Moorestown junior Hannah Byrd-Leitner, fresh off her record-setting Meet of Champions triumph, placed 4th Saturday at West Philly Nationals at Franklin Field with a 12-7 ½ clearance.
Both Byrd-Leitner and Haddonfield junior Rebecca Hoover earned All-America honors. Hoover cleared 12-3 1/2 and placed 6th.
Byrd-Leitner, who cleared 13-2 to win the Meet of Champions – No. 3 in state history and a New Jersey junior-class record – and Hoover, who cleared 12-8 earlier this year and is No. 3 in South Jersey history – both entered at the opening height of 11-3 ¾ and cleared on their first attempt.
With the bar at 11-9 ¾, Hoover cleared on her 1st try but Byrd-Leitner needed all three tries before getting over the bar.
Byrd-Leitner was then one of three girls to clear 12-3 ½ on their 1st attempt, and Hoover got over on her 2nd try. Byrd-Leitner clinched at worst 5th place by clearing 12-7 ½ on her 2nd try, while Hoover went out at 12-7 ½.
With the bar at 12-11 ½ – just 2 ½ inches off her PR – Byrd-Leitner missed three attempts and wound up as one of four girls to clear 12-7 ½ but not 12-11 ½. Because Brooke Bowers of Forest Hills Central in Grand Rapids, Mich., cleared 11-9 ¾ on her 1st try she finished ahead of Byrd-Leitner, and because Sara Frey of Kennett High in Kennett Square, Chester County, Pa., cleared 12-7 ½ on her 3rd attempt, she finished behind her. It added up to a fantastic 4th-place finish for the Moorestown junior.
Byrd-Leitner and Hoover finished 2nd and 4th among underclassmen. They’re 1st and tied for 2nd in state history among juniors.
Lilyana Carlson of Bermudian Springs High School in York Springs, Pa., Adams County, was the only competitor to clear 12-11 1/2 and she did it on her 1st attempt.
From the Backstretch by Reuben Frank 