GRANT — As a freshman last year, Sutherland pole vaulter Garrett Elfeldt set a personal record by clearing 13 feet, 6 inches and had a chance to match that mark on Saturday at Perkins County High School in the E. Lee Todd Invitational.
After two missed attempts at 13 feet, Elfeldt made some adjustments to clear the bar and in doing so eliminated second-place finisher Lane Knisley, of St. Pat’s.
“Coach and I were talking about wanting to get a little more vertical on my vaults, but it didn’t seem to work on those first two trys, so we had to mess with standards quite a bit,” Elfeldt said. “We had a nice tailwind and honestly that’s my favorite type of conditions to vault in. I think that helped me get over on the third attempt.”
Elfeldt missed on three attempts at his personal record height of 13-6 and this early in the season will work on finding the right equipment as much as working on technique.
“To get back to 13-6 and hopefully go higher, it comes down to fundamentals and finding the right pole,” he said.
For Hershey senior Josiah Connell, it was a case of better late than never in the 400-meter dash final.
Connell entered Saturday’s race with the fastest qualifying time and executed his race-plan to perfection for the win on Saturday.
“I was just trying to go out and run a complete race and remember what we’ve been working on in practice,” Connell said.
Trailing for most of the race, Connell turned on the jets in the final turn and ran away from the competition down the home stretch for the victory.
“Lately in practice, we’ve really been focused on improving on our kicks, so I just wanted to bring that into the race and execute it,” Connell said. “On the last curve I knew I needed to hit it hard and run as hard as I could down the stretch and it worked out.”
From: http://www.nptelegraph.com/sports/local_sports/elfeldt-on-track-sophomore-wins-pole-vault-at-grant/article_58835f58-fea4-11e5-b006-570e4fa6b202.html
