Special Bond Leads to Special Championship
Mar 19, 2026 | Track & Field, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
In the moments before her sixth and final attempt, Kansas State junior Daniela Wamokpego, a native of France and transfer from Iowa, caught sight of her jumps coach, Clive Pullen, at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Since her arrival in Manhattan nearly a year ago, Wamokpego and Pullen had forged a special bond, they got each other, and through the wins and through the growth moments, they seemingly grew tighter. Blocking out the noise from fans at the 2026 NCAA Indoor Championship, with the arena nearly shaking, Wamokpego approached Pullen for a few final words before her last chance at making magic in the triple jump.
Pullen, a triple jump competitor for Jamaica in the 2016 Rio de Jamerio Olympics, and who assisted with six NCAA Champions and 15 First Team All-Americans in previous stints at his alma mater Arkansas and Tennessee, had never coached a female national champion.
Three times, Wamokpego approached Pullen during the competition. Each time, he repeated his list of instructions for her approach and technique when she leaped from the board and crossed the sand pit below.
"I like to use the analogy that if you're not on the ground, you're in the air, and if you're in the air, you're covering ground," Pullen says. "It's important to have the patience that once you're in the air, you're not in a rush to come back to the ground. Eventually, you must come back down."
At the conclusion of Wamokpego's final quick meeting with Pullen, with everything on the line, Pullen pointed to the stands, where more than 150 K-State loyalists and Wamokpego's teammates stood and cheered, before beginning to clap in unison, like eager concertgoers eager for the show.
"Your family back home, you parents, your sisters and your niece that you love so much, I want you to envision them in the stands, and they're all super excited and cheering for you!" Pullen shouted. "And everyone in France, they're all watching! And as a staff, we're all watching! Your teammates, they're all watching! I believe in you and this is your moment! Grab ahold of your moment and let's celebrate at the end of it!"
The clapping in the stands grew a little faster, and a little faster still, as Wamokpego, whose personal best of 13.67 meters at the 2025 NCAA West Preliminary broke the Iowa school record, reached her starting point for a chance at NCAA gold and at resetting the record book at K-State as well.
"Coach Clive always says we just need one jump," Wamokpego says. "That was in my head. I could hear the clapping. I closed my eyes. I said, 'God, You told me that if I do it, it's because of Your strength, not by my own. So, if You want me to do it, I'll do it. If not, that means it's not for me today, and I'll be OK.'
"I thought about it, 'Just wait, wait, wait, wait.' I needed more air. I couldn't touch the ground too early. I had to wait to touch the ground. I had to just wait. My teammates were clapping. And then it happened."
Wamokpego ran, she jumped, and she landed in gold.
What she did was leap 13.84 meters to become the first K-State female to be crowned an NCAA Indoor Champion since 2016. Her mark of 13.84 meters also broke the K-State school record previously set in 2017 at 13.75 meters and was a personal best by over seven inches. Previously this season she earned a bronze medal at the Big 12 Championship at 13.59 meters and also earned a win at the DeLoss Dodds Invitational with another 13.59-meter jump.
And now? She jumped into the NCAA record book as well, as her 13.84 meters ranked No. 18 all-time in NCAA Track and Field history.
All with one single jump.
But Wamokpego wasn't convinced.
"After I jumped, I thought, 'Shoot, I didn't wait enough,' so I wasn't really happy," she says. "I wasn't really sure I had enough. Then I saw 13.84 and I was like, 'What the hell?' I was just so grateful. I thought, 'Thank, God.' I knew I was prepared. It felt so good to know you're prepared to do something great. After my jump, I just wanted to celebrate with my teammates. Celebrating with my teammates was the best moment for me. It was the best moment. It wasn't like this at my previous school. I never felt the love that I felt in that moment. It just shows the special environment we are in at K-State.
"I love my team, my group, these people."
Pullen had walked to the K-State section in the stands prior to Wamokpego's final attempt — "That K-State section was jumping," he says — and saw Wamokpego point in his direction. He saw it as a gesture that this was it. That all the hard work for so many months, the grind, the tears, the small daily victories, all were about to pay off. That's what he felt in that instant.
