If you were looking for a prohibitive favorite going into the State Track and Field Championships, Del Norte’s versatile Paige Echsner would be a good one.
She isn’t just the state girls pole vault leader at 13-feet,10-inches, she’s almost a foot ahead of her nearest challenger.
But as has been the case for the last decade or longer in the county, she isn’t alone. In fact, her teammate Caitlin Khieu, and Rancho Bernardo’s Sophie Humer are also headed north to Clovis along with six boys.
The top three finishers in Saturday’s section championships automatically qualified but there are at-large standards and all six boys cleared at least 15-feet, 2-inches, with San Dieguito’s Dylan Yarbrough scoring a major upset when he beat state No. 2 Kai Anderson of University City on misses at 16-2.
So, what is going on with the quality and quantity in the San Diego Section?
“I don’t know,” said Echsner, who cleared 13-5 in the section championships before asking the bar to be placed at 14-1, which would have been a school record.
“These things run in cycles and we’ve been on a good cycle for a while. We have good coaches, too. My coach (Tim Ngo) is good and I know the Rancho Bernardo coach (Tom Martin) is also very well-respected.”
Indeed, Anderson won the boys’ event last year at 16-8 and Echsner was second for the girls at 13-5.
But this year Echsner will be the prohibitive favorite after she cleared 13-10 at home in the Division 1 championships.
Actually, Del Norte High is a bit of a pole vault Mecca as three of the all-time best marks in San Diego Section history were achieved there. Rancho Bernardo’s Ashley Callahan needed to go 14-6 — the section record — to beat Del Norte’s Allison Leigh (14-0) in the 2021 Division championships.
Not only has Echsner gone that 13-10, she has been over 13 feet a whopping 10 times this season. Compare that to Burlingame’s Avery Boyse who is the only other girls’ vaulter to sky over 13-feet with an even 13-0. Her next best mark is 12-6.
Khieu sits with a group of three vaulters who have cleared 12-9 and Humer is in a three-way tie for the seventh-best mark at 12-6.
The good news for Khieu and Humer is they are both juniors and the rest of the top 11 competitors will be competing in college next fall, including Echsner, who will make the short trip up to UCLA after g with the Bruins over Cal, Texas, UConn and North Carolina.
She actually made it two state meets where she could have competed in two events, qualifying with an at-large time in the 300-meter hurdles.
But Echsner scratched the event for state to focus on the vault.
“I hurdled because it was a challenge and an event I could do in addition to vaulting,” she said. “I broke the school record when I went 43.33 in the Palomar League finals, but then I broke it again when I ran 43.10 in the section meet
“The state meet pole vault record is 14-2 and I really want that. The last seven meets I’ve tried for the school record at 14-1, but couldn’t clear it.”
She may try something unusual, even for her.
“I’ve been using a new Essx pole and I really like it, it gives me more pop,” said Echsner. “Who knows, if I win and can try for a record height, I just might try that pole. But I’ve used a Pacer pole all four years of high school, so I’ll probably stick with that.”
Decisions, decisions, decisions.
As for the boys, having double the number of entries isn’t that surprising as the section has three vaulters over 16-feet among the top 9 in the state.
Anderson’s 17-1 clearance is just an inch behind the section record of 17-2 by La Costa Canyon’s Garrett Brown in 2021. However, in the section finals Yarbrough, who has a best of 16-3, edged out the UC senior because he cleared 16-2 with fewer misses.
Behind them and going to state are St. Augustine’s Joseph Sbuttoni IV (16-2), Torrey Pines’ Tyler Subar (15-9), Grossmont’s Torin Sotelo (15-6) and Ramona’s Parker Doomey (15-6).
Pittsburg High’s Khaliq Muhammad is the pre-event favorite after clearing 17-2 and posting seven performances over 17-feet. He cleared 17-1 in his section championships.
