May 26, 2002 By Jim Downey 4 min read

SHIPPENSBURG – Jocelyn Lindsay won the first ever PIAA Class AA gold medal in girls pole vaulting as a freshman. The Waynesburg Central senior capped her illustrious career Friday morning at Shippensburg University’s Seth Grove Stadium by vaulting 12-feet for her second Class AA title. Lindsay’s performance set the stage for local vaulters at the PIAA Individual Track and Field Championships. Waynesburg teammate Nathan Freedman capping his stellar career later that day with a silver in the boys Class AA competition while Brandon Mahoney of Laurel Highlands marked his first trip to the state meet by finishing seventh in Class AAA Saturday afternoon.

Lindsay topped the bar at 11-feet as a freshman back in the 1999 season for the gold, but was unable to claim the top spot in the past two years with a pair of silver medals. The Purdue University recruit was excited to cap her career as she started it.

“It was a great feeling (to win the gold medal). I came here and did what I wanted to do. It was great to start out my freshman year and make my mark. It’s hard to win more than once. You have to do your best to get here,” Lindsay said.

Lindsay made her hardest jump at 10-6 when she entered the competition. With the initial vault out of the way, it was down to work for the four-time WPIAL Class AA champion.

“I was nervous. Everybody has that feeling of no-heighting. The no-heighting played a lot with my mind with the senior thing,” explained Lindsay.

“There were still 10 people at 10-6. The 10-6 vault was a feeling of relief. I told myself ‘I’m in the competition now.’ When I made 11-6, it was ‘Yes, I came in here and I won.’ I was so focused on doing my best here.”

The 10 vaulters at 10-6 whittled down to only four at 10-9. Fourth-place finisher Amy Gilliland of Tyrone dropped out at 10-9, then Hanover’s Leandra Golden and St. Pius X’s Marissa Dudek topped out at 11-feet.

Lindsay and the field benefited from ideal weather conditions with blue skies and a nice tail wind.

“There was a tail wind. Pole-vaulters benefit from that. The wind made me more confident mentally. Today was the best weather of the whole season.”

All Lindsay had to do was top 11-6 and did so with ease. The senior admitted she’ll miss the high school competition, but was satisfied with what she had accomplished and was ready to move on.

“It’s so scary. I’m so used to going to these meets,” Lindsay said. “It’s a real honor to be participating in Purdue track and field. It’s time for me to move on.”

Freedman, like Lindsay, advanced to the state finals all four years. The senior was only one of two Class AA vaulters to top 14-feet. Freedman finished second at 14-6 while gold medallist Kurt Dunn of Towanda established a new state record by topping the bar at 14 feet, 10 inches.

All was right with Freedman until his final three attempts at 14-9. He wasn’t really sure what went awry.

“I felt pretty good up until the end,” last year’s bronze medallist said. “I would have liked to have gone 15-1 today. The kind of person I am, I guess, is I’m never satisfied.”

Mahoney was one of three vaulters to finish at 14-feet. The Laurel Highlands junior hit the bar on the way up on his first two events, and didn’t release the pole on his third attempt. When misses were figured in, Baldwin’s Ryan Wotus was sixth and Lower Dauphin’s Matt Condran ended up eighth. Boyertown’s Adam Bingaman was the gold medallist with a vault of 15-feet.

While the tail wind benefited Lindsay, Mahoney said the wind was giving him some problems.

“There was too much of a back wind for me. I was shooting through my pole,” Mahoney said.

Mahoney was satisfied he was able to accomplish what he set out to do all the while in front of the largest crowd he had ever vaulted in front of.

“I just wanted to medal. It would’ve been nice to be first, but I still have another year. I wasn’t really nervous. This was a lot more people than I’m used to, but it didn’t really get to me.”

Bethlehem Liberty’s Lauren Birckhead won the Class AAA girls pole vault gold medal with a vault of 11-3.