Methacton pole vaulter Camaryn Rodriguez survives wind gusts at District 1 track and field championships and is headed to PIAA state meet

Samantha Rodriguez didn’t know it at the time, but the late-blooming Division I path traveled by her daughter, Camaryn, now a senior pole vaulter at Methacton, began years ago in the playground of a fast-food restaurant.

“When she was a toddler,” Samantha Rodriguez said, “she was a wild child, running and jumping off of everything, climbing everything. Before she could even walk, she’d climb up the Burger King playground. She’d just disappear up there as a 10-month old.”

Despite the blustery conditions on Friday at the District 1 championships at Coatesville, Rodriquez, who will compete at West Virginia University next year, claimed second place and advanced to next weekend’s PIAA championships at Shippensburg University.

Hatboro-Horsham senior Allison Riches claimed first, clearing 12 feet, while Rodriguez and her teammate, fellow senior Nickie Annelli, both cleared 11-feet-6.

Rodriguez, who didn’t start the pole vault until her junior year, started her athletic career in gymnastics when she was 3.

“My mom got tired of me doing flips around the house,” said Rodriguez.

During her sophomore year in high school, however, an injury to her right wrist forced her to quit the sport she loved.

Next, Rodriguez tried competitive diving but said the passion just wasn’t there. A friend suggested the pole vault, citing several examples of former gymnasts who transitioned well into the event. Annelli, who will compete at East Stroudsburg University next year, was also a gymnast first.

“I tried it. I loved it, and now I’m going to do it in college,” Rodriguez said with a smile.

Friday’s windy conditions presented problems, especially for Rodriguez, who is coming off a stress fracture in her lower back that cost her the entire 10-week indoor track season.

She nearly ran out of time for her second attempt at 11-6 as she waited for the wind to diminish. During that round, she said, vaulters got just 60 seconds from when the bar is set to make an attempt.

“So I was just waiting there, like, ‘All right. Any day now,’ ” she said. “And it never stopped, so I had to go.”

Almost on cue, her blonde hair whipped across her face from left to right as she spoke.

The power of the wind, she said, made her pole tilt to the right, preventing her from planting it in the pit so she could jump.

For safety reasons, she never left her feet, and the attempt counted as a miss. She had already qualified for states when she cleared 11 feet.

She did eventually clear the bar on her third and final attempt at 11-6.

Her mom, however, isn’t ready to hear anything related to the word “final.”

Samantha Rodriguez said she took over as the Methacton girls’ pole vault coach last year because the girls’ team didn’t have a coach and thus weren’t going to field any competitors.

She didn’t know much about the event but knew her daughter and teammates wanted to compete. She studied the event on her own but also credited Brian Mondschein of the Philadelphia Jumps Club with helping her learn.

Mondschein, also in attendance Friday, said his club coached about 19 of the 21 girls who competed Friday, including Riches, Annelli and talented Owen J. Roberts freshman Brooke Corson, who finished fourth on Friday.

Samantha Rodriguez said she plans to continue as the coach even after her daughter graduates. She’s just not ready to think about the end just yet.

“I try not to think too much about this being [Camaryn’s] last districts and the last states,” Samantha Rodriguez said, “because then I get teary-eyed and emotional. So I’m trying to keep that under control. It’s been a whole lot of fun watching her grow.”

Girls Class 2A 100 and 200 meters: Thelma Davies, the Girard College senior star, will compete at LSU next year.

Girls’ Class 3A triple jump: Christina Warren, the Perkiomen Valley senior, will try to win a third straight championship.

Boys’ Class 3A 4x100 relay: Coatesville finished as the top American team at the Penn Relays last month.