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Not all change comes gradually. And when it starts, the rise can be rapid.
For what many consider "The Original Sport," running has seen many evolutions over its history. Some of that would come as adaptations to new technology, as well as new tastes of the viewing public. Others would come as revolutions, empathic pushes for equality in a sport as pure as Track and Field.
For over a century, the prep running scene in New York had been exclusively filled with the male half of the population. Change would come in the form of Title IX, and the addition of a Girls State Championship in 1975. While the opportunity to compete would be added that year, the opportunity to compete equally was not yet. The trend had echoes of the Olympics above it. Female Pole Vault was added to the Olympics in 2000, and Female Steeplechase only added in 2008.
It would be that first move towards equality, set in motion in 1997 by the IOC, that would trickle down to High School's all over the country. But it New York, female Pole Vault saw an explosion in the event in those first years, that lead to it's rapid growth and improvement, culminating with an Indoor World Record in the event, set by a native-New Yorker, on New York soil in 2016.
This is the story of the event's rise to prominence in New York State, through the eyes of the event's most influential. And it all starts here.