Former Ole Miss Track Star Wins Bronze in 2016 Rio Olympics

Photo Courtesy: AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (WCBI) — Another medal is coming home to the Magnolia State.

Two days after Southern Miss alum Tori Bowie won the silver in the women’s 100-meter sprint, Ole Miss Rebel Sam Kendricks will be bringing home the bronze medal in the pole vault.

Kendricks reached 5.85m, which was good enough to vault him into third in the Olympics behind France’s Renaud Lavillenie and Brazil’s Thiago Braz da Silva. Da Silva set a new Olympic Record clearing 6.03m.

A former Ole Miss Track and Field star, Kendricks was the only competitor in qualifying not to have any misses on his vaults. He won two National Championships during his three years with the Rebels.

A 2011 graduate of Oxford High School, Sam Kendricks helped lead the Chargers to the 2009 MHSAA 5A Team State Championship and won individually the 2010 and 2011 outdoor state meet. He was Mississippi’s 2011 Gatorade Boys Track and Field High School Athlete of the Year.