Mackenzie Magness’s visit to the PIAA track and field championships last season ended with her winning a gold medal in the pole vault.
Her return trip Saturday ended in controversy.
Magness, a junior at Freeport, had another successful performance by finishing as the Class 2A girls runner-up, but she fought back tears afterwards when talking about an incident involving the winner, Grove City’s Aleah Morgante.
“I’m proud of myself because there was a lot of outside noise that happened today,” Magness said. “There was a whole protest on the runway, and we almost didn’t get to warm up because of her. A lot of playing games. I personally don’t think it’s fair. People who saw that know that. But I’m proud of myself for fighting back to get back up to second.”
Morgante’s protest stemmed from a situation involving Cranberry’s Darien Wenner, who was taking part in the 3,200-meter relay at the same time. Wenner took her first jump attempts early in the rotation so she could make it to the track in time to run — rainy weather forced the pole vault to be contested indoors in a building adjacent to Shippensburg’s Seth Grove Stadium.
However, Magness said it was believed Wenner and her team would run in the first heat of the relay. They ended up running in the fourth, causing her to be away from the pole vault for more than an hour while the pole vault athletes sat and waited.
“The rule is, if you’re sitting more than an hour, you get to warm up again and get some jumps on the runway,” Magness said. “All we wanted to do was just a few three-steps. We weren’t even going to do a full vault thing.”
Morgante, though, would not stand for it, so she sat instead.
“I step on the runway, she comes over and sits down on the runway, in protest, crying because she didn’t want us to warm up because she thought it was unfair,” Magness said, “but really, that’s just the rule. All the other coaches knew that, but her coach was fighting for her to … I don’t even know what they were fighting for because we were literally just taking run-throughs.”
Morgante, who is coached by her father, C.J., sat on the runway for close to 40 minutes, Magness said. And when she got up, there were no warmups.
When the event resumed, Morgante and Magness were among five vaulters who cleared 11 feet, 6 inches, and the only two who succeeded at 12 feet. While Magness came up short in all of attempts at 12-6, Morgante soared to the win after clearing 13-0 1/2. Wenner finished sixth.
Magness, the three-time reigning WPIAL champion, claimed the PIAA title last season when she also landed a top vault of 12-0. Morgante placed third. Magness vaulted a personal-best 12-7 earlier this season. Only five vaulters in WPIAL history have gone higher.
While Magness was frustrated, she said she was happy with how she fought through the adversity.
“It’s unfair. It’s unsportsmanlike,” she said. “And then there was just a lot of other talk and other stuff that happened that I just think was not right. But I’m proud of myself for fighting back and getting second.”
This story will be updated.