INDIANAPOLIS
With a state championship already in her pocket and completely unfamiliar equipment in her hands, Taylor Jarosinski figured there was no harm in taking one stab at immortality.
The Center Grove pole vaulter had the bar pushed up to 13 feet, 7 inches — just above the state record of 13-6 1/4 set a dozen years ago — and went at it with a borrowed pole.
She didn’t quite get over it, but that couldn’t at all dampen Jarosinski’s spirits. The state runner-up as a sophomore in 2019, she had to wait two years for redemption and didn’t squander the opportunity, clearing 13 feet to easily outclass a deep field and claim the championship at Ben Davis High School.
“For two years, we’ve known that Taylor’s the best in the state,” Center Grove vaulting coach Alex Basham said. “We’ve been waiting to prove it, and waiting and waiting. We definitely plateaued partway through the year, and then we hit our stride there at sectionals going into regionals.”
Jarosinski’s victory highlighted a banner day for Johnson County athletes; six other local girls earned medals, including a pair of state runner-ups and a third-place finisher.
Center Grove tied for seventh in the final team standings with 26 points, while Whiteland scored 19 points to claim a share of 13th place.
Jarosinski didn’t even come in to attempt a vault until the bar was set at 12 feet. She had anticipated only four or five other competitors to still be alive at that point; instead, she was one of 10 — and she welcomed the unexpected company.
“I was like, okay, this is what we’ve been waiting for,” Jarosinski said. “I liked it; this is how it’s going to be in college, so for my last high school meet I think it’s kind of fitting that everybody showed up. Everyone was here to compete, and I was too, and we got it done.”
Five girls cleared 12-3, but only Jarosinski and Floyd Central’s Annalise Zeinemann remained by the time the bar was raised to 12-9. Jarosinski cleared that height on her first try; Zeinemann missed all three of her attempts.
Jarosinski then vaulted 13 feet successfully to break the school record she had shared with former Indiana University All-American Sydney Clute; the Hoosier-to-be then missed twice at 13-3 before taking one shot at 13-7 on a 14-foot pole she had never used before Saturday.
“We knew it would be a top-end pole but we didn’t know how big it would be, so we were kind of just making guesses at that point as to where standards should be,” Jarosinski said. “But this is the pole we’ve been looking for. It’s like, ‘What pole is finally going to challenge you and finally going to make you have to move your hands to get into the pit. My hips were way up there, but I just wasn’t getting deep enough.
“I wanted it so bad. It was there. I think with more practice on that pole, it’s there. I’ve just got to learn how to move that big of a pole and get it deeper into the pit.”
Fellow Center Grove senior Makensie Kramer nearly claimed a state title of her own, but she was just beaten to the line by Forest Park’s Rachel Mehringer by .09 seconds. Still, Kramer’s time of 14.44 seconds was a personal best — fueled in part by a preliminary-heat loss to Whiteland’s Gabi Allen.
“I was a little more warmed up for the finals,” Kramer said, “and then I also had my mind set on it more because I had gotten beat in prelims, so that just put some fire under me. I enjoy competition — it makes me better, and I PR’d, so I’m really happy with how the day went.”
Also earning a state runner-up finish was Whiteland senior Bella Jackson, who matched Warren Central’s Tacoria Humphrey in clearing 5 feet, 9 inches but lost out on the victory by virtue of Humphrey having fewer misses.
Jackson nearly cleared 5-10 for the outright win, coming close on each of her three attempts, but the bar wouldn’t stay put. On her second attempt in particular, it looked as though it might hold, but it wasn’t to be.
“It was bittersweet,” Jackson said. “It wasn’t the way that I wanted it to end, but I’m still proud of myself because I put my heart in it today.”
“A lot of people don’t know she’s been jumping on a stress fracture in her left foot all year, and she actually broke her nose last Friday,” Whiteland coach Brandon Bangel said. “Man, was she close — but that’s the way it goes sometimes.”
The Warriors also got a third-place finish in the shot put from junior Drew Mallory, who surprised herself by advancing to the finals out of the first flight before putting up a best of 43 feet, 1 inch.
“I was honestly shocked,” Mallory said. “I had my stuff already at the tent, and I was just chilling watching high jump — and then the next thing I hear is like, ‘Drew, you made it.’ I was like, ‘What?’ So I just ran all the way to my tent and got my stuff.”
Allen, meanwhile, didn’t quite match her lifetime-best prelim time of 14.69 seconds in the 100 hurdles final, but she still managed to secure sixth place with a 14.85.
Bangel noted that Allen had been working on a new approach to the first hurdle, taking seven steps instead of eight, and it really started to click in the week leading up to the state meet.
“Me and Bangel talked, and he was just saying push and be violent on your start and just believe in your abilities, and I really tried to focus on that today,” Allen said.
Center Grove got two podium finishes out of sophomore Shelby Wingler, who was sixth in the shot put (41-8 1/4) and eighth in the discus (128-1) after turning in personal-best performances in both.
In the discus, Wingler’s first throw was her best and she had to wait it out through the rest of the competition to make sure it held up.
“Especially when it’s first flight,” Wingler said. “But the best thing is to have confidence in yourself.”
Junior Bella Hodges closed out the scoring for the Trojans with an eighth-place finish in the 800-meter run (2:15.80).
Skyler Sichting narrowly missed a spot in the 100 hurdles final, placing 11th in the prelims with a time of 15.42 seconds. Center Grove also got a 16th-place finish from Kate Henselmeier in the 400 meters (1:00.17), a 20th-place effort from Madi Kramer in the 200 (26.64) and a 26th-place showing from the 4×100 relay team of the two Kramer sisters, Kristen Lavergne and Carolynne Schott (50.50)
For Whiteland, freshman Victoria Jackson was 13th in the 800 (2:18.17) and joined Katia Olmstead, Claire Overfelt and Lauren Fish on the 4×800 relay team, which finished 19th in 9:48.57. The Warriors’ 4×100 relay of Gabby Vargo, Emma Gill, Hailee Park and Allen was also 19th (49.72).
Franklin’s Lauren Klem was 17th in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 5:15.68; Grizzly Cub senior Kendall Mirise competed in the pole vault but did not clear the initial height of 10 feet.
