Greenwood junior Amy Luttrell placed third in the pole vault at the indoor state meet earlier this month.
Rob Baker | For the Daily Journal
In the early 2000s, Greenwood girls athletes intrigued by the prospect of competing in the pole vault began familiarizing themselves with their facility’s runway.
Like most things in their infancy, progress was measured by the small victories. Improvement. Personal bests. The occasional blue ribbon.
Then Amy Luttrell showed up, and the fiberglass bar just kept going up and up.
And up.
Luttrell, a Woodmen junior and already the school record-holder by two feet after clearing 11 feet, 6 inches at the Franklin Regional last season, isn’t satisfied with her accomplishments to this point.
Between offseason speed training and improving her strength, approach and technique, Luttrell hopes to have put herself in a position in which she can be standing on the awards podium at the state meet in June.
Luttrell made her big-meet debut at state a year ago, placing 12th with a top vault of 11 feet. She tried three times at 11-3, but was unsuccessful.
Hardly her best performance, but one Luttrell wouldn’t trade.
She’s since been part of other important track and field meets, but experiencing the huge crowd and premier competition at Indiana University set Luttrell up for the second half of her high school career.
“I think it helps me know better what to expect going into my next big meet,” Luttrell said. “(State) was what I expected it to be, but I needed to experience that.”
Luttrell, who would love nothing more than to make it over the bar at 12 feet this season, continues to work toward such a height.
Last weekend, she finished third in the large-school pole vault competition at the Hoosier State Relays with a best effort of 11-6. Her first two attempts at 11-9 inside IU’s Gladstein Fieldhouse were misses, as was the third.
However, on Luttrell’s final vault, she did get her feet and body over the bar but touched it with her stomach during the descent.
“I’ve been going 11 feet or 11-6 pretty consistently so far,” Luttrell said. “I’m still trying to get my skills back mostly during indoor season.
“I like outdoor season better, but I like indoor, too. As a pole vaulter, it’s kind of nice not having to worry about the weather. It’s one less thing to worry about.”
As a freshman, Luttrell’s best in the pole vault was 9 feet. Despite her inexperience in the event, that positioned her close to the Greenwood girls standard of 9 feet, 6 inches.
Luttrell put her name in the record book early in her sophomore year and then spent the remainder of the 2022 season one-upping herself. Eventually, it was 10 feet, then 10-6, and so on.
Greenwood coach Blaine Williams, whose squad opens its outdoor season on Tuesday at Roncalli in a meet that also includes Mt. Vernon, is confident Luttrell will continue the momentum she built last spring.
“Once we get outside and toward the tournaments, we want her to keep going higher,” Williams said. “I think 11-9 is within reason once the weather starts getting nice.”
“After what we saw on Saturday at indoor state, the podium is definitely the goal. Amy has big-meet experience now, so she’ll know exactly what to expect.”
