Swindler dreaming big ahead of NCAA Championships

It takes a lot of nerve to do what Kevin Swindler does. Pole vaulters, by trade, have to be fearless and self-assured to the point of recklessness. You don't just throw yourself 17 feet in the air without knowing what could happen if things go wrong.

It's the confidence that Swindler has in himself and his abilities that allowed the Grizzlies pole vaulter to reach the highest stage in the sport this week as he competes at the NCAA Championship meet in Eugene, Oregon. The Grizzly junior will jump at 6:35 p.m. on Wednesday night with the event streamed live on ESPN+.

Things could have gone differently. Swindler, a junior from Tigard, Oregon, broke the Montana school record this season with a jump of 17-7.25 at the Bengal Invitational in the regular season finale. Two weeks later at the Big Sky Championship, he no-heighted on a rainy day in Gresham.

The experience could have derailed what had been a fantastic season for Swindler, but he put the result in the rearview mirror as he began preparations for the NCAA West First Round meet.

"I try not to let meets get to me. I think that's one of my better features as an athlete," Swindler said. "The no-height sucked, but I knew it was a little bit out of my control so I knew there was no mulling over it. It was just go out and put my best foot forward at regionals and that was my mindset."

Once again jumping in rainy conditions at the meet in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Swindler matched his own program record with a jump of 17-7.25 that punched his ticket to the National Championship.

Ten days removed from one of the tougher days of his career, Swindler now was headed to the field that every track athlete in the U.S. dreams of competing on. He used a bit of extra motivation in the lead up to the event, building his own self confidence along the way.

"I changed the background on my phone to an emblem of nationals a week before the regional meet," Swindler said. "I was looking at it all week thinking, 'I'm going to be there.' It's just sort of that confidence and there was never a doubt in my mind that I could go to nationals."

Swindler started pole vaulting in high school, but competed in plenty of sports while growing up in Arizona. Baseball became his primary focus heading into high school, but after he was cut from the team he turned his attention to track.

He started with the long jump. His high school long jump pit sat right next to the pole vault runway. After a while, he started to think that what the guys next to him were doing looked like a lot more fun than what he found himself doing. He decided to switch to pole vault and fell in love, although it didn't come right away.

COVID-19 interrupted his freshman season of jumping. He jumped at four meets during his sophomore season at Corona del Sol HS in Tempe, Arizona, clearing a season best 11-6. It wasn't close to the heights he is reaching today, but it planted the seed that this sport was something he could get invested in.

His family moved to Oregon before his junior season, which proved to be very beneficial to the Tigard track and field team. Swindler won his first meet with the Tigers by clearing 13 feet. He would go on to place 4^th at the 2022 6A State Championships held at Hayward Field, clearing 14 feet for the first time in his life.

Swindler would win the state title as a senior in 2023, once again reaching new heights inside Hayward Field with his first ever clearance of 15-feet.

"Everyone talks about 'Hayward Magic' and I think it's pretty true," Swindler said. "In high school, my first time jumping 14, 15, and 16 feet were all at Hayward Field, so I have a little bit of that Hayward Magic I guess. It's going to be fun to go back."

His recruiting came late as he developed rapidly over his final two seasons, but the win garnered the attention of college coaches, including Doug and Erica Fraley at Montana.

Not only was Swindler getting better every year at the pole vault, he was also digging deeper into the technical aspects and the history of the sport. Montana became an attractive landing place for Swindler with Doug a three-time national champion in the event and Erica a Unites States Olympian.

Doug Fraley could see the passion that Swindler has for the event from the first time he stepped on campus, but said that blocking out some of the extra noise has allowed him to improve this year.

"A guy with a lot of talent that really needed to be able to narrow his focus to the things that are important. He's really a pole vault geek, he loves studying it, he loves talking about it, he's all in," Fraley said. "I think the thing that he's done better is really figuring out the meat and potatoes of what he needs to think about and focus on. He's done a really good job of that this year."

He cleared 16-feet as a freshman indoors, showing great potential early on in an impressive room of vaulters that included Zane Johnson and Carson Weeden, two jumpers that would each break school records in the event.

Swindler scored at a Big Sky Championship for the first time during the 2025 indoor meet, placing 5^th with a jump of 16-6.5. He moved up one spot outdoors as a sophomore to 4^th place with a mark of 16-8.75

This season, Swindler broke the Montana indoor school record in Pocatello at the Mountain States Games with a clearance of 17-6.5 and two weeks later claimed gold at the Big Sky Championship with a jump of 17-4.5.

He tied for the best mark with his teammate, Carson Hegele, but won the gold on fewer misses to become the first men's pole vault champion for Montana since Keith Webber in 2014.

Outdoor season followed a similar script. Two weeks before the championship, he broke the school record in Pocatello with his jump of 17-7.25. But this time around, gold wasn't in the cards.

