North Allegheny pole vaulter Lindsay Breneman reaching new heights

By: John Grupp
Saturday, July 26, 2025 | 10:47 AM

Sprinting down a track never did much for North Allegheny’s Lindsay Breneman.

She preferred the idea of soaring.

“When I was little, I watched the Olympics and I always thought pole vault was really cool because they fling themselves in the air,” she said. “I was like, ‘I want to do that.’ It seemed a lot more fun to me than sprinting.”

Breneman started pole vaulting in seventh grade and has developed into the top pole vaulter in program history.

Blessed with a gymnastics background and sprinter’s speed, Breneman has made steady improvement in an event regarded as the most technically challenging in the sport.

She placed third at the PIAA Class 3A track and field championships last spring and tuned up for her upcoming senior year by tying for fourth at the 2025 Adidas Track Nationals on June 20-22 in Greensboro, N.C., with a vault of 12 feet, 3 1/2 inches.

“She definitely has a lot of speed, and she’s super coachable,” said her offseason coach, Tim Sullivan of Zelienople-based Steel City Pole Vault. “She has a lot of athletic ability, and we’re trying to build the technique. That can be overwhelming. We just had to take a little bit at a time and say, ‘Be an athlete. Just bring it and things will come together.’ ”

In the 11-girl Adidas field, Breneman finished behind only a two-time Ohio state champion, the reigning Virginia state champion and a third-place state finisher from Ohio.

It was an outdoor national championships debut for Breneman, a three-time PIAA qualifier and the school record-holder in the pole vault. She competed at the 2025 Nike Indoor Nationals in mid-March in New York City, finishing 18th, but this was her first competition in the elements against a field of top pole vaulters.

“It was really great,” she said. “It was more casual, so I was more relaxed and I think that helped me vault a little better. … I was hoping to (set a personal best), but it was really hot.”

Breneman was coming off a sizzling spring. She broke the NA school record with a vault of 12-8 at a dual meet with Butler in April. She shattered her personal best of 12-3 and erased Brooke Mancuso’s program-best mark of 12-6 set in 2012.

Breneman also won the vault at the Wildcat/Spartan Invitational, placed second at the Butler Invitational and finished first overall at the WPIAL Class 3A team semifinals and the team finals for the runner-up Tigers.

The 5-foot-4 Breneman is still seeking an elusive WPIAL individual title. She placed third as a freshman and second as a sophomore, before settling for fourth in May as a junior with a top vault of 11 feet.

It was a disappointing outcome for Breneman, who had finished ahead of the eventual WPIAL champion, Butler’s Aubrey Rock, in each of their three 2025 meetings — their dual meet, the Butler Invitational and the WPIAL team championships.

“With pole vault, every once in a while, you just have a bad day,” Breneman said. “That was one of my bad days. I try not to let that bring me down. I just move on. … It’s definitely part of my motivation.”

Breneman regrouped to take third at states, clearing 12 feet, and then kept the momentum going at Adidas Nationals four weeks later, soaring to an even higher height.

At nationals, she cleared 11 feet, 9 3/4 inches and 12-3 1/2 on her first attempts, before missing three tries at 12-9 1/2.

Breneman is working this offseason on her speed and strength, as well as her mental approach.

“I’m realizing that it doesn’t have to be perfect,” she said. “It just has to be fast. Most little things that are off, it won’t actually change your full vault. You just have to be confident, and it will work out. Having that mindset helped me at states and at nationals. … You’ve got to be fast to vault high.”

Tags: North Allegheny