For her, sky’s the limit

Brenna Lawson was well over the bar, positioned 11 feet and 4 inches above the ground, when she nudged it with her left hip on her final vault.

The bar fell a second after the Lake City High senior hit the padded pole vault pit below. Lawson bounced back up, frustrated that her attempt to break her school record was foiled again last Friday at the Inland Empire League track meet.

“I’m so tired of doing this,” Lawson said to nobody in particular.

After breaking the school record of 11- 1/2 in a season-opening meet when she vaulted 11-1 and breaking her mark 10 days later when she jumped 11-3, Lawson has consistently hovered around 11-0.

Lawson had already captured the league title Friday when she cleared 10-9. She decided to have the bar put at 11-4 so she could take another shot at her record.

“I’ve been a lot more consistent this year than my first three years,” Lawson said.

For that, Lawson is grateful. Although she’s been ranked No. 1 among 5A vaulters all spring, she feels she’s hit a ceiling of sorts since late March.

“It’s frustrating. It’s like I’m on a plateau and stuck at 11,” Lawson said.

LC assistant coach Russ Blank isn’t the least concerned.

“I think she’ll go 12 feet before the season is over,” Blank said.

There’s been symmetry to Lawson’s vaulting career. Her personal best as a freshman was 8-6. She went 9-6 as a sophomore and cleared 10-6 last year. So if the pattern continues, Lawson is bound to hit 11-6 and match the 1-foot improvement she’s made each of the past three years.

“I’d like to go much higher, but if I went 11-6 I’d probably be satisfied with that,” Lawson said.

Lawson credits a background in gymnastics – from age 5 through the eighth grade – with her development as a pole vaulter.

“I love being upside down in the air,” Lawson said.

She has no fear trying to climb a pole that she plants in a metal box after sprinting to the pit area.

Blank thought he would have to hold Lawson out a meet or two after she twisted a knee when a spike on the bottom of her shoe got caught in the landing mat in a meet April 17 at Sandpoint.

“We had to carry her off the field,” Blank said.

Lawson was back jumping four days later at the LC Invite.

“She’s extremely disciplined, a very hard worker and a good leader for the young kids,” LC head coach Kelly Reed said. “She takes her craft very seriously. She’s very competitive. You might not pick that up just visiting with her, but if she doesn’t perform at a high level she takes it pretty tough.”

After taking third when she qualified for the event for the first time as a sophomore, she slipped to sixth last year despite going into the meet seeded second.

She shoulders most of the blame, but she also was the victim of some bad timing. She had cleared 10-0 and the bar was moved to 10-6 when she had to check out to go run a leg on the medley relay. She was given 10 minutes to report back.

The race was behind schedule. She ran her leg and sprinted back to the pole vault as the medley race continued. She was given two minutes to jump. The other competitors had cleared 10-6.

Lawson said she lost focus. She missed on all three consecutive attempts.

“It was very frustrating,” Lawson said.

Blank consoled Lawson by saying she had her senior year to look forward to.

The 5-foot-3 Lawson, a two-year letterman and one-year starter at outside hitter in volleyball, didn’t waste any time committing herself to her senior season. She worked out with Coeur d’Alene High assistant coach Kent Pope twice a week for two months last summer. She also went through a paid conditioning program with a physical trainer, and she attended an indoor practice with Blank once a week during the winter.

“She went to work and it’s paid off,” Blank said.

The more pressure, it seems, the better Lawson jumps.

“She’s really learned how to compete on the third and crucial attempts,” Reed said. “I think that will pay dividends.”

Another training asset has been the fact that Lawson has run on three relays the past two years.

“That was something we discovered by accident when she was a sophomore,” Reed said. “We needed somebody to fill in and we used her. She’s been one of our top relay runners ever since.”

Lawson plans to continue vaulting at the University of Montana where she will walk on with the hopes of earning a scholarship.

“I actually recruited myself,” said Lawson, who carries a 4.1 grade-point average and wants to study something in sports science. “I called the head coach and arranged a visit.”

A poster of former Pocatello resident Stacy Dragila, a 2000 Olympic champion, hangs in a glass case at LC. Lawson looks at the poster often and said Dragila is a role model.

“I want to continue jumping and see how far it takes me,” Lawson said.

For now, Lawson wants to challenge for a state title. She had the second-best qualifying vault (10-6) heading to state a year ago before the unacceptable finish.

“A state title would be exciting, but I try not to think about that because if it doesn’t happen it’d be disappointing,” Lawson said. “I’m just trying to focus on going higher. I think if I do that it (state) will take care of itself.”