Racked by illness for more than two months and banned by doctors from competing or practicing for a three-week stretch, Toone’s journey was definitely something less than half of fun.
But somehow, through all the maladies and weight loss, she made it to her destination - the University Interscholastic League State Track and Field Meet.
“I didn’t want to give up because I want to win state,” said Toone, who will compete for the second straight year in the Class 5A girls pole event at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin. “I was determined to do that even when I was sick. I still wanted to push myself, but the coaches were telling me to take it easy for once.”
A bronze medalist last year in her first trip to the state meet, her golden dreams for this season almost were derailed.
En route to a first-place finish at the season-opening Texas Tech Indoor Invitational, Toone contracted mononucleosis. Feeling slightly better three weeks later, she headed to Boston for the Nike Indoor Nationals only to become more ill than before while finishing in a tie for 20th place.
“I had to fly back home and go back to the doctor,” she recalled. “They said I had to quit vaulting because my spleen was enlarged and if I landed wrong it would burst and I could die.”
Following a three-week layoff, Toone was cleared by doctors the morning of the Texas Relays. She immediately left for Austin, where she cleared the bar at 12 feet, 6 inches to finish third.
It was her best mark of the season, but she wasn’t out of the woods yet.
“I still wasn’t feeling tip-top,” she said, “and about a week after that, I got some kind of flu and lost 10 pounds.”
With only two weeks separating Texas Relays and the District 12-5A meet, and with Toone still shaky and weak from the weight loss, Belton coaches devised a plan for the district meet. Toone would wait until no more than two other competitors remained, thereby assuring her of a spot at the 5A Region II meet if she cleared just one height.
“I knew the plan was to get in only one vault that would hopefully get me to regionals,” said Toone, who has signed to vault at Vanderbilt starting this fall. “I was worried that I wouldn’t even be able to do that, but I knew I had to.”
She did, of course, and followed it five weeks later with her second consecutive straight regional title in Waco, where she felt like her old self during a competition for the first time since the Tech meet.
“She’s getting her strength and consistency back,” Belton vault coach Gary Bunch said. “I think she’s back to her normal self for state.
“She’s really fortunate that she’s done as well as she has. Had she not been as talented as she is, she probably wouldn’t have got over those obstacles.”
Toone, who has a career-best mark of 12-9, is trying to become the area’s first girls pole vault state champion in any classification.
She should benefit from the absence of Mansfield’s Shade Weygandt - the reigning gold medalist who graduated a year early - and Rockwall’s Shelby Kennard, last year’s silver medalist who now competes in 4A.
“I feel more confident because there aren’t as many good vaulters as there were in past years,” Toone said. “But I feel less confident in my ability because I haven’t had as much practice.
“Most of all, I think I’ll feel more comfortable this year just because I’m going in as one of the top dogs. I won’t be freaking out as much as I was last year.”
Toone, who hasn’t cleared 12 feet since the Texas Relays, still has her work cut out for her, though. The biggest threat will come from New Braunfels junior Demi Payne - the fourth-place finisher in 4A last year - who has cleared 12-11 once, 12-10 once and 12-6 four times this season.
Nevertheless, Toone’s goal is unchanged.
“Last year I lost out on second place on number attempts, and that’s always disappointing,” she said. “This year I need to set a personal record and get first to not feel disappointed.”
Given all that’s occurred this season, there’s no telling how Saturday afternoon will play out. There are, however, two things that are certain - it will be Toone’s final high school competition and there’s always next year in Nashville, Tenn.
“Maybe afterward, I’ll take a chance to look around and let it sink in that it’s my last high school event,” she said. “If I do that beforehand, I’ll get all emotional and start crying, which I don’t need to do.
“But either way, I’m so excited about next year at Vanderbilt.”
edrennan@temple-telegram.com
