Vault newcomers lead J’ville to win
JESSIEVILLE — Neither of the top two finishers at the 3A-5 Conference track meet at Jessieville had participated in the pole vault prior to this season, but Jessieville sophomore Lavinia Gossow and senior Annabel Robertson both cleared 7 feet, 6 inches to take the top two spots in the event and advance to next week’s Class 3A state meet at Lincoln.
Gossow, a foreign exchange student from Germany, won the event, setting a personal best that is a foot higher than she had made going into Thursday’s meet.
“I can’t even believe it,” she said. “Like my practices, they were good, but I didn’t think that I would improve that much. And well, I’m shocked and really happy that I made it to state and PRed.”
Prior to coming to Garland County in August, she had never competed in a track meet.
“That feels great, and I’m not even from here,” she said. “I never experienced something like that. Like, I’ve never done track meets before, so I’m really excited about it. And I’m looking forward to it.”
Even more surprising to Gossow was besting the teammate that she looked up to in the event.
“That was really surprising honestly because I always look up to Annabel. … I always see what what she does, and I would, like, look at her to improve myself,” she said. “And today that I beat her — that was just like feeling great and it just makes me feel good. And like that shows me that I improved.”
Over half an hour after the teammates picked up 18 points for the Lady Lions, Robertson was still shocked to have her senior season coming to such a spectacular close.
“It’s insane,” she said. “I’m, I’m literally, I don’t even know the word for it. But, you know, I didn’t, I never thought I would get this far. … And now it’s just insane. I mean, we both started this year. I actually signed (to compete in pole vault) today with SAU, and I just never thought I’d make it this far. I didn’t.”
Robertson decided prior to the season that she would try the event after several teammates that competed in field events had graduated.
“If I would have known, you
know, the beginning of the season that I would have been going to state, I, I just wish I would have been doing it for longer because I mean, I could have been so, I could have been so good, if I’d been doing for longer,” she said. “But now that I’m with the Muleriders, I know I’ll keep getting better. But I’m so, I’m so glad we’re both going (to the state meet) together. That was the main goal.”
The win and second place helped propel the Lady Lions to a dominant win at the conference meet, despite top distance runner Juliah Rodgers being out. Jessieville scored 288.5 points with Lamar finishing second with 103.5 and Dover third with 88.
“Julia is like 30 points,” said Jessieville girls coach Magen Scrivner. “So you know, I was just trying to put people where I felt like they needed to be to try to get the most points, but we had kids are really, really stepped up today. So I’m super excited about that.”
Gossow and Robertson will be competing in more than just a single event next week in Lincoln.
With the top two finishes in each event qualifying for state, Gossow will be competing in the 100-meter hurdles, the 4x200-meter relay and the 4x100-meter relay, and Robertson will be running the 100-meter dash and in the 4x100-meter relay.
“Those two are such hard workers,” Scrivner said. “You know, Annabel signed a letter of intent today to go vault at SAU, and that’s one thing I talked about her about today is her work ethic and commitment is top notch. I coach her in basketball, too, and track for the last five years, and her senior year this year, she did not miss one practice in track or basketball. So it just shows a lot about her leadership and her character. But I’m ready for those two to make some noise in state in the vault.”
Gossow ended up with the girls high point award at the meet as well.
“She’s an exchange student from Germany,” Scrivner said. “And we were so blessed to have her this year. She works so hard every day. Doesn’t really know a lot about track, but we’ve taught her a whole lot in two months. So yeah, she’s a blessing to have this year for sure.”
The Lions also took a major win at the meet, scoring 297.5 points while Lamar finished second with 131.17. Mayflower was third with 95.33.
“We had some PRs,” said Jessieville boys coach TJ Burk. “We had some guys that turned in some performances that we really needed, and it gives us a chance (for a state title). So you know, that’s really been working for all year is to give ourselves a chance. And now we’ve just gotta go perform at the state meet next week.”
With one of the best track and field teams the school has seen in years, Burk said that his seniors have helped to turn the program into a state contender.
“We’ve got some young guys that that have performed well, all year long,” he said. “And it’s a testament to these seniors that have put in the work, and they’ve shown what it takes to be, you know, at the top of our game. And so they’ve set the bar high and these young guys are coming along and, you know, they they, they know what the standard is. And so that’s kind of how you how you create a program. … I mean, it’s just a combination of over the years. There’s been a standard set here, and our kids are meeting that standard, and they’re running really hard.”