Toone set personal and school records by clearing 12 feet, 9 inches Saturday afternoon to claim the Class 5A girls pole vault bronze medal in front of an estimated announced crowd of 12,200 at Mike A. Myers Stadium.
Toone and Harker Heights’ Aliese Hyde - third in the 5A 800-meter run - were the only area girls to win medals on the meet’s final day.
Fourth-place finishes went to Belton’s Regan Tindell in the 5A 3,200 and Killeen Shoemaker’s Jahydra Reed in the 5A high jump.
Troy’s Stephanie Rauch was fifth in the 2A discus, as was Academy’s Jenny Pekar in the 2A 800, Shoemaker’s Mirhonika Wilson in the 5A discus and Killeen Ellison’s Kehri Jones in the 5A 200. Holland’s Cheyenne Knaus finished sixth in the Class A 800.
Toone, a three-time District 13-5A champion who failed to advance out of the 5A Region II meet her freshman and sophomore years, was on top of her game Saturday in what turned out to be a highly competitive event.
“I just thought that we had a really good group this year and everybody did a lot better than I thought they would do,” Toone said of the eight-vaulter field. “I was really happy to be a part of the 5A meet, and I think it showed that it is the most competitive.”
After passing through the first three heights - which eliminated three competitors - Toone entered when the bar was at 11-6 and sailed comfortably over. Five athletes still remained after defending champion and state record holder Shade Weygandt of Mansfield entered and all cleared at 12-0.
At 12-6, Weygandt made it over on her first attempt, Toone on her second after changing to a bigger pole and Region II runner-up Shelby Kennard of Rockwall on her third. Keller’s Taylor Theodore and San Antonio Reagan’s Cleona Oliver were eliminated, guaranteeing the other three of a medal.
After Weygandt passed at 12-9, Toone had an off-center plant on her first try and aborted the vault. Kennard then cleared on her first attempt - a silver-clinching effort after Toone and Kennard missed all three times at 13-0 - and Toone set the school record on her second try.
“For 12-6, I had to go up to a bigger pole,” Toone said. “Then on 12-9, I planted off to the side and I knew I was going to hit the standard if I went through with it. And I didn’t want to do that.”
Weygandt, who went a meet-record 13-7 last year, missed on three attempts at 13-4 to cap the event.
“It feels good to get a medal,” Toone said, “but I wanted second.”
Added Belton vault coach Gary Bunch: “She’s probably a little disappointed because she felt that 13 feet was going to happen today. But if she just looks at the overall picture, it was great. When you come through your personal best at the state track meet, that’s competing and she has to feel really good about that. She brought the best out of herself today.”
Hyde was the fastest qualifier coming in and shaved one full second off her Region II-winning performance with a time of 2 minutes, 11.26 seconds but had to settle for a bronze.
“I didn’t think it would take that time just to get the bronze,” said a woozy Hyde, who had to be doused with a cold towel and sat on the edge of the track for 10 minutes before making the climb up to the medals stand. “But that’s just the way it was tonight.”
After bursting into the lead when the field broke in at the 100-meter mark, Hyde pulled the seven-runner chase pack around the track for a blistering 1:01.60 split.
Defending bronze medalist Tiffany Singleton of Houston Westside pulled even after 600 meters before Hyde kicked through the final turn for a two-step lead 100 meters from the finish.
But that was all Hyde had as Singleton took the lead for good 50 meters out to win with a 2:10.85, and Richardson’s Cetarre Rockwell claimed the silver by a step over Hyde in 2:11.09.
“They caught me at the end,” Hyde said, “but other than that, it played out like I thought it would.”
Nine hours before Hyde took her turn on the track, Tindell made a medal bid in her first state appearance.
Just a sophomore, Tindell entered with the second-best qualifying time but was out-jostled midway through the race and couldn’t keep pace with the leader. The Woodlands’ Sarah Andrews, who beat Tindell by 6 seconds at the regional meet, won in 10:43.78. Tindell crossed the line in 10:59.13 behind runner-up Alyssa Nielson (10:54.48) of Colleyville Heritage and bronze medalist Lauren Smith (10:57.45) of Clute Brazoswood.
“I thought I could stay with (Andrews), but I guess I just couldn’t today,” said Tindell, who broke the 11-minute mark for the third time in her young career. “I’m a little disappointed because I wanted to medal, but I know I have two more years so I’m not that upset.”
In other girls highlights from the final day, Rochelle won the Class A team title with 42 points - remarkable because Bonnie Richardson was the only Lady Hornet at the meet. Richardson won the 200 and high jump, was second in the 100 and long jump, and took third in the discus. Seymour (36) and Chilton rounded out the top three.
Universal City Randolph was the 2A team champion with 58 points, followed by Childress (34) and Marlin (33). The 5A team championship went to Dallas Skyline with 50 points, followed by DeSoto (46) and Alief Elsik (36).
edrennan@temple-telegram.com
