Lindsey Enders Is The Pole Vault Queen Of Florida
For those of you who haven’t heard of Lindsey Enders, listen up, there’s a new queen on the block. Those of us in Brevard County already knew about the sophomore sensation from Holy Trinity that amazes people with her furious speed on the runway and her gymnastic prowess in the air. For those of you that are just getting to know Lindsey, get used to her, she’s here to stay. As just a sophomore, she defeated the top rated vaulter, Morgan Scherschel from Gaither, in route to her Florida Relays crown. She’s small but she thrills crowds with her lightning speed on the runway combined with her acrobatic ability in the air. With a personal best and season best of 11′6″, this fireplug is a state sensation in the making. Both the boys and girls leaders in the state of Florida were defeated at the Florida Relays with Wyatt Metzger winning the boys event with a vault of 14′6″.
Listen up college coaches, put this young lady on your recruiting radar. She isn’t just a one height wonder either, she has been very consistent throughout the year with her heights and I’ve seen her come in at 11′ at the Cape Coast Conference Championships. In fact, she cleared her opening height, went and ran the 100 high hurdles, I told you she was fast, went and reran the 100 hurdles due to a timing error, and still came back and tried to vault at 11′6″. She had the meet won, her legs were shot, and she still went for it. I’ve coached many female athletes that have vaulted over 12′ and this young lady has the makings of one of Florida’s all time best. Completely different from the greatest female ever from Florida, NCAA Champion, professional vaulter, and one of my Facebook friends, Lacy Janson, Lindsey is diminuitive in size, but makes up for it with pure athletic ability.
As a class 1A competitor, Lindsey will have a good chance at being the state champion this year and will have a chance to join only 2 other girls in winning 3 state championships while in high school, both members of Pole Vault City, Lori Bowen and state record holder, Caroline Kennedy. This is very elite company and we wish Lindsey the best during this and subsequent seasons.
Mike Vani Sets Cape Coast Conference Record and Personal Best With 15′9″ Vault
On the day preceding the Florida Relays, Mike Vani set a new personal best of 15′9″ at the Cape Coast Conference Championships held at Titusville Astronaut High School. Vani’s previous personal best was 15′7″ which was set at a quad meet at Merritt Island High School on March 13th. The 15′7″ personal best was not recognized by flrunners.com due to the fact that the meet was not run with Hytek or similar software, so many questioned the feat. No need to question it now, as Vani thrilled spectators with his first meet at 12 steps. Vani won the meet by over two and a half feet as the nearest competitor cleared 13′1″. The preliminary round of qualifying for the meet was originally scheduled for Tuesday, however, the qualifier was cancelled due to strong storms. Mike has been working with the coaching staff at Pole Vault City since a camp this summer. Vani will probably have mixed emotions as he competes at the University of Florida tomorrow due to the fact that he has always wanted to be a Florida Gator, but the University of Florida never made contact with Vani at all, so he chose to sign a scholarship with the University of South Florida. Coach Marsh must have known what he was doing when he signed Vani, who at the time only had a 14′6″ personal best. That may be one of the great recruiting stories of modern day pole vaulting. Let that be a lesson to vaulters everywhere - it’s better to go to a school that wants to have you than it is to go to a school that you want to have. Sounds like the very same thing that happened to a young pole vaulter in 1990, by the name of Bobby Haeck. Thanks Coach Long and FSU for giving me a chance!
