Montville's Finkel finishes second to familiar foe

PHILADELPHIA -- Things didn't start out very well for Chrissy Finkel of Montville. But things couldn't have ended much better.

Finkel, a sophomore, wasn't very optimistic after she missed her first attempt at the opening height in the girls pole vault (10-10) at the 113th Penn Relays that opened yesterday before a crowd of 23,996 at Franklin Field.

"I was so nervous," said Finkel. "I couldn't go out at the opening height at the Penn Relays."

But Finkel quickly turned things around, and before long, she found herself in a tense battle for first place with her good friend and training partner, Abby Schaffer of Easton, Pa.

After Schaffer and Finkel cleared 12-4 1/2, giving Finkel the Morris County record and moving her into No. 3 all-time in New Jersey state history, they each took three cracks at 12-8 1/4 in an attempt to break the meet record.

Both Schaffer and Finkle could not better the meet mark of 12-8 set last year by another Easton girl, Lindsay Regan, but Schaffer was awarded the victory on fewer misses.

Finkel was ecstatic with her second-place finish.

"I came in here as the eighth seed and almost won," said Finkel, whose previous best of 11-9 3/4 came when she was fifth at the National Scholastic Indoor Championships last month. "I never dreamed of finishing second and clearing 12-4. I couldn't be happier."

The Finkel-Schaffer showdown had an interesting twist since the two train together at Vertical Assault in Bath, Pa. They get along so well that the two shared the same pole several times during the competition.

"We are friends first and opponents second," said Finkel. "Sure I wanted to win, but if anyone had to finish ahead of me, I'm glad it was Abby."