Not only is Arizona high jumper Brigetta Barrett atop the college ranks in her event, but the junior from Duncanville, Texas is one of the best in the world.
She continued that trend this past week. Setting a new personal record, Barrett won a gold medal for Team USA at the World University Games in Shenzhen, China, with a 6 foot, 5 inch jump that measures as the sixth best jump in the world for 2011.
That puts her in second place for the Wildcats all-time record, standing just a half-inch away from Tanya Hughes’ record of 6 feet, 5.5 inches that was set in 1992.
Barrett recently won the 2011 USA Outdoor competition with her previous best mark of 6 feet, 4.75 inches. Last track and field season, she won both the NCAA Indoor and NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Team USA was coached by Arizona cross country head coach James Li, and Barrett’s gold was one of four medals won by the American track and field team in China.
Fellow Wildcat Edgar Rivera-Morales, a junior high jumper competing for Team Mexico, tied for fifth place in the B preliminary round of the men’s high jump, though his 7-foot, 0.5-inch mark was not enough for him to advance to the finals.
Former Wildcats Gabriella Duclos of Team Canada and Rivera-Morales’ brother, Luis, of Team Mexico, competed in events for their respective countries as well.
Duclos finished 11th overall in the finals of the women’s pole vault with a 13 foot, 7.25 inch vault. Luis Rivera-Morales placed 14th in the A prelimary round of the long jump with his best leap of the day being 23 feet, 8.75 inches.
— Kevin Zimmerman
