Nice indoor PR for Villanova’s Ashley Preston Sunday!
The Delsea graduate, now a Villanova sophomore, cleared 13-1 1/2 in the pole vault at the Wesley A. Brown Invitational at Navy’s fieldhouse in Annapolis, and 13-1 1/2 is significant in PV circles because it’s 4.00 meters, and that’s a big plateau for vaulters.
Preston’s previous indoor PR was 12-7 1/2, which she hit twice last winter – at a meet last January at Ocean Breeze and again when she won Big East indoors at SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.
Preston has an outdoor PR of 13-2 1/4 from last May, when she won outdoor Big Easts at Icahn Stadium at Randall’s Island in Manhattan.
On Sunday, Preston and Charlene Morke of Navy both cleared 13-1 1/2, with Morke winning on fewer misses. They both tied the facility record set two years ago by Hailey Sweatman of South Carolina.
Preston’s clearance moves her up to No. 5 performance in school history indoors, and she’s the No. 3 performer, behind Alexandra Wasik (13-10 1/4 in 2015) and Ashlyn Llerandi (13-5 3/4 in 2010). She’s No. 6 in Wildcat history outdoors.
Preston leads the Big East so far this season. Julie Clayton of Marquette is second at 12-10 3/4 and nobody else has cleared 12 feet.
On Sunday, Preston passed the first four heights, then cleared 12-1 1/2 on her first try, 12-5 1/2 on her second and 12-9 1/2 and 13-1 1/2 on her third. She took two tries at 13-5 1/4 — that’s 11 total jumps – before passing her final attempt and calling it a day.
Morke entered the competition at 11-9 3/4 and didn’t have a miss until 13-5 1/4.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 