After finishing the state meet with a new personal record (PR), Elise Hall is ready and nervous with anticipation for New Balance Nationals this June 16-18. The standard to compete in the regional meet was a 9.0” jump. After far surpassing that with an 11.6” jump at the regional meet, it landed Hall in second place. She would be advancing on to compete at the NCHSAA 4A State Championships.
At the NCHSAA state meet held at NCA&T on May 20, Hall entered the meet with a PR of 11.9”. While Hall does multiple different jumping events, she specializes in pole vault and would be competing fresh in that event. While Hall jumped an 11.6”, which was not a PR for her, she still placed third at the state meet. Due to her PR of 11.9” already under her belt from jumping at the Pole Vault Carolina Reach Your Potential Invitational on April 7, she had the height she needed in order to qualify for New Balance Nationals in the women’s emerging elite pole vault category.
“[The hardest part about pole vaulting is] probably the mental game that you have to play with yourself. There’s a lot of strength that you have to have in your body but it’s also a huge mental game. You have off days, but you have to learn to just get over it,” said Hall.
Coming off of the indoor track season, Hall had a PR of 11.6”. At the first meet she competed in during outdoor track, she kicked the season off right by jumping a 10.6”. Throughout the season, hall practiced and increased her abilities. Yet with all of her hard work, she still felt intimidated by competing at the extremely competitive national meet as a sophomore.
Hall started pole vaulting during the outdoor season last year from the influence of one of her coaches. After three seasons of hard work, Hall become one of the top competitors in the state.
“I was talking to another coach of mine and he told me that I should try pole vaulting. I didn’t really know what it was at first so I looked it up, found this training facility, and I went and learned how to do it. The first time that I went to a session I turned out to be pretty good at it so I continued going and found a passion for it,” said Hall reflecting on how she became interested in pole vault.
With an already successful two years of pole vault, Hall dreams of jumping 14.0” by her senior year– breaking the women’s national high school record. With hard work and strong goals, Hall will be able to achieve great things throughout her next two years of high school pole vaulting.
