Though his pole vaulting days have been over for some time, Drake Relays champion and Hall of Fame member, Bill Payne, is still setting records.  Thanks to his daughter Demi Payne, a junior at Stephen F. Austin, the two of them now own the father/daughter pole vault “world record”.

At the Texas A&M Invitational on Saturday (1/17/15), Demi set a NCAA collegiate pole vault record of 15-2.25 (4.63), just one day after Arkansas' Sandy Morris set the national mark at 4.61.  Demi's jump, combined with Bill's best jump of 19-2.75 (5.86) set in 1991 at the Southwest Conference Championship, gave them a combined height of 34-5 (10.49) to push them past Aleksandr (19-1/5.82) and Liz (14-9/4.50) Parnov's total of 33-10 (10.32).

Competing for Baylor, Bill Payne set the Drake Relays collegiate pole vault record of 18-4.5 in 1990 and broke it in 1991 jumping 18-6.5, a mark which still stands.  His SWC meet height was also a national collegiate record at that time.  Bill was inducted into the Drake Relays Hall of Fame in 1998.

Now Bill and Demi can also say that they've both been collegiate pole vault record holders and likely are the first father and daughter to do so.  Demi was also named the USATF Athlete of the Week (Jan. 22) for her effort .