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Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Pole vaulting in the street, competing for native Austria on District 3 champ's bucket list
She dreams of flying high in the maroon and white uniform of Texas A&M. Of competing in pole vault events held on city streets. Of wearing the red and white of her birth nation in an Olympics. The first is in Lily Carlson's immediate future. The next two might not be far behind. Advertisement The Bermudian Springs senior is the top seed in the PIAA Class 3A pole vault competition after clearing 14 feet at the District 3 meet. It is her first time competing in Class 3A after winning the PIAA Class 2A title the past two seasons. The state meet, May 23-24 at Shippensburg University, is her last in high school competition. Then she begins working on the rest of the list. Austria is first. She was born in Vienna and lived in Austria until she was 7 years old, when she came to the United States with her American mom. Her dad remained in his native Austria. Carlson will be spending a big chunk of the summer training in Europe. Advertisement 'Half my trip I'll be in Vienna,' she said. 'And then I'm hoping to go to Innsbruck and train at a club there. They have another girl that jumps like 13-9, and she's also going to A&M.' National signing day: See where York-Adams student-athletes are playing sports in college Bermudian Springs' Lily Carlson clears 14 feet in the 3A pole vault competition at the PIAA District 3 Track and Field Championships at Shippensburg University's Seth Grove Stadium Saturday, May 17, 2025. She laughs at the idea that Texas A&M will have two native Austrian freshman pole vaulters. Magdalena Rauter is the future Aggie Carlson hopes to connect with in Innsbruck. Rauter is the Austrian national champion and world U20 silver medalist. 'They have fully funded athletes there,' Carlson said. 'In Austria, they actually are like professional athletes and get paid. Track's just bigger, pole vault is bigger.' Advertisement And they really do shut down streets so they can lay runways and set up pole vault standards to have competitions in their cities. Carlson's eyes light up when she thinks of the possibilities. Those possibilities include challenging for a spot on the Austrian Olympic team. It's a long process that starts with qualifying for the European championships. Austrian hasn't had a pole vaulter in the European competition since 2014. Bermudian Springs' Lily Carlson smiles after finishing her day with a gold medal and a new district record in the 3A pole vault at the PIAA District 3 Track and Field Championships at Shippensburg University's Seth Grove Stadium Saturday, May 17, 2025. The top vaulters from the European championships qualify for the Olympics, regardless of their country. Australian Nina Kennedy won the gold medal in Paris after clearing 4.90 meters (16.076 feet). An American and Canadian won the silver and bronze. Advertisement Clearing 14-0 for the first time in a competition was a positive step toward those Olympic dreams. '14 is a big bar, a huge milestone of mine,' Carlson said. 'It feels really good to finally clear that. I've known I can clear it, but to see that bar stay standing, I'm really excited.' Carlson had three attempts at the state record 14-3, and nearly had it on her second try. She cleared it, but tapped the bar on her way down. She'll get another shot at that record in the state meet when she goes up against defending champ Veronica Vacca of Mt. St. Joseph's, who comes in as the second seed at 13-8, although she has cleared 14-0 in competition. Bermudian Springs' Lily Carlson celebrates with her friends and fellow competitors after setting a new district record in the 3A pole vault at the PIAA District 3 Track and Field Championships at Shippensburg University's Seth Grove Stadium Saturday, May 17, 2025. Carlson will have many of her training partners in the pole vault area with her at the state meet because they qualified through the District 3 competition. Having that kind of support, the friends who stand in a line with their hands clasped together as you soar to new heights, is vital to Carlson. Advertisement 'I've been training with them for the past few years,' she said. 'Vault Worx has been like a second home, a second family and we are all super close. We're always celebrating each other. 'We understand pole vault is such a hard and intense sport that we're always cheering each other on.' Having a support system like that to lean on is even more important at events like district and state meets, when communicating with coaches is difficult at best. Technology and coaches are not allowed on the infield, so athletes have to communicate through hand signals and shouts across the track as races are run. Carlson will have some additional support at this year's state meet. Her father will be on hand to see her compete in person for the first time since she was a freshman. Advertisement 'He has seen videos, but nothing in person,' she said. 'He's going to help me with my German, and we're going to get rolling.' Let the dreams begin. Shelly Stallsmith covers York-Adams high school sports for GameTimePA and the USAToday Network. Connect with her by email mstallsmith@ or on X, formerly Twitter, @ShelStallsmith. This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: PIAA track and field: Pole vault champ has lofty goals after last meet
