Oregon).

Gruver became only the second woman in collegiate history to clear 4.66m (15-3½) multiple times in a season.

"We're thrilled for Olivia to be recognized as the most outstanding women's field event athlete in the NCAA," said Maurica Powell, the UW's Director of Track & Field. "She was absolutely on fire this indoor season with consistently impressive performances. She has left a legacy among collegiate pole vaulters, as well as within our own program. We can't thank her enough for being an example of excellence to the men and women of Washington each and every day that she trained and studied on our campus. Olivia's ability to succeed athletically as well as in the classroom is nothing short of remarkable. We're so proud of her!"

Last week, Track & Field News named Gruver as its women's collegiate indoor athlete of the year.

The USTFCCCA release is available here.

NOTE: The University of Washington and the USTFCCCA contributed to this report.