Salpointe Catholic's Paris Mikinski won the Chandler Rotary high jump and figures to be in the hunt for state as well.
The high jump and pole vault both involve getting a body over the bar (though with the center of gravity passing below the bar), but have not a lot else in common. So, the lumping of these two events together is a bit on the side of arbitrary. Still, it's hard to suggest that the pole vault and the high jump go together better with any other event. So, we'll treat them as related events in this article.
Division 4
Your team leaders in the over-the-bar events are currently Mogollon and Valley Christian, with a bit of an edge to the latter.
Mogollon's strength lies in the high jump. They currently have the #1 and #2 ranked high jumpers in the division in Isabella Horn (5-2) and Amethyst Valdez (5-1). That's not a bad way to go into state.
Valley Christian, on the other hand, responds with Sorochi Anderson and Rebecca Smith (tied at #3 and #6, respectively, in the high jump). Over at the pole vault pit, however, Valley Christian surges to a big lead. Smith's 12-6 leads the classification, by a lot. Gabrielle Dummann and Kyla Brecht take up positions at #5 and #7 (once again, those positions are ties with other competitors). It should be a great state meet for Valley Christian if they can hold that ground
Also making solid showings are St. Johns, with Aubrie Wilson in a tie at #3 in both events, and Pusch Ridge Christian with Molly Garnand in a tie at #6 in the high jump and Jaida Olson at an easy #2 in the pole vault.
If these positions hold, there won't be a lot of leftover points for the other Division 4 schools to divvy up among themselves.
Division 3
Kylie Bishop of ALA Queen's Creek holds the top mark in all divisions with a 5-8 in the high jump. Close behind, however, is Paris Mikinski of Salpointe Catholic with a 5-6. Yes, indeed, the top two girls high jump positions in the state currently belong to Division 3 jumpers. And, in fact, Tatum Rollins of ALAQC joins the party tied at #4 in the state at 5-4.
Currently, however, neither Salpointe Catholic nor ALAQC has any pole vaulters in a likely position to score points at state. Kathy Valenzuela of Salpointe, however, is within striking distance in the pole vault, so watch to see what happens there.
Litzy Leyva of Douglas and Grace Schaeffer of Estrella Foothills have both cleared 5-2 in the high jump which marks them as legitimate threats, but neither school has a pole vault presence at this time that might augment those likely high jump points.
Sabino's Emarie Sooter is well ahead of the pole vault field currently at 10-0, but the best team positioning is held by Mingus Union, which has Brooke Peterson in second and Alexandra Carey in a tie for third.
All that tells us that the Division 3 power is a little scattered for the over-the-bar events. That could change before state, but won't necessarily have to.
Division 2
Gloriah Hussey of Cactus Shadows, Sabina Romero of Nogales, and Olivia Leblanc of Desert Mountain currently hold down a solid 1-2-3 in the high jump. They go 5-4, 5-3, and 5-2, respectively. At this point, they appear to be safely ahead of the remainder of the field, but you always say that sort of thing with a touch of fear when you're talking about the high jump.
Worth noting, however, is the fact that Casteel's Leah Haynes is in a tie for fourth at 5-0. The significance of that becomes more evident when we take a look at the pole vault. Currently, Casteel is dominating the pole vault with Piper Cudd at #2 (11-0), Olivia Dillon at #3, and Tatum Lally and Kayla Simon in a tie at #8. No other school enjoys that kind of a pole vault presence in Division 2. On account of that, it looks reasonably certain Casteel stands to reap some serious over-the-bar points at state.
There will, however, be some resistance from Cactus Shadows. In addition to Hussey's #1 standing in the high jump, Karli Neff is eight inches ahead of everyone else in the pole vault at 11-8.
Flagstaff lurks in the shadows a little with Danielle Shanahan tied at #4 in the high jump and Maya White tied at #8 in the pole vault.
So, much like Division 4, the indicators now are that a few schools will be harvesting most of the points in these events at state.
Division 1
It's not entirely uncommon for the high jump to be logjammed at the top among the larger schools, and that's the case this year. Currently, Division 1 has 15 high jumpers at 5-0 or higher. Potentially, any of those are state meet scorers. And, the situation isn't much different at the pole vault pit. There, we have 14 competitors at 10-0 or higher.
Queen Creek's Chloe Bingham leads the high jump at 5-6. Close behind are Valley Vista's Aliyah Moore at 5-5, Perry's Avery Clark at 5-4, and Queen Creek's Viann Vanderwall at 5-3. Clearly Queen Creek has an advantage on the field there. QC also has Kaitlyn Brown at 10-0 in the pole vault. Currently, that's on the outside looking in for state meet points, but Brown is at least close enough to be in the hunt.
The big advantage in the pole vault, however, tilts in the direction of Desert Vista. The Thunder have Camilla Der, tied at third at 11-3, Logan Hays, tied at fifth, and Kassidy McGinley, tied at eighth.
Corona del Sol has the top vaulter in Ena McMahon at 12-0, but CdS appears to be out of the hunt so far as additional points are concerned.
Grace Williams of Mesa Mountain View currently holds second in the pole vault. MMV could also easily pull some high jump points from Emma Norton, currently tied at fifth. That makes MMV a force to be reckoned with as well.
Salpointe Catholic's Paris Mikinski won the Chandler Rotary high jump and figures to be in the hunt for state as well.
The high jump and pole vault both involve getting a body over the bar (though with the center of gravity passing below the bar), but have not a lot else in common. So, the lumping of these two events together is a bit on the side of arbitrary. Still, it's hard to suggest that the pole vault and the high jump go together better with any other event. So, we'll treat them as related events in this article.