Hinsdale's Lacock Wins Pole Vault Title

Hinsdale High School was home to an amazing athlete and academic scholar over the past twelve years. Few have equaled her prowess in athletics or her knowledge in the classroom.

Bethany Lacock qualified for the State Track and Field Meet in seven events but had to choose five of the events in which she and her coach Gordon Hawks thought she would have the best opportunity to either win or place.

Hinsdale's Collegiate All-American pole vaulter Kirk Capdeville helped Hawks coach Bethany in this event. Bethany won at 9-07 then tried 9-10 for the school record but couldn't quite get over the bar.

Of the five events Bethany got on the podium five times.

Bethany was the only Class C girl to qualify in five events. There was one girl in Class AA who qualified five events. Bethany was the only person at the meet to get on the podium in five events.

She won the pole vault event, tied for second in the high jump and took second in the 100m hurdles, getting edged out by just 4/100ths of a second. It's a very bad thing for Bethany that her opponent had a longer nose because that is literally the length that decided the winner." Bethany told me "I was a little behind going into the last hurdle and that is when I usually catch up but that girl was just too fast."

She ran sixth in the 100-meter dash and placed fifth in the triple jump.

At this level, most athletes will get to state in one and maybe two events. Getting there in five events is awesome but can get extremely tiring. Even 18 year-old legs have their limitations and to have to run the 100 during the high jump and to run the 100 hurdles a little before the triple jump is just brutal.

I'm not making excuses for anything Bethany accomplished or didn't accomplish. In every event she did her very level best and had her personal record in the pole vault. You just can't do better than that.

I'm really going to miss writing about this remarkable young athlete.

Other athletes from Hinsdale making the trip to the State Meet were Courtney Capdeville, Payton Chopper, Dallas Capdeville, Lukas Johnson, Kyle Albus, Brett Johnson, Wyatt Pattison (who should not have questioned his GPS), Anthony Sones, Cache Younkin Val Robert, Pablo Pascual, Hannes Siefert. Josi Ellger, German exchange student qualified in the long jump but had to return home instead.

That's it for now folks. Thanks for listening.