"Pole vault is a very volatile event and sometimes you can have a bad day at the very worst time. It's happened to all of us who have ever pole vaulted," Fraley said. "The key in the success that he know has is being able to have a short memory and trust his process and his abilities. He did a great job of that in Fayetteville in tough conditions."

The result was disappointing, but Swindler did what he could to put that behind him. Part of that process was talking with Doug and Erica. As elite level pole vaulters, they both had plenty of experience to share with the junior.

Fraley, who won the NCAA Championship three times and was an All-American at Fresno State five times, shared with Swindler that he had no heighted at an NCAA Championship meet. It didn't stop him from putting together one of the best collegiate careers of all time.

"After conference when there was a little bit of doubt in my abilities because of what happened," Swindler said. "I talked to Doug and he talked about how he no-heighted his first national meet but then came back and won three NCAA titles. Erica has been to the Olympics. They know what it's like to have the highs, and also to have the lows."

It's a trait that you can find in many of the world's greatest athletes. Failure is part of sports, but how you respond to it can make the difference between a good athlete and a great athlete.

Swindler has always been good at that. He has self-confidence, but also knows what makes good jumps and how he can improve. It's the technical aspects of the pole vault that keep him sprinting down that runway and launching himself nearly two stories in the air.

"I played so many sports growing up, but pole vault is the only sport that has ever challenged me in the way that it does and kept my interest long enough," Swindler said. "There's always something you can work on. I'm going to Nationals in four days and there's still things I look at and think, 'Man, I could fix that.'"

Erica Fraley has been a big reason for the growth. It's fitting for Montana that the pole vault has become an area of strength, given the coaching staff. Doug and Erica have tremendous resumes both as athletes and as coaches. It's a family tradition for Doug as his father, Bob, was a legendary figure in the pole vaulting world and his coach at Fresno State.

Bob Fraley conceived of an idea to get together a small group of coaches in Fresno, California for a Summit. It grew into The National Pole Vault Summit, an internationally known event and helped change pole vault development in the United States.

The Fraleys know what they are talking about when it comes to the event, and it's no surprise that the first-ever Grizzly to reach the National Championship in the event does so under the tutelage of Erica Fraley.

"He came in as a real good high school prospect and had two really solid years but we knew that there was more in the tank with his potential," Doug Fraley said. "It's been really fun watching he and Erica work together this year and really figure some things out that have allowed him to break through and get to this national level."

At the regional meet, Swindler tested out a new bar, trying to clear a height that would put him in contention at the NCAA Championship. While he wasn't able to clear in Fayetteville, the experience was a learning one.

"It was an unfamiliar feeling, so I'm glad we got that out of the way at regionals. Now I'm watching those videos and I'm pretty mad that I didn't swing on it because I would have been way over the 18-foot bar," Swindler said. I remember feeling in the moment, 'This thing is giving me a lot.' Now I know going into nationals that I just have to fully commit. Being at nationals helps commit to those bigger poles because it's like, what do I have to lose?"

Swindler will have his first practice for the meet on Monday. The big show starts on Wednesday when he will jump at 6:35 p.m. (MT) against the best in the country. The stage won't be new for Swindler, who has competed plenty of times at Hayward Field. He's also been to the last two NCAA Championships, although that came as a spectator.

He would chat with old high school friends and coaches, taking in all the action. Apologies to his friends, but this year Swindler will be a little busy competing himself.

The stage itself may not be too big for Swindler, but this will be a meet unlike any that he has competed in. In those moments, it can be easy to try to reach new heights and pull off things that you never have accomplished before. It's where so many athletes go wrong.

Fraley has been imparting wisdom on his junior pole vaulter in the lead up to the meet.

"The key to my success when I won three NCAA Championships was never that I went in and did something that I had never done before," Fraley said. "I simply went in and did what I had been doing all year that got me there. That is the big message to Kevin, just do what you've been doing and the result will be very good."

Swindler is ranked 21^st in the 24-man field, but all that matters is what you do on the day. The top eight men will earn First Team All-American honors. The next eight will go on the second team. Swindler knows he can be among that group. In an event like the pole vault, anything can happen at a championship meet.

And he may have the Hayward Magic on his side. He cleared 14, 15, and 16 feet for the first time ever inside the historic stadium. Why not add 18 feet to the list?

In the lead up to the regional meet, every time he checked his phone Swindler looked down at an image of the National Championship logo. It became his motivating factor to get to this stage. Now that he's here, he has a different image both on his phone and in his mind.

"I changed my background again right after regionals. I woke up, turned on my phone, and thought, 'I don't need this any more, I'm already going.' I switched it to the trophy," Swindler said. "That's been my motivating factor. I know that if I trust my abilities and everything is on and I'm competing to the best of my abilities, I will have a shot at being on that podium and being an All-American."

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Players Mentioned

Carson Hegele

Kevin Swindler

Carson Weeden

University of Montana Athletics