BOSTON – High jumper Mike Newhard of East Stroudsburg University gained All-America honors by tying for sixth place in the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships Saturday at the Reggie Lewis Center.

Newhard cleared 6-9 3/4 to become ESU’s first male track and field All-America in four years. The last was Rob Stone, who tied for fourth in the long jump in 1998. The ESU sophomore from Southern Lehigh High School had won the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference indoor high jump title two weeks ago with a leap of 6-10. He had an indoor best of 6-10 1/2 in the Lafayette Invitational in December.

Terrence Woods of Abilene Christian, the 2000 champion, won the NCAA title for the second time with a Division II record jump of 7-4 1/2. The old mark was 7-3 3/4 by Gregory Roberts of Morehead State in 1998. Defending champion Hong Yong Bi of Wheeling Jesuit was second at 6-11.

The next five jumpers all made 6-9 3/4 with places determined by fewer misses. Bob Sikorski of Wisconsin-Parkside and Derek Pelc of South Dakota tied for third, Ivan Varbanov of Central Missouri State was fifth and Newhard and Ronald Hunter of Emporia State tied for sixth. Paul Brozik of South Dakota was eighth for the final All-America spot at 6-8. Millersville’s Dan Ober also cleared 6-8, but finished ninth.

The 7-4 1/2 winning performance would have placed second in the NCAA Division I national championships held at the University of Arkansas Friday. The only better leap was by champion Tora Harris of Princeton, who cleared 7-5.

Newhard missed once at a lower height and then cleared 6-9 3/4 on his second attempt. He narrowly missed one of his tries at 6-11 which would have given him third place.

"He made a tremendous effort at 6-11," said ESU assistant coach Chris Merli who accompanied Newhard to Boston. "I was standing with the other Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference coaches and no one knows how the bar came off on his jump. He must have nicked it with a foot coming down, but we didn’t see it."

This was Newhard’s second appearance in an NCAA national meet. He also qualified for the NCAA Division II outdoor championships last spring, but only tied for 14th place at 6-6 1/4. His career best is 7-0 achieved twice in high school.

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