"Once she took her first couple steps, I knew this was it, and all I thought was, 'Hold it, hold it, hold it,'" Pullen says. "One of her biggest skills all season was having the patience in covering distance. For her, that last attempt, I saw her patience in the last phases, and I knew it was the winning jump."
Pullen has received videos from friends all over the world of the build-up, the anticipation for the final marking of Wamokpego's final jump to pop up on the official scoreboard. When the scoreboard revealed "13.84," Pullen couldn't handle his excitement, as replayed on the videos.
"I don't know what came over me, but I just took off running," he says, chuckling. "And she did, too. She took off running the opposite direction. It was a cool moment."
Today, Wamokpego sits and looks at the NCAA Championship trophy. It's Tuesday afternoon. Almost time for practice. Her mind drifts back to the jump and the triumph and the aftermath.
"We got back from Arkansas late, so I've been sleeping these past few days," she says. "I have my trophy here in the room and I look at it and say, 'Did I really do that?' This is so crazy."
She laughs.
"I don't really realize what I've done," she continues. "It's just unreal. I had dreamed about being an All-American and getting a trophy, and I didn't mind the color of the trophy, which dignifies exactly where I placed in the national championships, and my goal was to come to K-State and finish in the top eight to get a trophy. I had this trophy on my vision board. From not participating in the finals to getting the trophy that reads, '2026 Triple Jump Champion.' I'm like, 'What?' It's just so weird. I feel like I'm still dreaming, like, 'I really did that?'"
Yes, Wamokpego did that.
And there's perhaps more to come.
"I'd like to stay here with my one more year of eligibility," she says. "I haven't learned enough yet. I still have much to learn. I love being at K-State. I just love being here."
In the moments before her sixth and final attempt, Kansas State junior Daniela Wamokpego, a native of France and transfer from Iowa, caught sight of her jumps coach, Clive Pullen, at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Since her arrival in Manhattan nearly a year ago, Wamokpego and Pullen had forged a special bond, they got each other, and through the wins and through the growth moments, they seemingly grew tighter. Blocking out the noise from fans at the 2026 NCAA Indoor Championship, with the arena nearly shaking, Wamokpego approached Pullen for a few final words before her last chance at making magic in the triple jump.
Pullen, a triple jump competitor for Jamaica in the 2016 Rio de Jamerio Olympics, and who assisted with six NCAA Champions and 15 First Team All-Americans in previous stints at his alma mater Arkansas and Tennessee, had never coached a female national champion.
Three times, Wamokpego approached Pullen during the competition. Each time, he repeated his list of instructions for her approach and technique when she leaped from the board and crossed the sand pit below.
"I like to use the analogy that if you're not on the ground, you're in the air, and if you're in the air, you're covering ground," Pullen says. "It's important to have the patience that once you're in the air, you're not in a rush to come back to the ground. Eventually, you must come back down."
At the conclusion of Wamokpego's final quick meeting with Pullen, with everything on the line, Pullen pointed to the stands, where more than 150 K-State loyalists and Wamokpego's teammates stood and cheered, before beginning to clap in unison, like eager concertgoers eager for the show.
"Your family back home, you parents, your sisters and your niece that you love so much, I want you to envision them in the stands, and they're all super excited and cheering for you!" Pullen shouted. "And everyone in France, they're all watching! And as a staff, we're all watching! Your teammates, they're all watching! I believe in you and this is your moment! Grab ahold of your moment and let's celebrate at the end of it!"
The clapping in the stands grew a little faster, and a little faster still, as Wamokpego, whose personal best of 13.67 meters at the 2025 NCAA West Preliminary broke the Iowa school record, reached her starting point for a chance at NCAA gold and at resetting the record book at K-State as well.
