Tess Whittet
Sports Editor
Costa senior Dane Thomasson and sophomore Brigette Grau are raising the bar for future pole vaulters by competing in Masters.
Thomasson and Grau both competed in the Pole Vaulting Masters at Arcadia High School on Friday, May 26, where they each faced 12 other competitors for the six available spots for girls and six for boys in the State Finals.
“I was looking forward to hopefully seeing a lot of people that I have competed with before because pole vaulting itself is kinda like a community, and my teammate and I moving onto state,” Thomasson said.
The pole vaulters that qualify must be one of the top three Bay League competitors that go to California Interscholastic Federation prelims. There, the top nine from each division go on to CIF finals, to compete to be the division champion. The top 12 go to Masters and then the top six go to State.
“I was super happy because last year I only made it to finals because of injury,” Grau said. “Making it one step further this year was really fun for me and now I have made it to State so it is two steps further than last year.”
Thomasson qualified for Masters by placing 1st in the CIF southern division finals by jumping 15 feet, which no other competitor did. Grau placed third in the girls division by jumping 11’9”.
“I actually have never made it to CIF because the requirements before were set too high when we were division 1, but since we got to division two I was able to go and now I am able to go to masters so it’s a new thing for me,” Thomasson said.
Thomasson jumped 14’6” at Masters but was ultimately defeated by some of the other competitors and will not be going on to the State championship. Grau jumped 11’10” against 12 other girls and 11 of them, including her, will be moving on to State after each jumping the qualifying height.
“The best thing Dane did was he fought and he gave it everything he had,” Coach Murray Mead said. “Bridgette handled the pressure and for a sophomore to make it to State is quite exceptional.
Thomasson prepared for Masters by pole vaulting for two or two and a half hours a day, and running, while Grau practices for two or less hours every other day due to the previous injury of having edema in her shins that restricts her practice time.
“Because of my injury last year, I think about my training more diligently because I have to let my injury heal,’ Grau said. “We both worked really hard to get where we are but in different ways.”
Grau will go to the State Championship preliminaries on Friday, at Clovis High School in Fresno. At prelims, all 10 divisions will compete and the top nine will qualify to compete at State on Saturday.
“If I don’t make it I’m still going to be super happy because being at State as a sophomore was already something I couldn’t have imagined,” Grau said. “Also being the first pole vaulter ever from Mira Costa to go State is something I’ll remember forever, no matter the outcome.
Leave a Reply