AAU TRACK AND FIELD SPOTLIGHT: VASHTI CUNNINGHAM

This edition of the AAU Track and Field Spotlight features record-breaking high-jumper Vashti Cunningham.

Last summer, Cunningham set the AAU Club Championships record with a 6 feet, 3 inch jump at just 17 years old. At 6 feet, 1 inch tall, she routinely jumps higher than her own height.

After Club Championships, Cunningham went on to compete in the Pam Am Championships with Team USA. There, she PR’ed with a jump of 6 feet, 5 inches to set a new National High School record, American Junior record, and tie the World Youth record.

Now 18, she crushed her old record with a jump of 6 feet, 6 ¼ inches at the US Indoor Track and Field Championships – that jump slated her as the highest women’s high jumper in the world so far in 2016.

But there’s more. That jump also qualified her for an invitation to the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Portland, Ore. Cunningham became the youngest female athlete to win an IAAF World Indoor Championship title in ANY event, clearing 6 feet, 5 inches without a single miss.

Success seems to run in the family. Cunningham’s dad is Randall Cunningham, NFL quarterback for 16 years and her brother, Randall II, high jumps for USC, recently clearing 7 feet, 5 inches.

With her sights set on Rio this summer, the AAU wishes Vashti all the luck!