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St. Clairsville’s Emily Thompson Comes In Seventh in Pole Vault at State Meet

Photo by Seth Staskey St. Clairsville’s Emily Thompson clears a height during the Division II pole vault Saturday morning in Columbus. She placed seventh in the event.

COLUMBUS — Emily Thompson started preparing for the track season in November.

The time, work and dedication paid dividends Saturday, the first day of June.

In basically seven months, Thompson — a freshman at St. Clairsville — became an All-Ohioan in the pole vault.

Thompson became the first Red Devils female to rewrite the school’s record book seemingly each time she cleared a new height and capped it Saturday inside Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium on the Ohio State University campus with an 11-fett, 2 inches clearance, which was good enough for seventh place.

“Getting here and placing as a freshman really means a lot to me,” Thompson said. “I’ve worked very hard to get here and it’s nice to see that hard work pay off.”

Thompson, quite simply, continued to raise the bar throughout the season. Once she got 10 feet in April, she’s continued her climb.

“One of the things I’m most excited about is how consistent I was throughout the season,” Thompson said. “It seemed like each meet I was going up a few inches to getting to the point I am now.”

This success didn’t come by accident for Thompson.

“It’s been all about practice and training,” Thompson said. “There are days I would practice after school, then go to Marietta for additional training. These types of days make it all worth it.”

As she had been most of the season, Thompson was simply steady throughout the competition, which started at 9-6. She elected to jump at every height. She missed once at 10 feet, but was then clean until she soared over 11-2 on her final attempt. That clearance assured the podium.

“I just got on a new pole Thursday, so I was nervous about that,” Thompson said. “And when I mised at 10, I was able to just kind of get my head in the game and went from there.”

Thompson — though quite pleased with her progress and accomplishments — said she came up shy of the goal height she had set for herself.

“I wanted to get 11-6,” Thompson said. “I was really close to that on my last attempt, but that’ll be the goal now for next season. I hope to push (the bar) much higher.”

Thompson was the lone Red Devil — male or female — to score in the meet.

Senior Justin Heatherington’s brilliant prep career came to an end one place shy of a medal. He cleared 6-2, but it was only good enough for ninth.

Steubenville’s T’Kayla Kelley, who will compete for the University of Dayton next season, put the finishing touches on an outstanding season and career with two more state medals.

She placed seventh in the 100 and sixth in the 200 with times of 12.59 and 25.44, respectively.

“It was great to be able to come out, my senior year, and place in two more events,” Kelley said. “I wish I could have ran better times, but you get what you get and you have to be thankful for it.”

Kelley, who claimed three regional titles last Saturday, knew she’d have her work cut out for her at the state when she took a look at the seed times.

“You just have to have the mindset of not worrying about the other girls, but just worry about running your best and then seeing what happens from there,” Kelley said.

Anthony Rice, who is headed to wrestle at Cleveland State University, never gave the state meet a thought when the season started in March.

Fresh off of placing in the Division II state wrestling tournament, Rice went out for track as he had in the past simply because he’s “athletic.”

“Track is definitely not my (main) sport,” Rice said with a smile.

Despite it not being his main sport, Rice shined in it all spring, capping it off with a pair of state medals.

Rice consistently dropped time throughout the season en route to running 15.06 for eighth place in the highs and a 39.01 for sixth in the intermediates.

“Honestly, I didn’t think I could even make it to state, let alone place,” Rice said. “I am so glad that I placed in both events. It shows that I have a lot of dedication.”

In the shot put, freshman Amya Livingston placed 11th with a mark of 38-1 1/2.

Harrison Central’s Eric Leech ran a 4:34.31 and finished 15th in the 1600.

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