Manson Vaults To The Max
The highlight of the field events, if not the meet, had to come in the pole vault. The story of Max Manson chasing his father's 32 year-old state meet pole vault record was just too good not to write before hand, and the moment lived up to the hype.
Manson cleared the field with ease, then went to work on jumping high. After missing his first two attempts at 17-0, Manson cleared the bar and appeared to have a few more inches in his back pocket.
With the state meet record standing t 17-3, the crowd, which included Manson's father, Pat, was left chuckling and excited in anxious energy as the junior had the bar set to 17-3.5.
Like his previous attempts at 17-0, Manson was just inches off clearing the 17-3.5 mark on his first two attempts. He clearly had the height, but on each descent, he was met with the bar crashing on top of him each time.
It was on the teeth-clenching third and final attempt that Manson soared into the record books.
He cleared 17-3.5 and watched the bar remain as he fell back to earth. The crowd erupted, and as if someone was making a movie somewhere, Manson popped up and pointed towards his father, who rushed down to give his son a congratulatory hug. The record, and the day, was his. Oh yeah, and he won state as well.