Junior Keisa Monterola broke the Big Sky Conference indoor record for the women’s pole vault, with a jump of 14-4 on Saturday (Jan. 28), at the UW Team Invitational in Seattle, Wash. The jump automatically qualified her for the NCAA Championships on Mar. 9 in Boise, Idaho.“The whole Dempsey Center wanted to see a national class jumper perform this weekend,” said head coach Stan Kerr.
And perform she did. Along with breaking the conference record, originally held by Montana State’s Elouise Rudy (14-1 1/4), Monterola improved on her EWU school record and the indoor Venezuelan record. The Clackamas Community College transfer is now just a heartbeat away from the Olympic B-standard of 14-5 1/4.
Monterola wasn’t the only women’s vaulter to have a big meet. Robin Taylor earned herself a new personal record of 12-6 1/4, good enough to be one of Eastern’s seven athletes who qualified for the Big Sky Conference Championships.
The championships will be held in Flagstaff, Ariz., Feb. 24-25
“Robin is a talented vaulter,” said Kerr. “We’ve been watching her develop for a bit, and she finally punched through her plateau. She came off the pit with a mile-wide grin on her face. She’ll never forget that feeling. 13 feet is her next goal.”
