Dyson Wicker brought a national title back to Lincoln for Nebraska track and field, and the sophomore pole vaulter dedicated his championship to his late mentor.
Wendy Stambaugh, Wicker’s teacher and track and field coach at Rockwall-Heath High School in Texas, passed away in January of 2025 after a battle with brain and breast cancers.
“She meant so much to me, she was like my second mom,” Wicker told Hail Varsity. “I had her as my math teacher as well, and growing up through school, I had a lot of learning issues with ADHD and Dyslexia. A lot of teachers wouldn’t take the time to run me through math skills or reading and writing skills, so I was a little bit behind going through high school. She would sit there with me at practice and we would jump, and then we would sit there and we’d talk about math, or we would talk about writing.
“It just meant so much to me that somebody would take that much time out of their day to try and better me and help me have a better life. I can’t even put it into words what she means to me, and what I would do to just see her one more time.”
Wicker said that he was “hot-headed” growing up, but advice from Stambaugh changed the way he saw competition.
“I destroyed a lot of bridges that I could have saved because I would get angry if I went out and had a bad meet,” Wicker said. “She was the one that taught me that you don’t live and die with every jump. It’s how you handle each jump and take the little things away from each jump and find those little victories, and you’ll figure out it’s not that deep anymore. Once she told me that, it completely changed my life, because I went to college and it was hard. It was hard to work on that, but I promised her that I would. Now I’m so glad that I don’t have to worry about that problem anymore.”
Dyson Wicker clears the bar in the men’s pole vault during the Big Ten Outdoor Championships on May 17, 2026, in Lincoln, Nebraska. Photo by Brandon Tiedemann.
The Heath, Texas, native took Stambaugh’s advice to heart. Now he’s a national champion. Wicker cleared 19 feet, 2.25 inches at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore. to claim the title on June 10.
“My immediate reaction was to just find my mom in the crowd as fast as possible,” Wicker said. “I ran over there and gave them all a hug, and then after that, I had to go in and get shoes checked and everything. It was 19 hours of waiting, and then finally it was finalized.”
Wickers’ jump also broke the Nebraska all conditions school record and landed him in 10th place in NCAA history.
“The type of person I am, I’m not going to walk around the street and tell a lot of people, but it means everything to me to be able to sit back and just realize like, ‘Wow I did it,’” Wicker said. “I’ve had this dream for so long, since I started the sport in fifth grade. Now, I get to sit back and take a trip back to Texas and show my old coach the trophy. It’s just truly crazy.”
The NCAA title capped a terrific 2025-26 season for Wicker that also included indoor and outdoor Big Ten titles, though the latter didn’t come easily.
The Huskers hosted the Big Ten Outdoor Championships for the first time in school history in mid-May.
Wicker experienced back spasms before the meet, the result of overworking and tightness, according to doctors. He said he received heat packs and dry needling before competing. Even so, he vaulted 18 feet, 9.25 inches to come out on top.
“I’ve told everybody, that’s the best crowd I’ve ever seen in my life,” Wicker said. “That clap was so loud when I was at the back of the runway that I literally couldn’t hear myself think. I was trying to think of what to do in the jump, and all I could hear was just the clapping getting louder and louder and louder. I was like, ‘All right, I’ve got to put on a show, I have to clear this, I have no option now.’ It was awesome to have that entire crowd out there and so much red in the stands. It was beautiful.”
That fan support at Nebraska has played a big role in Wicker’s journey to the top.
“Husker nation is one of a kind; there is nowhere out there that is like Nebraska,” Wicker said. “A lot of track meets when you see them the stands are empty, but I’ve never seen an empty-stands track meet at Nebraska. It is insane. Even indoor, when it’s not as big of meets, there might not be as high of jumpers, but everybody still shows up.”
Dyson Wicker bites his medal during the Big Ten Outdoor Championships on May 17, 2026, in Lincoln, Nebraska. Photo by Brandon Tiedemann.
Wicker also won the indoor Big Ten title this year, jumping 19 feet to claim the victory. He said trusting the process has helped him succeed.
“When I came in as a freshman, I was a hardheaded kid,” Wicker said. “Everybody thought that I was going to be doomed because I would have a bad meet, and I’d throw my spikes halfway across the building, that kind of stuff. Now, I look back at it and it’s just comical, but at the time it was like, ‘I don’t understand how everybody else doesn’t get as mad as I do.’ Once I learned how to take the pressure off myself and realized if the day isn’t going to be good, it’s not meant to be. I grew a lot in my faith, and a lot in trusting my coach. It helped me realize that there’s more out there than what you jump that week. It was like all the pressure got lifted off my back, so I could just go out there and do what I knew how to do, and that I’ve done a hundred times.
Pole vaulting became — I don’t want to say easy, but it became something that I could do on repeat, and it’s not impossible for me anymore.”
Wicker’s next competition will be on July 18. He’ll be competing at the Dauphin Street Vault meet in Mobile, Ala., before practice begins in August.
“My goal for next year is to continue to progress,” Wicker said. “Obviously, the main goal right now that I’ve set my eyes on is I really want that NCAA record. That’s my next big goal. I don’t know if I’ll be able to do it next year, but I’ll be able to do it by the time that I’m leaving Nebraska. That’s my goal for sure.”
