Daisy Glasser looks for big finish (FL)

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http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/s ... 9288.shtml

Episcopal's Glasser looks for big finish

Pole vault record-holder returns to the same track for regional meet.

By JEFF ELLIOTT, The Times-Union

Episcopal pole vaulter Daisy Glasser returns to the site of the greatest accomplishment of her still-blossoming career when she and her Eagles teammates compete in the Region 1-2A track and field meet at Bolles today.

In a meet at Bolles in February, Glasser cleared 12 feet, 9 inches to establish the all-time Jacksonville-area record for a female vaulter. It also ties the second-best Florida high school vault ever, exceeded only by a jump of 13-11/2 by Lacy Jansen, who went on to win a pair of NCAA pole vault titles at Florida State.

Glasser said she's excited about returning to Bolles.

"It's really a favorable place to vault," said Glasser, the Times-Union All-First Coast female track athlete of the year in 2006. "I'm a little disappointed that I haven't reached that height since then, but I've been working on a technical part of my vaulting. I'm doing two-thirds of my vault perfectly, but the last third, the inversion phase, is holding me back and needs a lot of improvement."

Today's competition is the last one in the city for Glasser, a three-year vaulter for Episcopal since transferring from Douglas Anderson after her freshman year, when she competed for Wolfson. She's also running the 100-meter hurdles today, intent on helping Episcopal qualify several athletes for next weekend's state meet, where the Eagles will be one of the team favorites. But she'd like to finish with one of her best vaults before she closes out her career

"I really feel I'm peaking at the right time," said Glasser, who will attend Florida next fall on a track scholarship. "With the way I've been training and the poles I've been using, I feel I can potentially have my best meets in these last two phases of the state championship series."

That won't be the last you'll hear from Glasser, said Episcopal coach Pat Crandall.

"As soon as she irons out the last few flaws of her technique, she'll be among the best NCAA vaulters in the country," Crandall said. "Her dedication and focus on the event is almost ridiculous. We have to tell her to cut back sometimes. She pushes herself so much. She's not even close to her potential yet."

Preliminaries at today's 2A regional meet start at 1 p.m., with the finals set for 7 p.m. The pole-vaulting competition begins at 3 p.m.

The top four finishers in each event qualify for the Class 2A state meet on Friday, April 27, at Winter Park, an Orlando suburb.