Wagner reaches state meet finals

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

Not only did Fallbrook High School senior Rose Wagner compete in the CIF state track and field meet May 27-28 at Buchanan High School in Clovis, but she advanced to the girls pole vault finals.

The top 12 vaulters in the May 27 preliminaries advanced to the May 28 finals. Eight vaulters including Wagner cleared 12’7” in the preliminaries with Wagner being designated as the first-place preliminaries vaulter based on the tiebreaking criteria of misses at lower distances. Wagner cleared 11’11” in the finals and was given 12th place based on the tiebreaker.

“The state meet was an amazing experience. It was awesome to be there,” Wagner said.

The state meet preliminaries included 26 girl pole vaulters. The bar was initially set at 11’9”, and 20 girls cleared that height. Fourteen girls were successful at 12’3”.

“I wasn’t really that nervous. It was just super fun,” Wagner said.

The bar was then set at 11’7”. “I actually made very single jump on my first attempt,” Wagner said.

“I had a great day,” Wagner said. “Everything just felt super on. I just felt in the groove.”

Misses at lower distances determined which four of the six girls who cleared 12’3” but no higher advanced to the finals. The eight girls who cleared 12’7” automatically advanced.

“Rose jumped really good the first day to qualify for the finals,” said Fallbrook assistant coach for pole vaulting Jim Curran.

Because Wagner had no misses and the other seven girls who had 12’7” heights all missed at least once, Wagner was designated as the first-place preliminaries vaulter. Three girls with identical missed attempts shared second place.

The girls who cleared 12’7” did not attempt higher heights at the preliminaries. “They didn’t let them continue jumping, which they’ve been doing for years,” Curran said.

The initial height at the state finals was 11’11”. Wagner cleared that on her second attempt. The bar was then set at 12’5”. Wagner was not successful at that height.

“I just hit the bar on the way up,” Wagner said. “I was just a little tired from Friday, and it just wasn’t an on day.”

The two other jumpers who cleared 11’11” but not 12’5” both achieved the 11’11” height on their first attempt and shared 10th. Wagner was given 12th place.

“She didn’t have a bad day,” Curran said.

Curran noted that there was minimal wind during the preliminaries and a crosswind at the finals.

“Overall, it was a really good experience,” Wagner said. “It was really cool to meet all the other girls from the state who were there competing.”

Two girls cleared 13’9” with Dublin High School sophomore Jathiyah Muhammad being given first place on the missed attempts tiebreaker.

“The competition was incredible,” Wagner said.

Wagner will experience that kind of competition when she is on the University of Massachusetts track and field team. “I think it definitely prepared me for what’s to come in college,” she said of the state meet. “I think it was great to be in that atmosphere.”

The athletes from all three San Diego Section divisions combined who had the three best times or distances in each event qualified for the state meet as did any athlete who posted a state qualifying mark. The state qualifying height for the girls pole vault was 12’3”, and Wagner was one of seven girls to clear at least that height at the CIF San Diego Section finals May 21 at Mount Carmel High School.

“I want to thank everyone at Fallbrook,” Wagner said. “They were just a great team to experience my senior year.”