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Kloss braves elements in placing fourth
By REUBEN FRANK
Burlington County Times
PHILADELPHIA - Half an hour before Jessica Kloss started pole vaulting yesterday at the Penn Relays, the sky was blue, the wind was calm, the temperature was mild.
Half an hour after Kloss was finished, the conditions were the same.
While she was vaulting?
"Miserable," she said.
The girls invitational pole vault was pretty much about how you could handle the elements. And Kloss, a senior at Moorestown High School, did a better job than most dealing with a driving sideways rainstorm that swept through Franklin Field just long enough to make conditions a challenge for the pole vaulters.
Kloss medalled for the second straight year, this time placing fourth and second among New Jersey athletes with a 11-61/4 clearance. Middletown South's Juliette Toto won at 12-4.
"It was pretty scary out there," Kloss said. "The only thing in the pole vault that scares me is a wet runway. I've seen people break their pole and get hurt trying to vault on a wet runway, so that was on my mind.
"To tell you the truth, I really didn't want to be out there. If I had more confidence and felt better about the conditions, I probably would have done better. But that's the luck of the draw. We just had some bad weather for a little while."
Kloss, who will attend Prince-ton next year, entered at the modest height of 10-61/2. She cleared 11-61/4 before three misses at 12-0. Toto won at 12-4 on misses over Caitlin Hewitt of Greater Latrobe, Pa.
"I actually did better than I expected," said Kloss, who has also long jumped 17-4 and triple jumped 35-9. "I always get intimidated at big meets. There were some really good jumpers here and I wanted to jump with them and I did, so that feels good."
