Three letters lead to a national title

Three simple letters — in his day, during his career and throughout his time as a pole vaulter in the world of track and field — have kept KU junior Ashton Barkdull going. 

And this weekend, those three letters delivered one massive number. 

One. 

As in first place, national champion, no one better. 

Barkdull, a fourth-year Jayhawk from Andover, Kansas, brought home an indoor national championship this weekend by winning the pole vault in Fayetteville, Arkansas, as one of just two competitors in the 16-man finals field to clear 19 feet. 

He did it by soaring past 19.25 feet (5.8 meters) in two jumps, which edged out Texas A&M’s Aleksandr Solovev, who needed three attempts to clear the same height.

And he reached that point by following his own little motto: DFQ. 

“Don’t freaking quit,” he tells himself by using the first letter of each word as a reminder about his mantra. 

He’s been riding that train since finishing as the runner-up last spring at outdoor nationals. And he’s been looking forward to a moment like this ever since he got involved with the sport, relatively late in his career as a junior back at Andover Central High School. 

“I was the football kid,” Barkdull told R1S1 Sports two years ago shortly after qualifying for his first trip to indoor nationals. “I always loved football, and every season I always broke something or sprained something, so I decided that, with track, it was kind of cool that, with track, I could do what I love to do — run fast and jump — and I don’t get hurt when I do it.” 

It didn’t take him long to see there was more to it than just not getting hurt. 

His dad was his high school coach and he picked up pole vaulting as a way to keep busy after his sprint practices lasted 40 minutes. 

“It wasn’t like it was boring,” he said. “It was more like, ‘I want something else to do when I’m out here.’ That’s where it all began. I was like, this is kind of fun and I don’t suck at it so might as well see where it’ll take me.” 

Where it took him was beyond his wildest dreams, but dating back to his sophomore season, when he first realized that he could compete on the national stage, he’s been gunning for a day like this. 

“It was incredible,” he said in a news release on KU’s official athletics site. “This is the most stacked the NCAA field has been to my knowledge. Ever since I got second place last year, all I could think about was ‘This is not happening again, I’m winning, I don’t care who’s jumping, I’m showing up here and winning.’” 

Added KU vertical jumps coach Tom Hays: "It’s the first time I’ve almost cried after winning something just because of how special it was for him and how special it was for the family. He’s been ready to jump this bar for about six weeks… He really learned how to step up and use his endurance to compete."

Barkdull becomes the third Jayhawk pole vaulter to claim an indoor national championship and the first since Hussain Al Hizam in 2018. 

He’s also KU’s 23rd indoor national champ in track and field and the first since KU legend and U.S. Olympian Bryce Hoppel won the 800-meter run in 2019. 

— For tickets to all KU athletic events, visit kuathletics.com