Andrea Willis clears 3.95m to move her personal best a few inches closer to the Colorado all-time high school record. Willis began her senior year three weeks ago. Photo by Alan Versaw.
Okay, so maybe all the pole vaulters needed was a little rest. After the performances turned in at the Colorado State Fair Street Vault on Saturday, you'd certainly think so.
Pole vault competitions have been relatively few and far between for the last five weeks or so. And on the unofficial final weekend of summer, there seemed to be a little extra spring in their poles.
Personal records dropped like flies on a frosty morning of fall.
Andrea Willis added three inches to her PR at just under 13 feet (3.95m). She also had two exquisitely narrow misses at 4.10m, a mark which would have set a new record for Colorado high school girls if only the brush factor had been ever-so-slightly less.
Avery Paxton (photo, above and left) advanced her PR to 3.65m. Alex Hellenberg, who's been adding pole vault to her repertoire of events (Can you possibly entertain a thought of women's decathlon here?) took her PR to 3.35m. Cooper Daniels (photo, below and right) added a little better than five inches to his personal best at 4.40m.
And so the story goes, on and on. It could be a very interesting pole vault season next spring. Warm-ups begin in December at the Air Force Holiday Open.