Track & Field: Palisades’ Greenberg wins pole vault

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Hot weather doesn’t bother Palisades senior Jamie Greenberg one bit and when the heat was on she rose to the challenge to win the Open Elite Division of the girls pole vault at the Arcadia Invitational with a personal-best height of 12 feet, one inch.

Greenberg vaulted to the Los Angeles City Section frosh/soph title as a freshman and will try to win her third consecutive varsity crown at the City Championships in May. She cleared 10’ 6’ to win the City title as a sophomore and cleared 11 feet to repeat last spring.

‘I was seeded sixth or seventh, so I was a little intimidated coming into this meet, but I actually prefer competing in this kind of [hot] weather,’ said Greenberg, who trains with UCLA pole vault coach and former state record-holder Anthony Curran. ‘It was cold and rainy here last year and I didn’t do well.’

Greenberg’s previous best was 11’ 6’ in an all-comers meet at Cal State Northridge in February. That was three inches better than her effort at the state prelims in 2010.

Vaulting runs in Greenberg’s family. Her older brother Bryan won back-to-back City titles in 2006-07.

In other field events, Javier Venegas of Newport Beach Newport Harbor was runner-up in the boys discus with a throw of 173 feet, six inches and Evan Eggenberg of Bakersfield Stockdale cleared 6’ 7’ to win the boys high jump. Jessica Rotter of Lakewood St. Joseph won the girls shot put with a distance of 40 feet, five inches.

-- Steve Galluzzo