Pallakis 2nd In Pole Vault At Ncaas

Washington State senior Christos Pallakis earned All-American status for the third time as a Cougar, but couldn’t snag a national title as he placed second in the pole vault at the NCAA Track and Field Championships Friday night.

Pallakis passed at the first two heights before clearing 17 feet, 4 1/2 inches. He passed at 17-8 1/2 as 16 of the 18 athletes were still in the competition amid muggy conditions.

He cleared 18-0 1/2, but missed in three attempts at 18-4 1/2. The winner, Lawrence Johnson, was competing on his home field at the University of Tennessee and went on to clear 18-8 1/4.

Pallakis earned All-American honors in 1992 when as a freshman he placed 10th at the national collegiate outdoor championships with a vault of 17-8 1/2.

Pallakis’ senior year had an auspicious beginning with an 18-4 1/2indoor vault in Athens in January, a Greek and WSU record. Pallakis cleared 18-5 at the Cosby Indoor Invitational in Reno, Nev., the next month.

He won the Pacific-10 Conference meet in Tucson, Ariz., last month.

Pallakis’ second place finish earned WSU eight points. On Thursday freshman Leo Slack earned one point for finishing eighth in the decathlon so the Cougars finish with nine team points.

Meanwhile, University of Idaho sophomore Frank Bruder finished sixth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in a time of 8 minutes, 46.03 seconds. His finish earned him All- American status in that event.

“This was one of my better races of the year,” said Bruder by phone. “I think that this was about the best that I could do. The guys that finished ahead of me are very good. I thought that I did pretty well.”

Bruder, who is from Neubulach, Germany, finished fourth in his heat of the steeplechase preliminaries to advance to today’s finals. He automatically qualified for the NCAA Championships earlier this season in Eugene, Ore.

Bruder helped lead Idaho to the Big Sky Conference Championships two weeks ago by winning the steeplechase as well as the 5,000 meter run.

Bruder is the first Vandal to ever reach the NCAA meet in the steeplechase and is the first All- American for the men’s team since 1990, when Patrick Williams earned the honor in both the 100 meters and 200 meters.