INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) announced on Sunday the individuals who qualified for the 2020 NCAA Division III Indoor Men's Track and Field Championship, and Washington and Lee sophomore Joe O'Connor (Henrico, Va./Douglas Freeman) earned a spot in the pole vault.
 
Out of the 20 competitors to qualify in the event, O'Connor is tied for the 12th-best mark at 4.83m (15'10.00"). He cleared that height at the ODAC Championship on March 1. It broke his own school record, and was a new ODAC Championship Meet record.
 
Junior Noah Zastrow of UW-Stout has the best mark in the event at 5.39m (17'8.25"). This is the first time O'Connor has qualified for an NCAA Track and Field Championship.
 
O'Connor is the first W&L men's track and field athlete to qualify in the indoor pole vault since Phillip Sampson '90 during the 1988 season. O'Connor is the first General to compete at the Indoor NCAA Meet since MacKenzye Leroy '18 took ninth in the mile in 2018.
 
The NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championship will be held on March 13-14 at the JDL Fast Track in Winston-Salem, N.C. O'Connor will compete in the pole vault on Friday at 11:00 am.