The UCLA women’s pole vaulters were the highlight this weekend at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Indoor Championships with four women jumping 13 feet, 1 inch and provisionally qualifying for the NCAA Championships.
“Having four girls jump 13-1 is phenomenal,” said pole vaulting coach Anthony Curran. “I’ve never had, ever, in the history of UCLA women’s track, have four girls jump 13 feet or higher in the same meet.”
The four who cleared the bar were seniors Megan Jamerson and Ingrid Kantola, junior Katy Viuf and freshman Tori Anthony. All four Bruins finished in an eight-way tie for third place.
“All were extremely close to jumping 13-6,” Curran said. “We could have got lucky and got all four of them over, or at least one or two, things just didn’t happen and we a got a little unlucky.”
While the four Bruins only provisionally qualified for the NCAAs, they will have one more chance to compete next weekend at the NCAA Last Chance Qualifier.
“They all have the potential and ability to do it next weekend and so hopefully we will do a last chance qualifier and get them qualified,” Curran said.
This weekend was also important for freshman Anthony who comes to UCLA as the U.S. high school record holder in the indoor pole vault. She is confident in both her ability and the ability of her teammates to do well and qualify in the upcoming meet.
“It felt like how I used to compete, it felt really good,” said Anthony. “Everyone did really well. It was so much fun having seven of our girls dominate the pole vault. It was clear that UCLA had the people to beat.”
Anthony says the focus in the next week will be to get on “big poles and simulate a meet” to help build confidence and get prepared to automatically qualify for the NCAA.
While there were not many other Bruins competing besides the pole vaulters, junior Lauren Jirges did manage to make her mark and get lifetime bests in both of the 800 meters and the 1 mile.
“I knew I could do it, but it was still a pleasant surprise,” said Jirges. “I was focused on the competition aspect, just passing girls, I was not worried about the clock.”
Although Jirges did not qualify for the NCAAs, she feels good about the indoor season and is taking what she wanted to away from it.
“These races are great for experience,” said Jirges. “I get a lot out of them; learn about myself, improve for the outdoor season and help the team score some points.”
Distance coach Eric Peterson felt very good about Jirges’ sixth place finish in the 800m and ninth place finish in the 1 mile.
“To go to a meet and compete in two events and do well shows maturity as a competitor,” Peterson said.
Even though UCLA finished ninth at the MPSF championships, coaches were proud of the team that competed.
“We didn’t take a really big team so it’s tough in a team scoring meet,” said Peterson. “We knew leaving town we weren’t going to be competing for a team title, but the athletes where we were competing did well.”