Breaking Barriers
Emporia High sees school record fall in strong opening day
By Michael Ashford
Saturday, May 26, 2007
WICHITA — As he lay on the mat staring up at the wobbling bar suspended high in the air above his head, all Emporia High pole vaulter Caydrick Bloomquist could do was hope.
Hope that the bar would not come crashing down on top of him and crush his chance at breaking the school record.
The bar shook violently for a second or two and then settled back into its place atop the pole vault standards, which brought out a fist-pump from Bloomquist and a cheer from the Emporia cheering section in the Cessna Stadium stands not far away.
“My heart was racing,” Bloomquist said, “When it (the bar) didn’t fall, I got pretty jacked up.”
Bloomquist had cleared 15 feet at the State track and field championships even though he nicked the bar on the way over, which bettered his personal best by nine inches and nudged him past the previous school record of 14 feet, 11 inches.
It also kept him in the running for the State title, as the competition was down to just him and Bishop Carroll’s Zack Steffen.
Though Bloomquist went on to finish second after missing all three attempts at 15-6, he still was all smiles afterward.
“Getting that school record, that’s all I can think about,” Bloomquist said. “Today felt really good. The competition here is awesome, and to get second in Class 5A – Class 5A is the best pole vaulting division in Kansas – that just feels awesome.”
Bloomquist’s second-place finish was one of four runner-up performances for Emporia High on the first day of action.
Samantha Kraft in the girls pole vault (10 feet), Eric Dorsey in the boys discus (159-06) and Brandon Childs in the boys triple jump (45-08 1/4) each earned second-place finishes.
Childs nearly brought home Emporia’s first championship of the meet, as his final jump of 45-08 1/4 put him in first place with two jumpers remaining. After Shawnee Heights’ Jonathon Owens could not beat Childs’ leap, fellow Thunderbird Brandon Jackson came through with a jump of 46-09 1/2 on his last attempt to take the State title away from Childs.
“I didn’t even realize I was in first until Billy (Malone) told me,” Childs said. “It would have been nice to have the State title, but I just wasn’t landing good today. I felt my jumps were good, I just didn’t land well.”
Much like Childs, Dorsey managed to better his final placement on his final attempt in the discus. His best throw prior to his last had been 154-04, which would have been good enough for fourth place.
But on his final attempt, he heaved a throw of 159-06, which vaulted him to second behind only Liberal’s Joe Bach (162-03).
“It was my last throw for my whole career,” the senior said. “I had to make it a good one.”
Kraft, the defending 5A champion in the girls pole vault, was unable to keep her title, as she missed all three attempts at 10-6 while Gardner Edgerton’s Emmy Lehman cleared her final attempt at the height.
Michaela Reynolds placed third in the girls 3,200-meter run in time of 11:33.02. Reynolds was the defending champion in the event, but could not keep pace with Seaman’s Syndey Messick and Shawnee Heights’ Caroline Hale after the fellow Centennial League foes turned it on late in the race.
In preliminaries action, Emporia earned a couple of top seeds for today’s finals, as Layne Moore ran the fastest 400-meter dash time (57.13 seconds), while the EHS girls 4x400 relay squad of Heather Coe, Angela Finch, Lindy Arndt and Moore turned in the top time as well (4:02.07).
The State championships conclude today with the rest of the field events and the running of the finals in the track events.