EDMONTON – Texas A&M’s freshman tandem of Sara Kathryn Stevens and Audie Wyatt both turned in silver medal performances in the pole vault on Friday during the Pan Am Junior Championships held at Foote Field.
Stevens (New Braunfels, Texas) placed second in the women’s pole vault as she cleared 13-1 ½ (4.00). Robeilys Peinado of Venezuela won the competition with a clearance of 13-5 ¼ (4.10).
Peinado was the Pan Am Juniors silver medalist in 2013 when she matched the meet record height of 14-5 ¼ (4.40). While Peinado entered the competition with a season best of 15-1, she had three misses at 13-9 ¼ (4.20) when she was the only vaulter remaining.
The bronze medalist, Juliana Campos of Brazil, matched the height by Stevens, but needed two attempts to get over the 13-1 ½ bar after clearing three previous heights on first attempts.
Stevens opened with a first attempt clearance at 12-5 ½ (3.80), and then needed three tries at 12-9 ½ (3.90). When Stevens made 13-1 ½ on her first attempt she locked up second place as her and Campos both missed 13-5 ¼.
Wyatt cleared 17-6 ½ (5.35) as runner-up in the men’s pole vault as U.S. teammate Paulo Benavides claimed the victory with a clearance of 17-8 ½ (5.40). Ecuador’s Jose Velez matched the 17-6 ½ clearance of Wyatt, but an earlier miss at 16-6 ¾ (5.05) left Velez in the bronze medal spot.
Opening at 16-6 ¾, Wyatt had first attempt clearances at that height as well as 17-0 ¾ (5.20), 17-4 ½ (5.30) and 17-6 ½. Meanwhile, Benavides started with two attempts at 16-4 ¾ (5.00), then had first attempt makes at 16-8 ¾ (5.10), 17-0 ¾ and 17-4 ½ (5.30).
When Benavides missed at 17-6 ½, he passed his next attempt and managed to clear 17-8 ½ on his first try. Wyatt missed on his first jump at 17-8 ½ and passed to 17-10 ½ (5.45), where two misses left him in second place.
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics