Fresno Girl Vaults to National Record

Kira Costa of Fresno San Joaquin Memorial was ecstatic after clearing a national high school indoor record of 13 feet 4 1/2 inches to win the girls’ pole vault in Saturday’s L.A. Invitational track and field meet at the Sports Arena.

She flashed an ear-to-ear smile as she accepted congratulations from meet officials and fellow athletes upon the conclusion of the competition.

But the amount of joy she felt was most evident when she signed autographs for two high-school age girls.

“I’m so happy right now I can’t even think,” Costa said. “This is just so sweet.”

And unexpected.

Costa, a senior who has committed to California, placed third in the state championships while competing for Lemoore in June. But she entered Saturday’s meet with a career best of 12-6, nearly a foot shy of the national indoor record of 13-4 1/4 set last year by Samantha Shepard of Weston, Mass.

“I wanted to get a [personal record] and break the meet record,” Costa said, referring to the mark of 12-6 set by Rachel Viau of Arroyo Grande last year. “You always think about things like the national record.... about how cool it would be to put yourself in a position to do that. But I didn’t expect it.”

Costa, who transferred to San Joaquin Memorial during the summer, gave herself at crack at the national record by soaring over 11-0 3/4, 12-0 1/2, 12-6 1/4 and 13-0 1/4 on her first attempts.

She missed her first two attempts at the national record but cleared it on her third after grazing the bar on the way over.

She missed one attempt at 13-6 1/4 before passing her final two tries because she was overly fatigued.

“It felt great,” Costa said of her record clearance. “I honestly didn’t think I was going to make it. But I had already taken two jumps at [the national record] so my attitude was, ‘Let’s make this a good one.’ ”

There were several other noteworthy performances in the meet that drew nearly 2,000 athletes from more than 180 high schools.

Sharon Day of Costa Mesa won the girls’ high jump with a meet-record clearance of 5 feet 10 1/4 inches in the first indoor meet of her life.

The defending state champion, who is in the midst of her senior soccer season, moved to the top of the yearly national indoor list with her performance.

Senior Billie Jo Grant of Arroyo Grande, the defending state champion in the girls’ discus, won that event at USC with a meet-record 169-5.

Senior Ashlee Brown of Riverside North, the two-time defending state champion in the girls’ 300 low hurdles, won the 50-meter sprint in 6.51 seconds and the 50 high hurdles in 7.31.

Junior Mohamed Trafeh of Duarte, who finished seventh in the national cross-country championships in December, won the boys’ mile in 4:17.37 after winning the two-mile in 9:15.9 earlier in the meet.