No question, this Spring may have been the wettest in recent memory. Numerous meets were rained out, or simply rained on, and the performances have no doubt been affected. No event feels the brunt of that effect more than the Pole Vault, and for the Indoor State Champ, things were starting to get frustrating.
Erica Ellis (Gates-Chili) had been sick in the early season, throwing her off. Couple that with the rain, and the Indoor Sophomore Record Holder was no-heighting numerous Invitationals. But that came to an end at Sectionals, where she got over the slump, with a State Standard mark of 11-ft. It was her only clearance of the season. One week later, that was all she was expecting heading into State Quals. That was, until she felt good over the higher bars. She moved the bar up to 12-8, and felt good over the clearance. Her final clearance would be at 13-3, where she would make the height.
The mark now stands as the Outdoor Sophomore State Record, surpassing her Indoor best by half an inch. She took a few attempts at 13-8 afterwards, but left satisfied with the win. Her Freshman State Record was actually superior to the previous Sophomore one, but Ellis now holds both. She is still chasing the overall State Record of 14-0, set in 2005 by Tiffany Maskulinksi (Iroquois). All State Records belong to WNY, largely in part to Ellis' Coach.
Coach Rick Suhr told the Democrat and Chronicle he was partially to blame for the early season slump...
"What happened was that Jenn and I had to ship off to Texas for training for 10 weeks. It really affected Erica. We just weren't here to help her to train. We tried to correspond but that didn't work," Rick Suhr said.
"It was hard to see the best kid in the state, hands down, go through that. We came back and said, 'hey, we'll get it worked out.' And we did," Rick Suhr said.
