Brown delighted by first stateside title

The 2016 Mountain West Conference Indoor T&F championships are the culmination of the indoor collegiate season and the competition this year was held at the Albuquerque Convention Centre at the University of New Mexico.

For USA-based high jumper Isobel Brown, of Chichester Runners and AC, this was her first Conference title having previously only finished a best of fourth as a freshman in 2014.

Now a junior, she was ranked eighth going into the competition as a result of an early-season performance of 1.74 at the Colorado School of Mines.

At the finals in Albuquerque there was a field of 24 athletes of which three had already jumped six feet. Brown jumped all the progressing heights first time up to and including 1.75 and was leading the field at this stage with nine other athletes attempting this height.

Only three competitors were still in at 1.78 and she went on to succeed at this height at her second attempt while the other two athletes only cleared the height at their third.

Attempting last in the round at 1.81, she was assured of the gold medal as the other competitors failed to clear the new height.

Brown’s 1.78 jump ranks her seventh among Uk high jumpers and the win helped the women’s team claim the indoor conference title for the first time since 2006, following up on their win at the outdoor championships last summer.

Head coach Brian Bedard said: “We always knew she had the potential to do that. We’ve seen flashes of greatness from her. She’s even struggled this year, to see coach Baily and her keep working through that and to see her come out with a great effort here, having fun but competing aggressively, that’s special.”

Brown said: “I was not expecting it coming in. I was the underdog. It was super exciting.”

This title also brings with it Mountain West Conference athlete honours, and is the highlight off Brown’s collegiate career to date and her best UK ranking indoors at seventh.

The outdoor season continues from mid-March and will culminate in the Conference outdoor championships at the end of May.

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