EUGENE, Ore.—Junior high jumper Sanaä Barnes (Keller, Texas) returned to the awards podium at the NCAA Championships with a sixth place finish and a height of 1.81 meters at Hayward Field on Saturday afternoon. She will earn her third career first team All-America honor (top-eight finish) and be a four-time All-American overall when those awards are officially announced next week. Barnes scored three team points for Villanova with her performance on Saturday, making this three straight outdoor championships and 29 times in the 39-year history of the outdoor national meet that the Wildcats have scored in the team standings.
 
Barnes got off to a quick start in Saturday's national championship competition and recorded three straight successful jumps at heights of 1.73 meters, 1.78 meters and 1.81 meters. She was one of only four athletes in the field of 24 competitors to advance through each of the first three heights without a miss. The initial field was whittled down to 20 athletes when the bar was raised to 1.81 meters and just 12 remained in the competition when the height moved to 1.84 meters.
 
That mark of 1.84 meters happens to be Barnes' school record which she established as a freshman during the 2019 indoor season. She also holds the outdoor Villanova standard of 1.82 meters and has recorded successful jumps at that height on multiple occasions, including this season at the Philadelphia Metropolitan Collegiate Invitational on April 24 and again at the NCAA East Preliminary meet in Jacksonville two weeks ago. Barnes looked as strong as at any point all season in easily making it over the bar in her first three jumps on Saturday afternoon.
 
The best of the three attempts for Barnes at 1.84 meters came on her third and final try when it appeared she would be safely over the bar before it fell at the last second. Barnes had pulled up on two separate approaches on her first attempt and missed again on her second jump at the height. Only two athletes in the field had made it over at 1.84 meters at that point in the competition.
 
Barnes was a first team All-American in the high jump both indoors and outdoors her freshman year in 2019. She did not compete during the 2020 indoor season, but returned to competition earlier this year and tied for a 10^th place finish at the indoor NCAA Championships in March. Barnes is the only women's athlete in the history of the Wildcats track & field program to earn All-America honors in any of the jumps.
 
Saturday's sixth place finish put Barnes into select company in the Villanova record book. She is one of 16 women's athletes to own three or more top-eight NCAA Championships finishes in the same event (excluding relays). The most recent athlete in the group prior to Barnes was middle distance runner Marina Muncan who finished in the top-five of the 1500 meters three times (2003, 2004, 2006) during her career.
 
Under the guidance of head coach Gina Procaccio, the Wildcats have had at least one individual qualifier for the outdoor NCAA Championships in each of the last 18 seasons that the competition has been held (the 2020 national meet was cancelled). Villanova had individual qualifiers this year for the NCAA Championships in cross country, indoor track & field and outdoor track & field. Barnes was joined at the outdoor meet by senior middle distance runner McKenna Keegan (West Grove, Pa.) who competed in the semifinal heats of the 800 meters on Thursday night and will remain in Oregon for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials later this month.
 
An announcement of the Wildcats, both current and former, who will be competing during the Olympic Trials will be released next week.