Kitched Finishes 8th In Pole Vault At PIAA Track Championships
By: Chris Manning | NTL Sports | May 25, 2025 | Photo courtesy Chris Manning
After she was done on Saturday Canton’s Kendall Kitchen thought she had just missed the state podium for the second year in a row. But when her coach texted her to look at the standings Kitchen became excited, and relieved, once she saw she had finished eighth in the Class AA girls’ pole vault at the PIAA Track and Field Championships.
“It just feels amazing,” Kitchen said. “It’s been a goal of mine for a really long time. It’s just a really good ending for my high school career.”
Kitchen finished at 10-feet, 6-inches. After skipping out on the first height of 9-feet, 6-inches, she missed her first attempt at 10-feet.
“I kicked the pole when I was swinging through so, obviously, I just stopped,” explained Kitchen. “I just think it was really a nervous jump, and the nerves messed me up.”
Whatever it was she fixed it on her next attempt, and then was clean at 10-feet even, which got her on the podium.
“Once I got used to my two poles that I was mainly jumping on after I got a little bit nerves of out and just started relaxing I felt a lot better,” the senior said.
She just missed at 11-feet.
“I thought I had to get 11, and especially clean to medal,” explained Kitchen. “So once I missed 11 on my third attempt I just thought that was it. I was so heartbroken.”
There was no heart break, though, for Kitchen’s final high school competition as she snuck onto the podium.
“That’s all that really matters,” she said. “I don’t really care as long as I got on the podium.”
Kitchen hopes this will be a good springboard into her college career at Slippery Rock.
“It’s definitely a good eye opener to see all the competition in the state,” she said. “All these girls are definitely jumping in college, and it just gives me a lot of excitement knowing that I am going into my college career with a state medal.”
There was some heartbreak for her teammate Alexis McRoberts, who missed the finals by two inches in the girls’ Class AA shot put.
The junior took 10th overall in 35-feet, 9 3/4-inches. They take nine into the finals, and she was ninth until the very last throw by Central Clarion’s Breanna Armstrong bested McRoberts.
Armstrong went on to take seventh in the event, showing how close McRoberts came to getting on the podium herself.
