BACK-TO-BACK: Carpenter-Ross wins pole vault to lead Lady Cats at state

WICHITA — All season, Maddy Carpenter-Ross had her eyes set on a second straight state title in the pole vault and she dominated her competition.

Going into Saturday’s Class 4A state meet at Wichita State, Carpenter-Ross won every competition going away and was ready to do the same against some of the state’s best.

This time, however, it was much harder.

To get this state title, Carpenter-Ross was going to have to have to set a new personal best and break her own school record in the process.

She did it and accomplished that feat on her first try.

With two competitors left at 12 feet, Carpenter-Ross cleared it on her first try as did Holton’s Piper Robinson. Both competitors missed at 12-6, and since they were tied, they decided the winner based on misses at 11-6, where the Louisburg senior got it on her first try.

“It is pretty awesome,” Carpenter-Ross said. “I worked really hard for that and I am so relieved right now. It was a little stressful, but I was in that competitive mindset and I was so happy that I PR’d. Everyone was setting personal records, so I was just like ‘My turn.’”

Carpenter-Ross didn’t have a single miss after entering the competition at 10 feet, before she couldn’t clear her three tries at 12-6. It turned out to be big as several competitors set personal records throughout the event as four vaulters were still alive after clearing 11-6.

“I was not expecting it at all,” she said about the all vaulters left late in the event. “I knew the stats of my competitors, but there were a bunch of them that double PR’d, so I needed to do the same myself. They were putting pressure on me, but I thrive under pressure.”

It came down to Carpenter-Ross and Robinson. Robinson cleared 12 feet on her first try, which meant Carpenter-Ross was going to have to the same if she wanted to have a shot at another state title.

“I knew that I could clear it,” Carpenter-Ross said. “I knew I had the height, I just needed to get the depth. If I had enough adrenaline going, I knew I could get it. I am not going to say I had full confidence, but I had confidence that I could get it.”

She did just that and all that needed to happen was Robinson not to make any of her attempts at 12-6, and she didn’t. Carpenter-Ross is now a two-time state champion.

“It is absolutely incredible,” she said. “When I was a freshman and watching all these girls out here, I remember how awesome they were and now here I am. To do it twice now is pretty surreal. I am so proud of myself, and so thankful for my family and all my coaches and all the people, including Piper Robinson, who pushed me to get that last one. She has been my competitor for a while and I am thankful that she pushed me.”

The Lady Cats also made their way to the medal stand in two other events and sophomore Suzanna Dansel was a part of both of them.

Dansel competed in the 100-meter dash Saturday, and after making the finals in the morning, ran a time of 12.60 seconds to medal seventh overall.

“It feels really good to medal it the 100,” Dansel said. “I’ve improved a lot since the first meet of the season. I felt accomplished, but i know i can improve a lot in my top speed.”

Dansel was the anchor leg of the Louisburg 4×100-meter relay, which also made the finals. Dansel, along with Kendall Crossley, Emma Vohs and Addi Mallett, had the sixth fastest time after competing in the prelims Friday.

The Louisburg quartet put together their best race of the season in the finals as they ran a personal best time of 50.28 seconds to medal sixth. It was the second straight season the Wildcat relay found their way to the medal stand, and Dansel and Crossley were a part of both of those teams.

“We ran the best time we have this season and each of our legs had a good position for this race, and improved every single meet,” Dansel said. “I was really excited to medal in the 4×1 again and it was definitely a goal of mine. We had two new additions to the relay and all ran strong. We hope to do it again next year.”

The Wildcats nearly medaled in a fourth event, but experienced some heartbreak in the javelin Friday. 

In what was a tough competition, senior Katie Elpers missed out on the medal stand by one spot as she finished ninth overall with a throw of 123 feet, 9 inches. Freshman Adelyn Moore was 13th at 111-9.

Back on the track, freshman Caroline Apple also just missed out on a medal in the 300-meter hurdles as she finished 9th overall in 50.81 seconds.

Crossley competed in a pair of sprints, along with her performance in the 4×100. Crossley was 15th in the 400 dash in 1:06 and 16th in the 200 dash in 27.38.

The Lady Cat team of Emma Vohs, Erin Apple, Adelyn Moore and Maddy Rhamy ran in the 4×800-meter relay and took 15th in 10:54.

In the team standings, Louisburg took 19th out of 29 teams with 15 points. Eudora won the state team title with 68 points and Andale was second with 55.