Jacob "Jake" Blankenship (born March 15, 1994) is an American

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete who competes in the

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...

. He holds a personal record of for the event, set in 2015. He placed third at the

USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships The USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships is an annual track and field competition organized by USA Track & Field, which serves as the American national championships for the sport. Since the year 1992, in the years which feature a Summer Olym ...

in 2015. Blankenship won medals at the

World Youth Championships in Athletics The IAAF U18 Championships in Athletics (until 2015 known as IAAF World Youth Championships in Athletics) was a global athletics event comprising track and field events for competitors who were 17 or younger (youth = Under-18). The event was orga ...

in 2011 and

NACAC Under-23 Championships in Athletics The NACAC U23 Championships in Athletics is an under-23 athletics competition held between the member associations of the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association The North American, Central American and Caribbean Athlet ...

in 2014. He represents

Tennessee Volunteers The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity college athletics, intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in NCAA Division I, ...

team collegiately and has had top three finishes both indoors and outdoors in NCAA competition, including winning the 2016 Outdoor Championships.

Career

From

Blacklick, Ohio Blacklick is a small unincorporated community in southern Jefferson Township, Franklin County, Ohio, United States. Blacklick is also included in the Columbus Metropolitan area. The community was established by William A. Smith in 1852. It was ...

, he attended Gahanna Lincoln High School. While there he established a reputation in the pole vault, setting Ohio state records both indoors and outdoors. He gained the William H. Suddarth Athletic Scholarship for his efforts and reached the podium on his international debut,Jake Blankenship
. UT Sports. Retrieved on 2015-06-28. taking the bronze at the

2011 World Youth Championships in Athletics The 2011 World Youth Championships in Athletics were the seventh edition of the World Youth Championships in Athletics. They were held in Lille Métropole, France, with stadium-based events at Stadium Lille-Métropole in Villeneuve d'Ascq, on 6� ...

. He went on to study at the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

in 2012 and began to compete collegiately for their

team. Despite being a

freshman A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. Ara ...

, he quickly proved himself among the top collegiate vaulters in the United States, with a runner-up finish at the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

indoor championships and then a new personal record of for fourth at the NCAA Men's Indoor Track and Field Championships. In his first outdoor meet of the 2013 season, he set an absolute best of to place fourth at the

Texas Relays The Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays are an annual track and field competition held at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas. The University of Texas serves as host for the event, held on either the first or second weekend of April. Events are hel ...

. He won the

Penn Relays The Penn Relays (also Penn Relays Carnival) is the oldest and largest track and field competition in the United States, hosted annually since April 21, 1895 by the University of Pennsylvania at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. In 2012, there were ...

meet, but performed less well at the main championships that year, coming fifth at the SEC event and 15th at the

NCAA Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championships The NCAA Division I Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship is an annual collegiate outdoor track and field competition for men organised by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Athlete's individual performances earn points for ...

. Blankenship missed most of the 2014 indoor season, but returned to form outdoors with a win at the Penn Relays and a new personal record of to place second at the SEC Championships. He made his first podium at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, placing third. He entered the

2014 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships The 2014 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships was held at Hornet Stadium in Sacramento, California. Organised by USA Track and Field, the four-day competition took place June 26–29 in conjunction with the USA Junior Combined Events Outdoor ...

, but failed to record a valid height.Jacob Blankenship
Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 2015-06-28. He went unmatched at the

2014 NACAC Under-23 Championships in Athletics The 8th NACAC Under-23 Championships in Athletics were held at the Hillside Stadium in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada from August 8–10, 2014. A total of 44 track and field events were contested, divided evenly between the sexes. Medal summa ...

, however, easily taking the gold medal some thirty centimeters ahead of compatriot Chase Wolfle. Heading into his third year for the Tennessee Volunteers, he had runner-up placings at both the SEC and 2015 NCAA Indoor Championships, being beaten at the latter competition only by an American collegiate record performance by

Shawnacy Barber Shawnacy Campbell "Shawn" Barber (born 27 May 1994) is a Canadian track and field athlete specialising in the pole vault. He is the former world champion in pole vault having won the event with a height of 5.90 m at the 2015 World Championsh ...

. Blankenship improved his best to – a mark which ranked him in the top ten athletes indoors globally for the season. He matched that best outdoors at the Texas Relays later two weeks later, again losing to Barber. He then had a string of wins, including the Penn Relays and SEC Outdoor Championships (his first conference title). This was streak was broken at the 2015 NCAA Outdoor Championships, where he was some forty centimeters off his best and finished in sixth. Blankenship established himself at the top national level at the

2015 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships The 2015 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships were held at Hayward Field, University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon. Organized by USA Track and Field, the four-day competition took place June 25–28 and served as the national championships in ...

, taking third place in the open event behind

Sam Kendricks Sam Kendricks (born September 7, 1992) is an American pole vaulter. He is a three-time indoor and six-time outdoor national champion (2014–2019), the 2016 Olympics bronze medalist, and the 2017 World Champion. In 2019, Kendricks set the Ameri ...

and Brad Walker. USATF Outdoor Track & Field Championships USATF Outdoor Track & Field Championships
USATF. Retrieved on 2015-06-28.

Personal bests

*Pole vault outdoor – (2015) *Pole vault indoor – (2015)

International competitions

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blankenship, Jake Living people 1994 births Sportspeople from Ohio People from Franklin County, Ohio American male pole vaulters Tennessee Volunteers men's track and field athletes Athletes (track and field) at the 2015 Pan American Games World Athletics Championships athletes for the United States Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games