Kinsley Juliano didn't need much time to get into a groove for the girls track season.
The Nelson junior, the reigning 6A champion in the pole vault, opened the season Wednesday with a sterling performance in the North Clackamas Ice Breaker at Clackamas High School.
Juliano won the pole vault (12 feet, 6 inches), long jump (17-5) and triple jump (37-0). Her mark in the pole vault surpassed her best from last season (12-4 ½) and was nearly level with the PR (12-6 ¼) she established at an indoor meet Feb. 23. Both marks in the jumps were new bests.
“Great opener,” Nelson coach Chris Koenig said. “If I saw results like that from a kid at the state meet at the end of the year, I'd be like, 'Wow, what a great way to end the season.' And she did this in March. It's like, 'Whoa, OK, let's keep you healthy and happy and let's see where it goes.'”
Juliano is primed for a big season in the pole vault. She trained in the offseason with pole vault guru Rick Baggett of Willamette Striders Track Club. Also, she is more dedicated to the sport after dropping dance and cheer, activities she pursued in her first two years at Nelson.
She was able to clear 12-6 despite less than ideal conditions.
“She had hips over 12-9 into a headwind, with a wet surface and a wet box,” Koenig said. “If it had been a dry, warm day, I don't know. It was something to watch. She's on the right trajectory. With repetitions, better weather, and getting on a different pole, she'll hopefully make that next leap.”
Juliano improved from 9-6 as a freshman to 12-4 ½ as a sophomore, culminating with a PR at the state meet. She became Nelson's school record-holder.
“She was able to bend the pole and get inverted, so your feet are leading yourself over the bar,” Koenig said. “That increased her jump by a foot-and-a-half, just, bang. She was able to have the strength to do that. She has a gymnastics background, and that's giant to know where your body is in the air, to know that feeling of being upside down.”
Juliano placed sixth at state in the triple jump last year, leaping 36-3 ½ at the 6A meet after hitting a PR of 36-7 in the Mt. Hood Conference district meet. Her mark of 37-0 this week set the school record.
By going 17-5 in the long jump, she sailed past last year's best of 16-8 ½. She is close to the school record of 17-7, set last year by sophomore teammate Ava-Lane Floyd, who placed second Wednesday at 15-11.
“They're jumping together every meet, so there's that competition, which is great,” Koenig said.
Notes: Churchill junior Addison Kleinke, the pole vault state record-holder at 14-0 ½, won the event at the Oregon Preview on Saturday at Hayward Field. Competing unattached against a field of college athletes, Kleinke cleared 13-0 ¾. She is the two-time 5A champion. … Tigard junior Marissa Johnson, last year's 6A champion in the discus, opened the season with a PR. She threw 148-1 in the West Linn/Tigard Icebreaker on Tuesday at West Linn, beating her previous best of 145-11. She also is the two-time state champion in the shot. … West Linn senior Hayden Williams-Downing, the reigning 6A javelin champion, also had a strong debut at the West Linn/Tigard Icebreaker. She threw 163-8, near last year's best of 165-7, which ranks No. 6 all-time in the state. … Beaverton junior Bailey Shields broke a 41-year-old school record in the shot by throwing 40-11 on Wednesday in a dual meet at Southridge. Shields had multiple throws of more than 40 feet.
jerryu@osaa.org
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