Greenfield High School pole vaulter Vlad Popusoi likes to vault at Pioneer Valley Regional School in Northfield.
Five days after Popusoi shattered the Green Wave’s school record in the event while taking on the Panthers in an Intercounty League meet, the Greenfield junior was back at it on Saturday during the Vaultapalooza contest in Northfield. While Popusoi fell a bit short in his bid to repeat Monday afternoon’s record-breaking jump of 13 feet, 6 inches, he did more than enough to win the boys’ division of the competition with a height of 13 feet even.
Vaultapalooza is a pole vaulting competition that takes place at Pioneer each spring and gives high school athletes from all over western Massachusetts a chance to show off their skills.
Popusoi — the reigning western Mass. champion — cleared 13 feet and took a shot at 13-9, which would have been a site record at Pioneer, with the record belonging to Longmeadow High School’s Greg Copeland, who cleared 13-7 at Vaultapalooza two years ago. Popusoi came up short in his three tries.
Monson High School’s Brendan Lloyd finished second in the boys’ field at 11-6, while Athol High School’s Tom LaRose took third at 10-6. Greenfield’s Sylvian Popusoi placed fourth at 9 feet, and Greenfield’s David Giurgiu took fifth at 8-6.
The girls’ side belonged to Pioneer, which placed the top four girls. Junior Sydney Martin, who is coming back from knee surgery that caused her to miss all of last season, won the competition at 8-6. She defeated teammate Tori Laskoski in a jump off after Laskoski, an eighth-grader, also cleared 8-6. Gabby Laskoski — Tori’s twin sister — placed third at 7-6, while Pioneer’s Emily Geser took fourth at 7-6. Athol’s Callie Jillson came in fifth at 6-6.
Softball
Frontier 10, Drury 5 — Cassidy Stankowski came up a double shy of hitting for the cycle on Saturday as she led Frontier Regional School to a 10-5 independent softball victory over Drury High School in North Adams.
Stankowski hit a triple to lead off the game, added an RBI single in the fourth inning and then belted a two-run home run in the sixth. Frontier (8-3) scored at least once in each of the first four innings and, a coupled with the its win over Turners Falls High School on Wednesday, has reeled off two impressive wins in a row.
“It’s a good win for us,” Frontier coach Carrie Fydenkevez said. “It was kind of sloppy, but you’re going to have days like that and if you can come out with a win, then that’s a good thing.”
Freshman Hannah Adams had a memorable day in the win, collecting her first varsity hit and RBI of her career as she finished with three hits and one RBI overall. McKayla Poissant added a single and a double and three RBIs for Frontier.
Krystel Enko struck out three and did not walk a batter in the complete-game victory.
Frontier travels to Greenfield tonight at 7.
From: http://www.recorder.com/home/6039883-95/popusoi-martin-win-vault-titles
Martin Vaulter Magazine
