Jyles Etienne ’17 added another medal to his swelling trophy case this afternoon by earning a bronze at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships, hosted by the University of Iowa. The sophomore equaled his feat at February’s Big Ten Indoor Championships when his 7′ 1″ leap earned him a 3rd place finish.

Etienne had been coming on strong in recent weeks, putting together a string of consistently excellent jumps that proved to be a fertile launching point for today’s 7′ 2.5″ jump, the second best mark of his collegiate career. The season-best mark is surpassed only by the 7′ 3″ milestone he cleared in his first college meet in December 2017. Two weeks ago he spun gold at the Penn Relays with a 6′ 11.5″ mark, then won the Billy Hayes Invite at 7′ 0.25″, his season-best to that point. He had a similar stretch in the lead-up to the Big Ten Indoors, clearing the 7-foot mark in four of his seven meets prior to the conference finals. All things indicated the former Bear was primed for something big today and he delivered.

Inclement weather in Iowa City forced the high jump event inside, a situation Etienne was familiar with. During his senior season at Stony Brook, rain at the 2017 St. Anthony’s Invitational pushed the high jump indoors. Etienne responded with the 2017 US #1 indoor mark of 7′ 2.5″.

This afternoon, the Bahamian skyscraper passed at the first two heights of 6′ 6″ and 6′ 8″. He missed his first jump of the day at 6′ 9.75″, but showed his poise by clearing on the next jump, setting off a string of five consecutive clears to surge into medal position. He soared on his first attempts at 6′ 11″, 7′ 0.25″, 7′ 1.5″, and 7′ 2.5″ before missing his three attempts at 7′ 3.75″ along with Ohio State’s Cody Stine and Maryland’s Samuel Shoultz. Stine had one fewer miss than Etienne at 6′ 9.75″ to earn silver and Etienne had two fewer misses at 7′ 1.5″ to edge out Shoultz for bronze. Nebraska’s Mayson Conner was the lone jumper to clear 7′ 3.75″ on his final attempt to earn the crown.

Today was the eighth meet in which Etienne broke the 7-foot barrier in his Hoosier career. 7′ 2.5″ ranks him 17th in the nation for this outdoor season. Those marks, coupled with his nine career meet victories form an impressive resume through his first two years, especially when taking into consideration the hamstring injury that hampered him for much of his freshman year. He has already accomplished so much, and still the best is surely yet to come for one of the greatest athletes in Stony Brook history.

Etienne has earned a spot in the NCAA East Preliminaries, held in Jacksonville, FL on Saturday May 25 at 4:00pm.

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Big Ten Championship Top 5 Results

1.	Mayson Conner	Nebraska	7′ 3.75″
2.	Cody Stine	Ohio St.	7′ 2.5″
3.	Jyles Etienne	Indiana	7′ 2.5″ (J)
4.	Samuel Shoultz	Maryland	7′ 2.5″ (J)
5.	Devin Bradham	Penn St.	7′ 1.5″

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