DISTRICT 11-AA TRACK. Saucon's Jackie Meissner shatters meet record.
Thursday, May 18, 2006
By PAUL SOKOLOSKI
The Express-Times
N. MANHEIM TWP., Pa. | Not even a taped leg and a little limp could stop Jackie Meissner from setting the standard and setting records.
Shrugging off a lower left leg injury she recently sustained, Meissner dramatically won the girls Class AA long jump, then reached new heights while capturing the pole vault to steal the show at Wednesday's District 11 Track and Field championship at Blue Mountain High School.
"I'm happy," said Meissner, a senior from Saucon Valley High School . "Really happy."
She should be.
Meissner's clean vault of 11-9 left her as the new Class AA record-holder in the district meet and made her the day's only two-time Class AA winner.
Meissner, the top seed and smoothest pole vaulter in the Class AA field, bypassed the lower heights and didn't even begin her vaults until the bar was lifted to 9-6. She easily qualified for the PIAA championships and bested the field with a vault of 11-4.
With a district championship already in the bag and the old district record of 9-6 already shattered, Meissner raised the bar to 11-9 and cleared it for her personal best.
"I had a lot of energy, my leg felt good," Meissner said.
She then failed in three shots at 12 feet -- banging smack into the bar on her second attempt and banging her head hard on the way down.
But she bounced up just fine, and nearly made the third attempt -- just catching enough of the bar to knock it off on her way down.
"I was really hoping to get 12," Meissner said. "But 11-9's my new personal record. I hit my head so hard, but I was OK. I would have been really mad if I didn't get that third attempt -- and I was almost there. That's the frustrating part, when you're so close."
© 2006 Vertical Assault