FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – An historic indoor season concluded Saturday evening for California track & field's Ali Sahaida as the senior capped off her brilliant campaign with the best finish by a Golden Bear women's pole vaulter in history at the NCAA Indoor Championships, placing fifth in a stacked field at the Randal Tyson Track Center.
 
Sahaida, who entered the competition as the national No. 12 seed, added over three inches to her own program record to reach a top height of 4.56m (14-11.5). In total, she attempted 12 vaults, with two attempts at the opening bar (4.26m/13-11.75) and two at the second bar (4.41m/14-5.5) before setting a new PR of 4.51m (14-9.5) on her third attempt to move into ninth place. It would take yet another improvement to earn First-Team All-America status, but Sahaida rose to the occasion, clearing her final bar in two passes to clinch her first All-America honor. Only two women (Washington's Hana Moll and South Dakota's Marleen Mulla) cleared the next bar of 4.61m (15-1.5), with Moll eventually taking the win with a meet-record 4.82m (15-9.75).
 
"I am so proud of Ali," said assistant coach Dan Lefever, who leads Cal's pole vault squad. "She stepped up and battled with the best vaulters in the country and showed that she is one of them. It was the best field ever assembled at the indoor championships, so we are thrilled with her performance."
 
Sahaida is the second indoor First-Team All-American women's pole vaulter in program history as well as Bears' the second-highest NCAA finisher in the event, indoors or outdoors, since Katie Morgan's outdoor national title in 2008.

"I'm just so grateful for this opportunity, and obviously for how it turned out," Sahaida said. "Each bar I made meant a lot, because it was my first time even competing at Nationals. It was such an incredible field of competitors and the energy was so high, which I think helped a lot of us jump higher."
 
Arkansas won the 2026 men's team title with a total of 73.5 points after two days of competition, while the women's team title went to Georgia (53 points).
 
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Cal begins its outdoor season at home with the Cal Invitational, hosting the men's and women's hammer throw on March 20 and the remaining events on March 21.
 
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