Freeport freshman pole vaulter Magness already turning heads with her performance

By: Michael Love
Friday, April 19, 2024 | 5:27 PM

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If opposing teams didn’t already know about Mackenzie Magness through her accomplishments during the indoor track and field season, the Freeport freshman pole vaulter opened more eyes at the Tri-State Track Coaches Association outdoor championships last Saturday at West Mifflin High School.

Magness cleared the bar set at 11 feet, 7 inches to take second in the event, which featured Class 2A and 3A vaulters from the WPIAL as well as a few out-of-district competitors.

“That was a really good meet for me,” she said. “It allowed me to see where I am at personally and also where I stand with some of the other pole vaulters out there.”

Magness’ father, Ian, the Freeport School District superintendent since October 2015, has a background in coaching track and field, and Mackenzie remembered her father’s influence in getting her started.

“I went to the track one day before the sixth grade mini-camp, and he showed me the basics of (the pole vault), and I fell in love with it. It stuck with me ever since,” she said.

“It’s the thrill of being able to put it all together to clear the bar, the accomplishment of reaching a certain height and the attempts to go higher. I got into it more and more when I realized I had some potential in this.”

Magness said her gymnastics background helped her form a solid foundation for her pole vaulting abilities.

“My strength from that really helped,” she said.

Her top gymnastics event? Vault, of course.

“That was usually my best event,” she said. “The thrill of flying through the air is awesome.”

One of Magness’ goals coming into the outdoor season was taking down the school record of 11-6 held by Marrissa Malcolm since 2008.

She now has the record at 11-7, but she said the bar, when measured after the vaults were completed at West Mifflin, showed a bow in the middle that read slightly less than 11-6.

A similar measuring issue cropped up at Valley earlier in the season when she cleared the bar set at 11-7.

Magness said she wants to leave no doubt as to the record in upcoming meets, and that started Friday at the Butler Invitational.

“It was a little confusing (at Tri-States), but I’ve been working to get it all season, and I know that have even better jumps to come,” she said. “There are a few small things I want to fix with my form at the top (of the vault). I am just focusing on consistency.”

Magness was runner-up at the TSTCA meet to fellow freshman Aleah Morgante from Grove City in District 10. Morgante cleared 12-1 to capture gold.

Magness said she hopes for a rematch with Morgante at the PIAA championships in Shippensburg, if not sooner.

“I’ve competed against her for a couple of years now,” Magness said. “I know her really well. She is so good.”

Magness, who also was 11th in the long jump (15-11) and 16th in the triple jump (31-7) at the Tri-State meet, came into the outdoor season with momentum after enjoying a strong indoor season capped by a fourth-place finish at the TSTCA championships at Edinboro.

She cleared 11-5 at the meet and trailed just a trio of Class 3A standouts: Hempfield’s Grace Iwig, the Tri-State indoor champ at 11-11; North Allegheny sophomore Lindsay Breneman (second); and NA senior Sophie Aglietti (third).

Breneman was third at last year’s WPIAL Class 3A meet, Iwig was sixth and Aglietti seventh.

“I went to camps through last summer for pole vault, and then the indoor season is all prep work for the main outdoor season,” Magness said. “We’re a little double-A school, and they’re all big triple-A schools. That was pretty cool to compete and be right there with them.”

Magness set the table for her success upon reaching the varsity level by mowing down the competition last year as an eighth grader.

She set pole vault meet records at junior high invitationals at Hempfield, Altoona, and Butler.

“The day after Butler, I went to Altoona because I thought that would be fun, and I vaulted 11 feet which was a PR by six inches,” Magness said.

“That was probably my best meet of the season last year. That was an awesome experience.”

Magness got her feet warmed up to varsity competition in the fall as a member of the Freeport cross country team. In her WPIAL Class 2A debut, she finished 68th overall with a time of 22 minutes, 59.3 seconds.

While Magness has goals in the pole vault — she hopes to challenge 12 feet by the end of the season and contend for WPIAL gold — Freeport assistant coach Dave Brestensky said she doesn’t forget about her teammates and is like another coach when it comes to the ins and outs of the discipline.

“She helps the younger kids whenever she can,” Brestensky said, “She understands what the word ‘team’ is all about. What a motivation she has been for them. The kids stand back and watch her approach, her speed and power and her technique.

“There was a buzz among the coaches as to her potential. It’s been a few years since we’ve had a pole vaulter like this (at Freeport). Everyone is excited for what she can do this year and beyond this year. She’s excited, too, and has set some big goals and expectations. But she’s also extremely humble. She doesn’t go around saying that she’s this or she’s that. She just lets her performances speak for herself.”

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Freeport