"Coach Clive always says we just need one jump," Wamokpego says. "That was in my head. I could hear the clapping. I closed my eyes. I said, 'God, You told me that if I do it, it's because of Your strength, not by my own. So, if You want me to do it, I'll do it. If not, that means it's not for me today, and I'll be OK.'
"I thought about it, 'Just wait, wait, wait, wait.' I needed more air. I couldn't touch the ground too early. I had to wait to touch the ground. I had to just wait. My teammates were clapping. And then it happened."
Wamokpego ran, she jumped, and she landed in gold.
What she did was leap 13.84 meters to become the first K-State female to be crowned an NCAA Indoor Champion since 2016. Her mark of 13.84 meters also broke the K-State school record previously set in 2017 at 13.75 meters and was a personal best by over seven inches. Previously this season she earned a bronze medal at the Big 12 Championship at 13.59 meters and also earned a win at the DeLoss Dodds Invitational with another 13.59-meter jump.
And now? She jumped into the NCAA record book as well, as her 13.84 meters ranked No. 18 all-time in NCAA Track and Field history.
All with one single jump.
But Wamokpego wasn't convinced.
"After I jumped, I thought, 'Shoot, I didn't wait enough,' so I wasn't really happy," she says. "I wasn't really sure I had enough. Then I saw 13.84 and I was like, 'What the hell?' I was just so grateful. I thought, 'Thank, God.' I knew I was prepared. It felt so good to know you're prepared to do something great. After my jump, I just wanted to celebrate with my teammates. Celebrating with my teammates was the best moment for me. It was the best moment. It wasn't like this at my previous school. I never felt the love that I felt in that moment. It just shows the special environment we are in at K-State.
"I love my team, my group, these people."
Pullen had walked to the K-State section in the stands prior to Wamokpego's final attempt — "That K-State section was jumping," he says — and saw Wamokpego point in his direction. He saw it as a gesture that this was it. That all the hard work for so many months, the grind, the tears, the small daily victories, all were about to pay off. That's what he felt in that instant.
"Once she took her first couple steps, I knew this was it, and all I thought was, 'Hold it, hold it, hold it,'" Pullen says. "One of her biggest skills all season was having the patience in covering distance. For her, that last attempt, I saw her patience in the last phases, and I knew it was the winning jump."
Pullen has received videos from friends all over the world of the build-up, the anticipation for the final marking of Wamokpego's final jump to pop up on the official scoreboard. When the scoreboard revealed "13.84," Pullen couldn't handle his excitement, as replayed on the videos.
"I don't know what came over me, but I just took off running," he says, chuckling. "And she did, too. She took off running the opposite direction. It was a cool moment."
Today, Wamokpego sits and looks at the NCAA Championship trophy. It's Tuesday afternoon. Almost time for practice. Her mind drifts back to the jump and the triumph and the aftermath.
"We got back from Arkansas late, so I've been sleeping these past few days," she says. "I have my trophy here in the room and I look at it and say, 'Did I really do that?' This is so crazy."
She laughs.
"I don't really realize what I've done," she continues. "It's just unreal. I had dreamed about being an All-American and getting a trophy, and I didn't mind the color of the trophy, which dignifies exactly where I placed in the national championships, and my goal was to come to K-State and finish in the top eight to get a trophy. I had this trophy on my vision board. From not participating in the finals to getting the trophy that reads, '2026 Triple Jump Champion.' I'm like, 'What?' It's just so weird. I feel like I'm still dreaming, like, 'I really did that?'"
Yes, Wamokpego did that.
And there's perhaps more to come.
"I'd like to stay here with my one more year of eligibility," she says. "I haven't learned enough yet. I still have much to learn. I love being at K-State. I just love being here."
Players Mentioned
/ Track & Field
K-State Track and Field | Director of T&F Travis Geopfert Post Indoor NCAA Championships Interview
Tuesday, March 17
K-State Track and Field | Tyson Invitational Recap
Wednesday, February 18
K-State Track & Field | DeLoss Dodds Invitational Recap
Wednesday, February 04
K-State Track & Field | Thane Baker Invitational Recap
Monday, January 19
