Josh Schroder enjoyed the experience of going to the CIF State
Track and Field Championships last season, but the visit was a
little too short for his liking.
Josh Schroder enjoyed the experience of going to the CIF State Track and Field Championships last season, but the visit was a little too short for his liking.
He cleared 14-feet, 4-inches in the pole vault to finish in an eight-way tie for 11th along with teammate Todd Merrigan, but that wasn’t enough to advance him to the finals and give him a shot at the medal stand.
That’s weighed on him all year and the Cal State Northridge-bound senior is ready to make amends today at Sacramento City College’s Hughes Stadium when he makes his second and final run at a state medal.
Schroder is currently ranked fifth in the state in the pole vault with his season-best and school record mark of 15-9 1/4. His qualifying mark of 15-0 has him seeded ninth in the event.
Los Gatos’ junior Nico Weiler – an exchange student from Germany who by CIF rules is competing in his only year of eligibility – comes in as the heavy favorite. His qualifying clearance of 17-6 1/4 is more than five inches better that the state meet record. But Schroder sees no reason why he can’t fall in line shortly after.
“If I can pick it up, there’s a real battle for second place,” Schroder said.
One of the four vaulters ranked ahead of him, St. Francis’ Casey Roche, no-heighted in the West Catholic Athletic League championships to end his season a year after his took third in the state in the event. That leaves Connor Landry (16-2) of Placer and Justin Miller (16-0) of California-San Ramon as the only two other vaulters besides Weiler who have bettered Schroder’s top mark of 15-9 1/4.
“I know what I need to fix, I know what I need to do,” Schroder said after his second-place finish at CCS.
He’s hoping to get himself back to being able to consistently clear 15-6 and will be competing with a little extra motivation and support in the stands this weekend.
“Northridge is going to come up and watch me,” said the future Matador. “That’s exciting.”
The pole vault will kick off the competition with the reporting time set for 12:30pm and the start time schedule for 2pm. The event is expected to last about three hours.
