Classification changes and transfers should make for a very interesting year in the girls pole vault in the state of Florida for 2012.
There are 3 girls returning with a personal best of 12′ or better. Megan Walker returns for her senior year at Port St. Joe with a personal best of 12’6″ set during the summer. Erica Sergeant returns for her sophomore year at Lake Mary with a personal best of 12’1″ set at the ESPN Rise Games this summer and brings with her the AAU Jr. Olytmpics Intermediate Girls National Championship which she won during the summer. Emily Gale returns for her junior year at Calvary Christian with a personal best of 12′ which she set while winning the 4A state championship last year while representing Cypress Bay and again at the AAU Jr. Olympics National Championships finishing second behind Sergeant. Gale and Sergeant battled it out for the state and national championship last year, but due to Gale transferring to Calvary Christian in Ft. Lauderdale they will no longer be in the same classification and since Erica was a freshman last year, she will be competing in the Intermediate age group again while Emily will be moving up. With the move, Gale will now be faced with the challenge of battling Megan for the 1A state championship. The state record is currently 12’10″ and looks like it could fall just one year later with 3 viable record breakers eyeing it up.
The 1A classification as mentioned above should be a doozie. Walker returns as the state runner up and Gale returns with the 4A title. Walker vaulted 11’6″ as a sophomore so she improved last year by a foot and Gale vaulted 8’6″ as a sophomore giving her a 3.5 foot increase last year. Joining the mix for the championship will be Paige Byrnes from Lake Mary Prep who vaulted 11′ last year finishing 3rd in the 1A meet, Lillian Van Winkle from Maclay who vaulted 10’6″ last year, and Amanda Gale from Calvary who vaulted 10’6″ last year at the regional meet and finished 5th. The 1A state has 17 girls returning at 9′ or better with 6 competing in region 1, 4 in region 2, 1 in region 3, and 6 in region 4. With only 4 advancing from each region, someone could get left home.
The 2A classification is a showcase for Jacksonville Episcopal school. Emily Smithwick and Julia Rogers return after finishing 3rd and 4th respectively at the 2010 state meet. Smithwick has a pr of 11’6″ and Rogers has a pr of 10’6″. Trying to knock off the Episcopal girls will be Alina Anderson from Gulliver Prep and Kristen Petry from Cocoa Beach High. Petry finished 8th at the state meet last year and has a pr of 10’2″ while Alina has a pr of 10’6″ but failed to qualify out of her region last year. There are 13 girls with a pr of 8’6″ returning from last year with 5 being in region 1, 3 in region 2, 6 in region 3, and 3 in region 4. Should make for a great meet in May.
In the 3A classification, this one could go any one of a talented group of girls. With 7 girls returning with a pr of 10’3″ or better this could be a close one. Brooke Saurbier of Barron Collier returns for her senior year with a pr of 11′ and 2 consecutive state runner up titles. Jessica Harter returns for Celebration High with a pr of 11′ also. Nicole Chang joins the 3A classification after Sarasota High moved down from 4A bring with her a pr of 10’7″. Stephanie Cook and Brianna Arellano both drop down from 4A to represent East Ridge High School and both have a pr of 10’6″ from last year. Stephanie comes from a lineage of pole vaulters including her sister, Emily, who is a pole vaulter for Arkansas State University and her father Dave Cook, aka Cookie Man, who vaulted for Arkansas State University back in 1977. Dave was a teammate of 3 time Olympian, bronze medalist at the 1984 Olympics, and world record holder Earl Bell. Anna Heinzman returns from Lecanto with pr of 10’6″ which is a 1.5 foot improvement from the previous year. Lynee Orloff returns for Lake Region with a pr of 10’3″. Lynee’s teammate won the 2011 state championship so it looks like the Lake Region program is ready to repeat. The 3A division returns a shocking 161 female pole vaulters with marks last year. There are 23 girls in the division with a pr of 9′ or higher which means qualifying for the state meet will be a tall order in 2012.
In the 4A classification, there is only one question. How high will Erica Sergeant vault and can anyone get even close to her this year. After a phenomenal freshman campaign which included an age group national championship, the sky is the limit for Erica. Each time I see her vault she seems to get better and better. Her vaults are effortless and she seems to like being atop the awards podium. Erica will be chased by Courtney O’Donoghue from Clearwater who returns with a pr of 11′ and a 7th place finish at the state meet last year along with Erica’s teammate Alex Woodruff from Lake Mary who has a pr of 10’6″ and finished 8th at the 2011 state meet. Abby Vivlamore from Pinellas Park returns with a pr of 10’6″ which is a foot better than her sophomore pr. These ladies lead a strong contingent of 4A competitors that include 13 girls returning with a pr of 9’6″ or better with 7 of them coming from region 2 which looks to be the toughest region to qualify out of this year.
These statistics are based on data from Florida Runners and Jason Byrne and his group of track statisticians along with my own knowledge of events that have taken place this off season. If anyone has additional information about vaulters that transferred in the off season, please let me know so I can update the information. To see what district and region you are in this year, see the FHSAA classification page.
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