COLUMBUS — Maria Horrigan had a day to remember Saturday afternoon.
And she’s only a freshman.
The Bowling Green pole vaulter broke her own school record en route to a third-place
finish at the Division I state high school track and field championships. PHOTO
GALLERY
Horrigan
cleared 11-8 to break her mark of 11-6, a height she’s vaulted several times
this season, most recently May 25 at the regional where she finished second.
MEET
RESULTS
Green
junior Morgan Estes won the event with a height of 12-5, while Lewis Center
Olentangy senior Whitney Bice was second. Bice also went 11-8, but had one fewer
misses than Horrigan to break the tie.
Horrigan earned All-Ohio honors for finishing third.
The all-state recognition goes to the top eight finishers in each event at Jesse
Owens Stadium.
“I’m very excited about the day. It’s been a great experience,” said Horrigan, the
only freshman among the 16 state qualifiers. “It was so much fun.”
After skipping the opening height of 9-6, Horrigan joined the competition at 10-0 and
missed her first two jumps — another miss at 10-0 meant she was eliminated from
the event.
Vaulters can start at whatever height they choose, but they only have three attempts
at each height.
Horrigan made 10-0 on her final attempt, and then made 10-6, 11-0 and 11-4 on her
first try. She cleared 11-8 on her second attempt and then missed three of her
attempts at 12-0.
Estes made 12-0 on her first attempt, while Bice also missed three times at 12-0.

“That scared me so much,” Horrigan said of her misses at 10-0. “I pushed myself to
forget about them and told myself I was going to make my next jump. I made
myself go over it. From then on, I was fine. I was thinking about my plant on
those first two jumps too much. I wasn’t really nervous.”
Horrigan’s regional vault was the fourth-best of the state qualifiers. Estes had the
best at 12-5 and only one other vaulter cleared 12-0 at the regionals.
“I stalled out at the end, but the outcome was still good,” Horrrigan said. “I was
scared, a little intimidated — (the bar) was six inches higher than I’ve ever
been. But the other girls kept me going. There was wonderful competition with
all of the girls.”
“I’m really excited for her, just a great day for her,” said BG assistant coach Duff
Madaras, who works with the team’s vaulters. “Once she got over the nerves, she
was fine and her jumps were clean up to 11-8.”
The third-place finish at state capped an outstanding season for Horrigan, who also
set the Tiffin district record with a vault of 11-5 and the Northern Lakes
League record with a jump of 11-3.
Horrigan plans to vault year round. She’ll attend several camps during the off-season
and vault indoors during the winter high school season.
“I’m really hoping to get another foot or two higher by the end of my high school
career,” Horrigan said.
The Division I state record is 13-0 and the Division I state meet record is 12-8.
“This gives me even more motivation for next year,” Horrigan said. “I was hoping for
runnerup or to win, but third is just is good and I’m very excited.”
Perrysburg junior Emily Wyrick and sophomore Taylor Monheim both had 11th-place
finishes in their events.
Wyrick had a time of 2:17.85 in the 800, and Monheim had a time of 11:20.64 in the
3,200.