Alec Wittman was practicing at the boys’ pole vault on Thursday at Hamline University and cleared 15 feet, 6 inches, a personal record.
He knew that needed to translate on Friday at the Class AA state championship if he wanted to end his career with back-to-back state titles.
“I think it feels better because there was tough competition today,” Wittman said. “I was going into it thinking ‘okay, these guys are going around 14 or something like that, if I go like high 14s, maybe 15 that will win it.’ But they kept me going, they kept pushing me higher and higher.”
It finally reached 15 feet and Wittman cleared it, but he was waiting for his opponent to clear it. After three misses, Wittman was crowned champion for a second straight season, but he wasn’t done. He wanted to try for an official 15-6, confident knowing that he cleared it in practice.
He tried three times, but couldn’t get over the bar. Last year he won with a height of 14-06 and cleared 14-08 and broke the section record prior to state.
