Klefsaas wins two titles, sets state pole vault record

The Staples Motley track and field team had a smashing state meet as Millie Klefsaas set the girls state meet pole vault record at 12 feet even and also won the 100 hurdles to come home with two state titles.

For the boys team, Max Giza cleared 13 feet, 9 inches in the pole vault, the best effort of his career to finish seventh.

“It was amazing to win a state championship, and winning two was nothing I ever dreamed of,” said Klefsaas, “it was awesome.”

Klefsaas started the state meet by posting the second fastest 100 hurdles time in the preliminaries, 14.94. “I hit a hurdle in the prelims, I knew I could go faster,” she said.

That same day Giza came into the competition as the 10th seeded pole vaulter. He had a couple of misses in the first four heights but cleared 13 feet and 13’3” on his first attempt at each, after coming in with a career best of 12’9”.  He had two misses at 13’9” before clearing it on his final attempt, one of the top vaults in Cardinal team history. It was enough to place seventh in a very competitive field.

Giza’s performance gave Klefsaas a little inspiration. “He doesn’t usually show a lot of emotion so after he cleared 13’9”, he was really happy and walking around with a big smile. That was nice to see,” said Klefsaas.

Klefsaas did not qualify for the finals in the 300 hurdles, setting the stage to compete in the 100 hurdles and pole vault on the final day. She passed at the first three heights in the pole vault so she could concentrate on the hurdles. With the second fastest seed time, Klefsaas said she was a little worried before the race, especially since it was a hot, windy day compared to the cool preliminaries when many hurdlers ran their best time.

Klefsaas stuck to her strategy: “I try to beat everyone to the first hurdle and let them try to catch me.”

She did that and kept going strong. “I didn’t hit any hurdles and didn’t notice anyone around, I was waiting for someone to catch me but it didn’t happen this time,” she said.

Klefsaas finished with a time of 14.99, winning the race by one-fourth of a second, a comparatively big margin in a 100 meter race. “It was probably my best race of the year, considering the headwind and the heat,” she said.

With one state title, Klefsaas got to work on the pole vault. Her first three rounds went well, with only one miss at 10’6”. But at 11 feet, she started out with two misses and was in danger of finishing third. “I kept hitting the bar on the way up, maybe it was the heat and the pole was bending more, I don’t know, I was super nervous,” she said. 

But the coaches had an idea and convinced her to switch to the pole Giza had used the day before. “I cleared it with Max’s pole and stuck with it,” said Klefsaas.

She also cleared 11’3” on her first try and when no other competitor cleared that, she had the state title and could set the bar at whatever height she wanted. Knowing the state meet record was 11’7”, Klefsaas had them place the bar a half inch higher than that. She set the new state record on her second try and then moved the bar to 12 feet. “In practice we have set the bungee at 13 feet and I hit it at that height, so I knew I was close,” she said. Again she set the state record on her second try, before missing at 12’3”.

“It was crazy, it all happened so quickly,” said Klefsaas. “It took me a day to comprehend what happened, that I set the record.”