Drouin qualifies for Olympics

At the NCAA Championships in early June, IU junior Derek Drouin cleared 2.31 meters to finish second.

At the Canadian Olympic Trials in Calgary, Alberta., last week, Drouin cleared the same height, but this time, it earned him a first-place finish and a trip to the Olympics.

He cleared the height for the third time this season and become the only Hoosier high jumper to ever qualify for the Olympics.

He entered as the top seed in the event, and with the jump he became only the second person in the world to clear that height three times this season.

Drouin and fellow Canadian Michael Mason both had Olympic A standard times coming into the race, so they both needed a top-three finish to qualify. Drouin won and Mason finished second, so both are headed to London in August.

He will also join hurdler Wes Brooker as the second Canadian IU athlete to reach the Olympics. Brooker competed in both the 400-meter hurdles race and the 4x400 relay in Mexico City in 1968. He failed to qualify for the semifinals in both events.

Drouin is also the 26th Hoosier track and field athlete to journey to the Olympics since Leroy Samse and Thad Shideler went to the St. Louis games in 1904.

Three other track and field athletes with IU ties — runners Ben Hubers and Arianne Raby and high-jumper Emma Kimoto — joined Drouin in Calgary this week. Hubers finished second in the 5,000-meter race and Kimoto finished fourth in the high jump. Raby placed 16th in the 1,500-meter race.