For the first hour after San Benito’s Josh Schroder no-heighted
in the pole vault at Saturday’s CIF State Track and Field
Championships, he was stuck in a state of shock and disappointment
after not achieving his goal of earning a state medal.
For the first hour after San Benito’s Josh Schroder no-heighted in the pole vault at Saturday’s CIF State Track and Field Championships, he was stuck in a state of shock and disappointment after not achieving his goal of earning a state medal.
But then the Cal State Northridge-bound senior started thinking about how many more opportunities he’ll have over his next four years of Division I intercollegiate competition and the pain eased a bit.”
“I was disappointed for about an hour,” Schroder said. “But then I thought about next year (at Northridge) and I stopped stressing. I have no regrets.”
Schroder cleared the opening height of 14-feet, 9-inches and eventually 15-3- in Friday’s preliminaries to become one of nine qualifiers to the state finals. The finals opened at 14-10 and Schroder missed on his three attempts and that ended his chances of a top-six finish and spot on the medal stand.
“I don’t really know what happened,” Schroder said. “In warm-ups, I was looking good. Coach (Julio Trinidad) said I was looking good. When I was on the real run I was hitting my marks, but I wasn’t shooting up straight with the pole. My legs were drifting away.”
“After the second attempt when didn’t make it, I was thinking ‘Aw man, what am I going to do?,'” Schroder said. “On my third attempt, I pushed all the way back. I started with slow clap, which usually gets me more pumped. But I didn’t shoot straight up. I went up at an angle. I didn’t really believe when it first happened. I wish I had more attempts at it.”
While his prep career is over, the school’s record holder in the event with a mark of 15-9 1/4 is ready for the new challenges that await.
“I get to move on to another phase in my life that will allow me to go to bigger heights and bigger poles and hopefully be No. 1 in those competitions,” Schroder said.
Los Gatos’ Nico Weiler couldn’t match the 17-6 1/4 that he cleared in the Central Coast Section championships, but still cleared 17-2 to win the state title.
