Memory Lane

I was cleaning my room today when I came across something. Well more than one something, several actually. Things that mean a lot to me. It made me miss the "good ol' days." So will you take a trip with me? Oh it's just down memory lane. To my younger years... Not too far back. Just to high school.

Oh yes, first what I found.


It's not the best of pictures, but you can see what it is. All of my track medals! I have some ribbons around here somewhere, but I'm not completely sure where they are. I will explain each of them to you, because they all have a story. A very special story, at least to me. We will start on the left and work our way to the right.

The first one is the first medal I received for pole vaulting. A silver medal for 2ND place at the Union County track meet. It was also the only medal I earned that year, but I was a freshman in high school. There are four major track meets for high schoolers, not counting invitationals and relays. (We will talk about them next.) First there is conference, where I also placed second that year, but they don't give medals. The top performers are named "All Conference" and get a patch that goes on your letter jacket. (I was all conference all four years placing 2ND three times and 1st once.) Next there is the county meet, which we just mentioned, where all the top performers in the county compete. Then there is regionals. You have to meet a qualifying mark sometime throughout the year to make it to this meet. It is also a make it or break it meet. The top four places move on to the state meet, where the best athletes of the state compete for the title "State Champion". My freshman year I was 5th by a scratch. I was very disappointed, but a senior beat me out. I guess she deserved it more than I did.

The next five medals are from my sophomore year. The first two are from the Queen City Relay meet. Relays and invitationals are usually by invitation only. The invitation goes to the school and then there are requirements by event. Only athletes from those schools who meet the standards are able to compete. (Queen City is the biggest high school invitational in the Charlotte area.) The bronze medal is the only medal I won that amazingly enough was NOT a pole vault medal. I was 3rd place in the shuttle hurdles. (Yes I did more than just pole vault in high school, but it was my main event. So it came first. Hurdles were second and then maybe the 200 or 400 meter or a relay. It really came down to what I was needed in.) The second Queen City medal was first in pole vault! My first gold medal! That was a pretty good day.

Next, (we are at medal number four) was back at the Union County meet, where I once again came in 1st! I must have been on a roll that year because I got 1st at the conference meet too. If I am remembering correctly, that was the year of the Garzonis. My brother, who was a senior, and I broke the school records in the vault almost every meet. Our athletic director told us he was going to change the record board any more until the end of the season because he was tired of changing it. (I got the school record as a freshman and both mine and my brother's records still stand today. You can go to Piedmont's gym and see our names up there!)

The fifth medal was a region medal. After my disappointing 5Th place the year before, I came back to win silver at the regional meet. It wasn't my best day and I should have won, but I have a tendency to never completely choke at big meets, just give them away. Which leads us to the next medal. My pride and joy, but it was bitter sweet. Bronze. It should have been gold like the previous medal. That was my biggest disappointment in my high school competing years. I should have won the state meet. I was ranked first, but again, I choked at the last minute. If I had only done what I did a week earlier, the title would have been mine, but I was never meant to claim State Champion. I guess 3rd would just have to do. (Still pretty impressive though, isn't it?) So ends my sophomore year.

On to junior year! (The next three medals.) Queen City was rainy this year, so there is no medals for that and our coach chose not to go my senior year. That made me sad, I liked that meet. The first medal of that group (number 7 overall) was a county medal, 2ND place. Notice the county got cheap and made the medals MUCH smaller than the previous two years. That was a little disappointing, but a medal is a medal! The next medal has an interesting story. It's the wrong color! I actually got 2ND place, but I was given the 3rd place medal. Why? Funny because I don't know except for the fact that I actually tied for second place. It just so happened that I tied a girl who went to the school that hosted the regional meet. So she was given the 2ND place medal and I was given 3rd. What should have happened is they order another, but who wants to go to that trouble? Talk about annoying!

Next we are back at the state meet! As you can tell by the color, I defended my 3rd place. Again I was a breath away from first place, but like I said earlier, I was not meant to claim State Champion. Although, 3rd in the state two years in a row is pretty good. We all improved a good bit that year. The order flipped a little bit around me. The reigning state champion did not reclaim her title so as you can tell we were all very competitive at this level.

The last two medals are from my senior year. I had issues that year. Well the issue being an injury. I tore a tendon in the bottom of my foot and my arch fell. Talk about painful! How did that happen? Long jumping. We had a rained out meet, well not completely rained out. The vault was rained out. So all the vaulters got to do something else. (On top of our other events.) I got long jump. I not only embarrassed myself, but I also tore my tendon. Not a good thing to do half way through the season.

I placed 2ND at the county meet and the last medal I earned in my high school career was a 3rd place finish at regionals. Now that was a bad day. I had my torn tendon and during warm ups I took off and got rejected. (That means I ended up back on the runway.) That was pretty painful too. I think I bruised my butt bone because that's what I landed on. Then my pole hit me on the top of the head. To get up and place 3rd after that was quite an accomplishment I think. However, the following meet was of course the state meet. Here is where I really choked. The foot was pretty painful at this point. (I didn't go to the doctor until after the season because I didn't want them to tell me I couldn't finish my senior year.) I placed 6Th. No medal for me, but I did get a ribbon. That's more like a "thanks for coming" prize, but again I was 6Th of all the girls in the state that year with an injury and a bad day. Who else can claim that?

Some days I miss it terribly. Others I'm glad it's over. That was the most infuriating yet rewarding sport I've ever participated in. (And I've been in several.) Pole vaulting is unlike anything else. Just try it once and you will be addicted. I know I was! Thanks for taking this little journey with me. I enjoy reliving those days sometimes. Now I just need a place to put all those things. I used to have them on my curtain rod, but I'm getting a new one. So they are about to lose their home. Maybe it's time to find their cases and put them away until I have my own house. One of my dad's future projects is going to be a display case for them.

Bella pictures of the day: Taken by Mommy!
Bella modeling her new pink harness! That she doesn't like.