By MIKE FINNEY
Staff reporter
05/19/2001

WOODSIDE - The parking lot at Polytech High was almost empty except for that big yellow school bus from Christiana.

After all the track heats had been contested and the other field events were over at the end of the first day of the Delaware High School Track and Field Championships on Friday, the battle for first place in the girls pole vault raged on.

For the 25 or so spectators still around, Christiana's Rachel Alley put on a record-breaking show. She vaulted over a bar set at 9 feet, 7 inches to set a state record, surpassing the 9-6 both she and Seaford's Reagan Hastings cleared earlier this season.

"My goal when I started pole vaulting my sophomore year was to get a state record and I finally got it," said a relieved Alley, now a senior. "I was very confident coming into this meet.

"I knew it was a matter of having the right competition. I knew if I was pushed I'd have a chance at the record."

Alley was involved in a battle with her teammate and best friend Kristin Tunell and Cape Henlopen's Katherine DeVilbiss.

Tunell and DeVilbiss both reached 8-6 before falling out.

Alley cleared 8-6 and kept on climbing. She went over 9-3 and 9-7 on her first attempts. She came up short in her three attempts with the bar at 10 feet.

And even though she etched her name into the record book, Alley had strong feelings for Tunell.

"It's very tough," Alley said. "It's very straining on our friendship sometimes."

Tunell said she has gotten her chance before and is not bitter.

"I won at the New Castle County meet last week and this year she won the states," Tunell said. "Last year, I won the states and she won the county meet. We just sort of flip-flopped."

A couple of hours before Alley achieved her record, Hastings cleared 9 feet to set a short-lived meet record.

"I was looking for a 10 [feet] because I cleared that in a tri-meet with Cape Henlopen and Sussex Central earlier this season," said Hastings. "It really doesn't bother me. I know I did the best I could."

Alley does not know how long her record will stand.

"I took up pole vaulting my sophomore year and it was just starting," she said. "Back then a lot of girls stayed away from the pole vault, but now they are seeing that they can do it. And the coaches are learning how to teach it to the athletes so we keep reaching new heights all the time."

One of the teams reaching new heights at the state track meet could be Ursuline, which is seeking its 11th straight Division II team title.

The team of Julie Taylor, Kim Whalen, Kathleen McLaughlin and Colleen Taylor won the 3,200 relay in 10:06.90 to get the Raiders off to a strong start.

Caesar Rodney's 3,200 relay team of Kashante Codner, Stephanie Garcia, Jill Hajec and Samantha Morrison got the Riders off to a quick start in Division I by winning in 9:52.31.

Today, it is a race to see which teams can finish fast.

Reach Mike Finney at 734-7945 or send an e-mail.