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Brink Wins State Pole Vault Title

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By BART O'CONNELL

Tribune correspondent

Published: May 5, 2008

WINTER PARK - Keari Brink shrugged her shoulders, took a firm grip on her bright green pole, brought her hands to her right side and held the pole vertical. All the while, she stared at her chance to realize a dream four years in the making.

The Ridgewood senior then began to trot toward the pole vault pit and the bar, 11 feet high. In terms of her dream, it was all or nothing - clear the height for a state title, knock it down for a third-place finish.

Brink took off, hoisted her legs, then the rest of her body easily over the bar, and began celebrating before she hit the pit. She leaped up and raised her right fist while longtime Rams pole vault coach John Herig shouted, "Yes, yes, yes."

In her first state meet, Friday's Class 3A finals at Winter Park's Showalter Field, Brink got her state title.

"I was overwhelmed with joy," Brink said of the winning moment. "At first, I thought this was a dream - it wasn't happening. Then - reality check. I was so happy.

"It took four years, but it happened."

It was also a defining moment for Herig, who in 16 years of coaching at his alma mater had guided his athletes to 17 state qualifying berths, but no wins.

"I've had twos, threes, fours, fives all the way down to 16s in the years I've been doing it," he said, "but she's the first state champion."

Both Herig and Brink knew 11 feet was possible, even though her best performance in a meet had been 10-7. She'd done it "numerous" times in practice, even clearing 11-6 this week, but failed to clear the height in her first two attempts Friday.

Coupled with one miss each at 9-6 and 10 feet, Brink was forced to reach the height to win because Wharton's London Enos and Martin County's Bethany Holden cleared 10-6 without a miss. Several others had fewer misses than Brink during lower heights.

"When there were nine girls left, I felt like I was going to place sixth, and I started to panic," Brink said.

By overcoming those fears, Brink likely has catapulted herself into a college pole vault prospect. Though she hasn't received any formal offers, many college coaches like to wait until after the state finals to begin the recruiting process.

"She's got potential to go Division I," Herig said. "She got 11 feet and obviously I'm glad she finally hit it, but she's got potential to go higher. I couldn't imagine what college wouldn't want her, but obviously, I'm a little biased."

YOUNG FIFTH IN HIGH JUMP: Mitchell junior Caitlin Young placed fifth in Saturday's Class 4A high jump final, clearing 5-2 and winning a tiebreaker against six others who also topped out at that height. Aside from Brink, it was the highest Pasco County finish in any of the four state final meets. Coconut Creek's Maya Pressley won the 4A title (5-8).

No other Pasco County girls medaled, though several personal or school records were set. Land O' Lakes freshman Nicole Woodard had a personal record in the long jump (17-1), but finished 11th. Wesley Chapel freshman Shaniqua Hill also had a PR in the 300-meter hurdles (46.46 seconds), finishing 12th. Wesley Chapel's 4x800-meter relay team (Kirsten Fee, Jessica Furst, Renee Vaughns, Desiree Vizcaino) was 10th, becoming the first in school history to break 10 minutes (9:58.59). The 4x400 relay team (Vaughns, Hill, Meredith Dean, Kandice Watson) finished 14th in 4:09.51.

Mitchell's Jessica Jagielski was 11th in the Class 4A 800 (2:19.88), Gulf's Courtney McAuliffe was 10th in the Class 3A 1,600 (5:30.40), Wesley Chapel's Jeani Ducos was 10th in the Class 3A discus (108-10) and Land O' Lakes junior Reta Woodard was 11th in the Class 3A shot put (35-10).

Bart O'Connell can be reached at boconnell@pop.tampatrib.com.

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