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Bermudian Springs' Lily Carlson adds Class 3A state title, PIAA record to resume
Bermudian Springs senior Lily Carlson waited longer than it took for her to win her third PIAA gold medal. Because she passes through the lower heights, she's used to waiting for a while. She relaxes, talks with other competitors who are also her closest friends. She goes through her pole vault journal. Advertisement The competition took a wet turn just as Carlson was beginning to start her warmup routine. And then the clouds grew dark and the rain fell. The tarps came out and talks began about moving the event inside Shippensburg University's Heiges Field House. By the time grounds crew brought out blowers to dry off the runway, the rain came again. It took about 90 minutes before athletes were jumping again. Officials made the decision to wipe the slate clean for girls who had to vault in pouring rain before action was suspended. That included defending champion Veronica Vacca, who opted to start her competition at 12-0. She missed three straight tries and ended up no-heighting. All before Carlson had taken her first jump. Bermudian Springs' Lily Carlson celebrates after setting a state record in the 3A pole vault (14-0.25) during the PIAA Track and Field Championships at Shippensburg University on Friday, May 23, 2025. "I definitely missed out on competing with her," Carlson said of going against Vacca. "I was really looking forward to jumping against her." Advertisement Nineteen minutes after the defending champion and record holder was eliminated, Carlson cleared 12-6 on her first attempt. Six minutes later the last competitor exhausted her attempts and Carlson had won a Class 3A title to go with two Class 2A gold medals. She might have lucked out by waiting to jump because she hadn't started to warm up. She was able to maintain her regular routine instead of having her flow interrupted. Carlson, who will compete at Texas A&M in the fall, completes her career with three District 3 pole vault championships, records in Class 2A and 3A, one Class 2A 100 hurdles title and three PIAA pole vault gold medals. Bermudian Springs' Lily Carlson celebrates after setting a state record in the 3A pole vault (14-0.25) during the PIAA Track and Field Championships at Shippensburg University on Friday, May 23, 2025. And one PIAA record. Advertisement That came on her third attempt at 14-0.25 that broke Vacca's record of 14-0. When it was all said and done, and she missed three attempts to extend the record for 14-3, she credited her friends and people in the stands with helping her make history. "The crowd was absolutely amazing," Carlson said. "I love the excitement. I love the encouragement and everything. It helped me keep up my speed and do what I need to do." More on Carlson: Pole vaulting in the street, competing for native Austria on District 3 champ's bucket list Jumping to gold: New Oxford's Brayden Billman snares first state gold in Class 3A triple jump Advertisement Carlson said everything kind of stops when she clears a height. She sees the bar, hears the crowd and feels the energy. When she cleared 14-0.25, she looked to her family in the stands, her coaches along the fence then ran to her friends. It was clear as she met with media after the medal ceremony that the titles and medals weren't on the horizon when she started on this journey as a freshman. "When I came to VaultWorx after my freshman year, my coach was like, 'yeah, you're going to jump 13 feet. That's going to be the bar to get,'" she said with a laugh. "And then last year, it was 14. So it's been a process. When I started I had no idea what I was getting into. I thought I was terrible for the first year. "And then it all kind of came together. It's been absolutely phenomenal." Advertisement Asked when she thought she will come down from this high, she thinks maybe a week. Before it happens though, there will be celebratory chocolate ice cream and various desserts. And graduation. After that, she's off to new challenges and new heights. This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Bermudian Springs Lily Carlson breaks PIAA pole vault record
