Pole vaulting is a point of pride at Wissahickon.
That fact was never more evident than at the SOL American Conference championships where the Trojans captured five of the top eight spots in the event.
Junior Se-Jin Joeng finished first with a vault of 13’ while his brother – junior Se-Hee Joeng - was right behind with a vault of 12’6”. Sophomore Chris Ortiz was third (11’6”), sophomore August Lee was fifth (11’) while sophomore John Ostrander was seventh (10’6”).
“Wissahickon always does pretty well with the pole vault, and we work pretty hard at it,” said coach Floyd Garis, who works with the vaulters. “It’s just a really great bunch of kids.”
This year’s strong showing at the league meet came after a not-so-shabby effort last year that saw the Trojans capture second, third and fourth.
“Pretty much every year we do pretty well in pole vault and the hurdles,” Garis said. “I have worked pretty hard at it and studied it. It’s a very intricate event with a lot of physics involved with it.
“I was never a pole vaulter myself, but I was very interested in it. When I first started coaching, the coach I replaced said, ‘You have a good team coming back. You have everything except pole vaulters.’ So I decided at that time that I was going to learn everything I could about pole vaulting and try and develop some pole vaulters.”
The results speak for themselves. Three Wissahickon pole vaulters have won the Penn Relays and several have won the state meet.
“It is unusual to have five out of the eight finishers,” Garis said. “All of these kids love it. Only two are going to the district meet, but I’m sure all five will be out there because they’re continually working to try and improve themselves.”
At districts this weekend, Se-Jin Joeng finished 10th with a vault of 13’6” while Se-Hee Joeng finished in a tie for 16th with a vault of 12’ 6”.
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