INDIANAPOLIS
Though she cleared the bar without much trouble on her first two attempts at Saturday’s girls state track and field meet, Center Grove pole vaulter Taylor Jarosinski didn’t feel like she was in a groove just yet.
Strangely, it was after the senior missed her first try at 12 feet, 6 inches that she felt things falling into place.
“It wasn’t feeling great,” Jarosinski said, “and then at 12-6, (Floyd Central’s Annalise Zeinemann) did it before I did, and I was like, okay, I don’t want to be not in first — and so after she cleared I was like, ‘Okay, let’s go.’ And that second attempt at 12-6, when I cleared it, everything just started clicking.”
Jarosinski went on to clear 13 feet, breaking her own school record and claiming the state championship that she’d waited two years for after finishing as the runner-up in 2019.
Her performance also helped Center Grove tie for seventh in the overall team standings; Whiteland tied for 13th.
Including Jarosinski, seven Johnson County athletes collected a total of eight medals on Saturday. Center Grove senior Makensie Kramer was the runner-up in the 100-meter hurdles, while Whiteland got top-three finishes from senior Bella Jackson, who was a close second in the high jump, and junior Drew Mallory, who took third in the shot put.
The Warriors also got a sixth-place finish from senior Gabi Allen in the 100 hurdles, while the Trojans got two podium finishes from sophomore thrower Shelby Wingler (sixth in the shot put, eighth in the discus) and one from junior Bella Hodges (eighth in the 800-meter run).
Jackson came tantalizingly close to winning the high jump. After she and Warren Central’s Tacoria Humphrey both cleared the bar at 5 feet, 9 inches, Jackson knew that she was behind on misses and had to win outright by clearing 5-10. She was close on all three attempts, but the bar didn’t quite cooperate.
Kramer was also within range of a title, but her personal-best time of 14.44 seconds in the hurdles final was just half of a step behind winner Rachel Mehringer of Forest Park (14.35).
While several events featured excitingly close finishes, the pole vault wasn’t one of them. Jarosinski cleared her winning height of 12 feet, 9 inches on the first attempt, then got over 13 feet on her second try. She eventually took a shot at a state record with the bar at 13-7, missing by the slimmest of margins.
Though she didn’t set a new meet standard, Jarosinski did everything else she had set out to do at Ben Davis High School on Saturday.
“Our goal was obviously to win,” Center Grove vaulting coach Alex Basham said, “and then after that it was get our school record and get the state record. Well, we got our school record, and we were a fraction away from getting that state record.
“One more attempt, she would have gotten it.”
More girls state track and field coverage to come at dailyjournal.net
