Julia Fixsen Wins Virginia Tech's Second Pole Vault National Championship

Julia Fixsen made history Thursday night at the NCAA Track & Field Championship in Austin, Texas as she became the second Virginia Tech T&F athlete, men's or women's, to win a national title in the pole vault joining Rachel Baxter who won the 2022 women's indoor title.

Fixsen's winning height was a personal best of 14' 7.25'' (4.45 meters) which she cleared on her first attempt giving her the edge over Washington's Nastassia Campbell who needed more than one attempt to clear that height. She was one of four Hokies competing in the Women's Pole Vault with Kenna Stimmel also earning First Team All-American honors finishing 8th while Journey Gurley finished tied for 13th and Hayley Horvath finished 15th to earn Second Team All-American honors.

This is Virginia Tech's 22nd individual title in track and field whether indoors and outdoors with Fixsen becoming the 10th individual Hokie track and field athlete to win at least one national title in either indoor or outdoor track and field.

This also gives Tech at least two individual national champions across all sports for the second-straight year with Fixsen and swimmer Youssef Ramadan winning national titles this year after Baxter and Lindsey Butler (indoor 800 meters) won titles last year.

Assistant coach Bob Phillips had this to say to HokieSports on Fixsen winning the title and Tech's overall success with four First or Second Team All-Americans in the Women's Pole Vault.

"It was a great night," said assistant coach Bob Phillips. "All four girls were extremely focused and it showed in the results. I am especially happy for Julia. She finished the indoor season fighting through some pain, so to see her pain-free at the end of the outdoor season and to watch her hard work and patience pay off with both the conference and national titles was outstanding."

Virginia Tech's track and field program continues to produce individual national champions with Julia Fixsen joining an illustrious group that includes former Olympian Queen Harrison and many more current and future Virginia Tech Athletics Hall of Famers.