It took a while to reach another personal best, but all things considered, Churchill junior Addison Kleinke is encouraged by her progress in the pole vault after her performance in the Oregon Twilight meet May 9 at Hayward Field.
Competing unattached, Kleinke broke her state record with a winning height of 14 feet, 0 ¾ inches. She set state records as a freshman (13-7 ¼) and sophomore (14-0 ½), but up until last week, her best this season was 13-6.
“I wasn't super surprised because I knew it was going to come pretty soon,” Kleinke said. “The 13-6 marks that I've been putting up were the highest I've had that early in the season. So I was really just waiting for it all to line up.
“It means a lot because I felt pretty stuck at 13-6. I had been training really hard to try to break that barrier. I just feel really happy to be back over 14 feet.”
The 5-foot-3 Kleinke cleared the bar on first attempts at 12-10 ½, 13-6 ½, 13-8 ½ and 14-0 ¾. The 13-8 ½ surpassed the qualifying standard (4.15 meters) for the USATF U20 Outdoor Championships at Hayward Field June 19-20. She finished seventh at U20s last summer.
“My first goal was U20s, then my second goal was to be back over 14 feet,” Kleinke said. “I definitely was hoping – not expecting – but hoping to get 14 feet sooner. But I definitely can't complain with where I'm at at this point in the season. It was frustrating to not be back at my PR, but I've been happy with it all the way through.”
Kleinke missed on three attempts at 14-3 ¼.
“I was very, very close to making that bar,” she said. “I barely knocked it off on the way down. I had some hip height over it.”
Kleinke has been adjusting to 14-foot poles this season after jumping with 13-7 poles last year. The performance at the Oregon Twilight shows that she is getting more comfortable with them, she said.
“I think with some more experience on them, there are definitely going to be some higher heights this year,” she said. “I'm hoping for high 14s. That's been the goal since the beginning of this season. But we'll kind of go where the wind takes us.”
The 14-foot poles are the biggest change she has made this year, according to Kleinke.
“That's been a journey because they kind of move differently,” she said. “We spent about three years on the 13-7s before finally mastering them. I feel like at this point I've gotten comfortable with the 14-foot poles way faster than I ever did with the 13-7s.”
Kleinke also has taken a new approach in her training. She is spending more time in the weight room and is more dedicated to training in the long jump and sprints.
“I don't know that I spent any time last year doing it the way I'm doing it right now,” she said. “It's definitely making a difference.”
The physical development is showing up in the long jump. She soared 19-0 ½ to win the Nike Jesuit Twilight Relays, tying her for the best mark in the state this season with Jesuit junior Iman Foster.
“ I didn't anticipate jumping as far as I've jumped so far,” said Kleinke, whose PR entering the season was 17-2. “But I was definitely hoping for it, because I've been training hard in the offseason. I really love long jump, and it makes a really big difference in the pole vault. It's essentially the same takeoff. I'm breaking it down and getting back to the basics with the long jump, and it's improving my pole vault a lot.”
Kleinke said she competes in the sprints to improve her runway speed for the pole vault and long jump. She has clocked 12.74 seconds in the 100 this season, down from 13.86 last year.
McClure rises in hurdles
The Dalles senior River McClure had a stunning breakthrough in winning the 300 hurdles in the Dean Nice Invitational on Friday at Gresham High School.
McClure won in a state-best 37.89 seconds, shattering his previous PR of 39.22. McClure has improved more than four seconds from last year, when he ran 41.94 in taking ninth at the 4A championships.
He defeated Corvallis junior Rowan Finlay, who recorded a personal-best 38.58, the No. 3 time in the state this season.
Power 400
Marshfield senior Bodey Lutes recorded the top time in the 400 in the state this season by running 47.87 in the Grants Pass Rotary Invitational on Saturday.
Lutes, the two-time reigning 4A champion, came close to is PR of 47.83, which is No. 15 all-time in the state.
Crescent Valley senior Adam Teglassy Jr., one week after breaking a 48-year-old school record in the 400 by clocking 48.13, improved his time to 48.04 in the Dean Nice Invitational. He has moved up to No. 23 in state history.
jerryu@osaa.org
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