Brad Mattison and Taylor Alexander capped their time in Pueblo with two new personal bests in the pole vault. Photos by Alan Versaw.
If you didn't know where to look, you never would have found it. Through a side entrance marked "Authorized Personnel Only," behind some foreboding black curtains, and tucked into the southeast corner of the Special Events Center of the Colorado State Fairgrounds, they contested a USATF-Colorado pole vault championship yesterday. We'll shine a little light of day on the proceedings of the event, however, as they do tell us something important about the state of pole vaulting in Colorado.
For the girls, it was down to Kimberly Peterson and Taylor Alexander by the time high noon rolled into the vaulting corner of the Special Events Center. Kimberly Peterson cleared 3.35m on her third attempt to keep the competition alive a little longer, but the day belonged to Taylor Alexander. Alexander cleared 3.50m and had a couple of solid efforts at 3.65 in a bigger pole, but couldn't quite make the clearance.
As it was, however, Alexanders 3.50 (11-5.75) bumps her PR another 5.5 inches. As of this moment, Alexander has the look of being the prohibitive favorite in 1A this spring, and would definitely be a contender, or better, regardless of the classification.
The last three vaulters standing in the boys competition were Nolan Ellis, Nick Meihaus, and Brad Mattison. And, they bowed out of the competition in that order, but not before both Meihaus and Mattison cleared 4.40m (14-5.25). Over 14 seems to have become a stock performance for Meihaus at this point, but Mattison's mark takes him to a new level, at least in competition. We should see a lot more of both in the Colorado Springs/Pueblo meets this spring.
A selection of favorite meet photos (more photos here):
The armory
Frederick Finke went higher than anyone else, but missed the high school age cutoff by a couple of years
Kim Peterson keeps her eyes on her hands
Just before the plant
Apparently not there so she could watch the vaulting
Tablet-assisted post-vaulting study session