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Jump-off point for Prairie’s Bier at state meet

Bier prevails in a pole vault tiebreaker at state

By Greg Jayne, Columbian Opinion Page Editor
Published: May 28, 2010, 12:00am

TACOMA — Prairie’s Blake Bier had never heard of a jump-off before, but now he kind of likes them.

Bier won the pole vault at the Class 3A state track and field meet Thursday at Mount Tahoma High School with a winning mark of 14 feet, 6 inches. But it was the height of 14-3 that mattered most.

Bier and Tyler Wilson from Shadle Park of Spokane both cleared 14-6 but then missed three times at 14-9. That necessitated a jump-off for the title, with both athletes attempting 14-6; they missed. The bar went down to 14-3 and, after a miss by Wilson, Bier easily cleared the jump to win a state title.

And what was he thinking as he fell to the mat?

“I was like, ‘Oh my God. Yay! Please pole, don’t hit the bar. Please pole, don’t hit the bar,” Bier said.

The fact that the last several rounds of the event were contested in a downpour added to the intrigue. Bier cleared 14 feet as the rain began to fall, and then cleared 14-6.

Jason Jones of Camas cleared 13-6 and finished fourth. Jones, Bier and Wilson had entered the meet with marks of 14-6 from last week’s qualifying meets, sharing the No. 1 seed.

“It’s really tough when it rains,” Bier said. “We normally cancel the pole vault when it rains. It’s like, ‘Am I going to fall off my pole?’ You have to concentrate and really rip it.

“I was thinking I could go 15-6, but then it started to rain.”

In other boys action at the Class 2A, 3A and 4A meets:

• Kyle Boe of Columbia River finished fifth in the 3A 3,200 meters.

“That was stupidly painful,” Boe said after finishing in 9:14.36 and being edged out at the line for fourth place. “I ran the race I wanted to the first four laps. But when they took off, it’s mentally demoralizing.

“It’s tough, when you think you’re already moving, to tell yourself to go faster.”

Ben Johnston from North Central of Spokane won a scintillating race in 8:58.68, edging Drew O’Donoghue-McDonald of Seattle Prep, who finished in 8:58.80.

Boe said: “I don’t want to make excuses. I just didn’t run fast enough.”

Josh Reiter of Camas finished 13th.

• Dylan Croeni of Washougal finished fifth in the 2A 3,200, a race in which Todd Jackson of Elma finished more than six seconds ahead of the field.

Croeni, who came in as the 14th seed based upon qualifying times, finished in 9:29.59, improving his season best by more than 10 seconds.

• Mikey Lauritzen of Camas recorded the second-best qualifying time in the 3A 110-meter hurdles. Lauritzen finished in 14.92 seconds, while Montez McGee of West Seattle ran a 14.69.

• William Davis of Woodland finished second in his heat of the Class 2A 110-meter hurdles, advancing with the fifth-best time at 15.41.

• Skyview reached the finals of the 1,600 relay, advancing with the No. 3 qualifying time at 3:19.60. Federal Way set a meet record at 3:15.26.

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