Pole vaulters set new mark
By Justin Feil, The Packet Group
Emily Shipley and Marlena Sabatino are pole vaulters now, but they first knew each other as gymnasts.
”We’ve known each other for a while,” said Shipley, the Hillsborough High School senior. “I taught her her first back handspring.”
More recently, Shipley encouraged Sabatino to invest some time in the pole vault. It’s paid off as the two combined to win the Group IV state relay championship on Friday at the Bennett Center in Toms River.
”Emily and I were hoping for it,” said Sabatino, a HHS sophomore. “We definitely weren’t expecting it. We’ve been training and we were hoping for it.
”I think it meant a lot to both of us,” she added. “We’re both really happy. I think it was just great to do this so early in the season.”
To make the win even more memorable, the Raiders duo set a meet and state record in the process. Each cleared 11-feet-6 to total 23-feet, a foot better than the former record set in 2008, and equal to the 2008 state record set by Hunterdon Central. Each had good attempts at 12-feet too.
”That’s probably going to last for a long time,” said Raiders head coach Rich Refi. “If they got 24, it might never have been broken. You only get one chance a year, and both have to jump pretty well.”
Shipley and Sabatino jumped so well that they would have placed third in the Group IV boys’ pole vault.
”It was really exciting,” Shipley said. “We knew we were going to do well, but we still had competition. We were pretty excited about the whole thing.
”We both came in at 10-6. Once we cleared our first height, one coach said we had won. We still wanted to get the record. We were still concentrating, but we were excited.”
They knew there was something special because of the delay before they took their attempts at 11-6. While Shipley and Sabatino tried to relax and treat the jump like any other, an official came over and informed them that the extra time and tape measure was required because it would be a state record if both cleared it.
”It made us a nervous just a little bit,” Shipley said. “We knew we had to focus.”
Shipley had finished fifth last year with the since graduated Miranda Reinson, and couldn’t have predicted that a year later she and Sabatino would be winning gold and breaking records.
”We both practice together over the summer at our club team,” Shipley said. “Practices were going well, so we knew it was going to be a good year.”
Sabatino is still a newcomer to the event, but she’s made shockingly quick progress. She did not even compete in winter track and field last year.
”Last spring was the first time I tried pole vaulting,” Sabatino said. “I hadn’t really heard of pole vaulting. I didn’t know if they did it in winter.”
In her first season of pole vault, Sabatino cleared 9-feet-6 and earned the Raiders points with a medals finish at outdoor track and field sectionals. She also started going to Apex Vaulting outside of school with Shipley and Reinson. That dedication paid off for Sabatino.
”Watching her at practice,” Shipley said, “I knew she would be good.”
Sabatino has improved two feet in the last eight months. That improvement keyed the Raiders win in the relay meet.
”I think we were both pretty happy with it,” Sabatino said. “It was pretty nerve-wracking. The beginning of the season is when you figure out where you are and how your training is going to turn out in the meet. I think we’re both pretty happy with how we’ve been jumping.”
Sabatino is enjoying the new event so much that she has stopped competing in gymnastics, the first year without it since she was in third grade. She’s traveling to Apex three times per week with Shipley to make sure that her pole vaulting improvements continue.
”I started training at Apex and I really think that helped me,” Sabatino said. “I hadn’t had any training last year. All my improvement is because I started training there.
”It definitely wasn’t something I expected,” she added of getting 11-6 already. “I knew that my training was going well and I was just hoping it would all pay off. I feel like it did.”
Currently, Shipley and Sabatino are ranked first and second respectively for the best individual jumps in the state. Shipley cleared 11-9 at a dual meet at Lawrenceville last Wednesday, thanks in part to a new technique that she’s been using since last June. They will be competing as a team again on Saturday at Lawrenceville in the Lavino Relays, and they can also help each other aim higher.
”I like having competition,” Shipley said. “It helps me. The fact that she’s a good vaulter, I think we push each other. It definitely helps.”
Added Sabatino: “She definitely helps me so much. At the meets, she helps mentally or with the technique. She helps so much. We knew each other before in gymnastics and I love pole vaulting with her.”
The two accounted for all 10 of the Raiders’ points at the state relays, good enough to place Hillsborough ninth overall. The Raider boys did not have a medalist team.
”We’re improving as the season’s going on,” Refi said. “We wanted to do the best we could. We put in our best lineup.”
Right at the top were the best pole vaulters in the state, something that will make them a target at future meets.
”There’s always going to be pressure if you’re at the top,” Sabatino said, “but I feel like we’ll work through it and try not to let it get to us. We’re going to keep jumping and focusing on pole vaulting.”
Gymnastics gave them a start together, but it’s pole vaulting that is the future for record-setting gold medalists Emily Shipley and Marlena Sabatino.