Margaretta pole vault star Kenna Stimmel keeps raising the bar

When it's Kenna Stimmel's turn to pole vault, Margaretta coach Todd Pooch stops what he's doing and makes sure to watch. Often, his junior standout will do something he's never seen before. "Watching her jump, it's one of those special moments," Pooch said. "Seeing her hanging upside down, there's not too many kids you see in high school able to do that. And this is a once-in-a-lifetime athlete in the pole vault." That was the case Tuesday: Stimmel pole vaulted 13 feet, 8 inches, her personal best and the highest height ever jumped by an Ohio girls high school outdoor track athlete. It doesn't go down as a state record (which currently is 13-6) because it occurred in a dual meet at Oak Harbor — five or more teams need to be present for an official OHSAA record. Still, though, Stimmel showed that more history is certainly within reach. "She's gonna be that height or right around there at most or all meets," Pooch said. "It was no surprise." pic.twitter.com/wAGkVJuSyi — Margaretta Athletics (@mhspolarbears) April 7, 2021 Stimmel entered the outdoor track season riding high off an indoor national championship on Feb. 28. She jumped 13 feet, 11.25 inches on her third and final try to win at the adidas Indoor Nationals. There weren't any jumps last spring for Stimmel, though, due to the COVID-19 cancellation of spring sports in Ohio. That meant, before last week, the talented junior hadn't pole vaulted in outdoor track for the Polar Bears since her freshman season in 2019. As a freshman, Stimmel was a state champion and set an Ohio Division III record at 13 feet, 0.25 inches. She went on to finish fifth at outdoor nationals. With all that context in mind, Pooch said April 1 that Stimmel was looking "as strong as ever." She proved him right by setting a school record. "As a coach, I'm never gonna see this again in pole vault," Pooch said. "I'm trying to just savor every moment of it. I'm just like everybody else at the meets. Her dad does such a great job coaching her. I'm just a spectator as she's jumping." Stimmel's goals are higher than just the state record, Pooch said. She wants to be the first girl in Ohio to hit the 14-foot mark, and he expects she'll do just that. She nearly cleared 14-1 Tuesday. First, though, there's the matter of the official state record. Margaretta competes at the Lakota Invitational on Friday. Pooch doesn't know why it takes an invitational for records to count on the state level, but it won't matter if Stimmel repeats her feat from earlier in the week. For Stimmel, it's not so much a matter of "if" as "when." "The sky's the limit," Pooch said. "We anticipate her being over 14 feet."