Records, as they say, are meant to be broken. Sometimes those records stand for years or even decades. Other times, just days.
In the North Hills girls track program, that’s certainly been prevalent over the last couple of weeks.
On April 24, North Hills junior Delaney Flanigan broke a 22-year-old school record in pole vault with a mark of 10 feet, 8.5 inches, taking down a mark set by Melissa Gibson in 2004.
“It was amazing,” said Flanigan. “The feeling was surreal, and I’d do anything to feel that again.”
She will have the chance to break the school record again, but it won’t be her own.
Flanigan wasn’t atop the record book all too long. Just days after snapping a mark that stood for over two decades, Flanigan’s teammate, Jocelyn Sauers, narrowly clipped her mark to set a new record.
“We love each other,” said Sauers. “We’re great teammates, and we’re great friends. We’re super supportive of each other. When (Flanigan) got the record, we were all super excited. When I got the record, she wasn’t there, but she texted me right after and was like, ‘Congrats on the school record and personal record.’”
The two have developed a bit of an intra-team rivalry, but it’s one built on mutual admiration.
“We try to have that rivalry,” said Jason Hillegas, North Hills’ pole vault coach. “But they’re pretty good friends. They’re pretty good sports, too. When we go to a competition, they’re there to compete. But they know a lot of other girls that compete with them. And so it’s always friendly. They’re always trying to boost them up and help those girls out too and encourage them with their jumps.”
The world of pole vaulting is a small community, with Pittsburgh-based club Steel City Pole Vault providing a training ground for those looking to better themselves in the event.
“They do year-round training there,” said Sauers. “I’ll train there during the summer. During the fall, whenever I was doing cross country, I went up there and worked on that after some of my practices. It’s just been really helpful.”
Sauers estimates that the majority of the pole vaulters competing at this week’s WPIAL track and field championships are all connected through the club. So when the meet comes, there are plenty of familiar faces. But that doesn’t mean she or Flanigan are holding back when it comes to breaking the newly set record.
“It’s fairly easy to work with them,” said Hillegas of his two top pole vaulters. “They’ve had a lot of knowledge about the sport that really helps them. When they come to practice each day, they’re prepared and ready to go.”
For Flanigan, getting a chance to compete at the WPIAL meet will be somewhat redemptive. She qualified a year ago as a sophomore, but had to pull out of the event due to injury.
“It was pretty hard,” she said. “I really tried to get back. I just can’t think much about the injury. I just have to execute the vault.”
Both girls grew up doing gymnastics, which cultivated their desire for the high-flying, daredevil event they’re excelling in now.
“It’s really fun to just fly,” said Sauers. “You don’t realize how high you’re going until you look at it in videos and you’re like, ‘Whoa, that’s cool.’”
Added Flanigan: “It doesn’t scare me. I’ve always thought that if there’s a will, there’s a way. I always knew that if I wanted to achieve something, that I can if I put the work in.”
The two girls are not only connected through their sport, but also through their desire to give back.
After suffering a dog attack as a younger child, Sauers — who went through hours of emergency surgery — now does fundraisers for animal charities, such as Animal Friends, as a way of reinforcing her love for animals.
Flanigan, meanwhile, desires to become a teacher one day and works with the A.W. Beattie Career Center, which offers high school students hands-on experience in childcare and education through its ECE program.
Their abilities on the track, but more so their personalities on and off of it, has fostered a deep appreciation for one another.
“My favorite thing about Jocelyn is a lot of things, actually,” said Flanigan. “Her kindness, her feedback from our vaults together. She’s a great partner in warmups, too.”
The two friends will continue to focus on their craft of pole vaulting with hopes of bringing a WPIAL title to North Hills and, perhaps, another quickly fallen record in the event to go with it.
“I’m just super excited,” said Sauers. “We get the chance to compete with a bunch of other very good pole vaulters.”