Apr 24, 2021 2 min read

CANONSBURG – Here is how good Taylor Shriver is in the pole vault: The senior from Waynesburg High School was two feet better than her nearest competitor Saturday at the Washington-Greene County Coaches Track Meet at Canon-McMillan High School’s track. That distance was the best her nearest competitor could achieve. Shriver’s mark was her opening height.

This promises to be a tremendous year for Shriver, who will attend Akron University in the fall.

“I broke the (meet) record my sophomore year at 11-7 and I reset it again at 11-8, my opening height,” said Shriver, who runs the 400-meter relay and long jump. “I went for 12-6 but the poles I had today were softer poles, I was hitting the cross bar so, hopefully, I’ll have stiffer poles next week. I’m looking forward to that next week at the South Fayette Invitational.”

Shriver won the event with an 11-8 effort. Abby Scott of Peters Township was second at 9-2 and Ysabellla Pasquale of Peters Township was third at 7-2.

Shriver was fourth in the long jump (16-1) and joined Regan Carlson, Kali Shriver and Brenna Banke to take third in the 400 relay (53.75).

Shriver has been hitting between 14 and 15 feet on bungee pole vaults in practice. She has been transitioning over to 14-footers and hopes to transfer to those lengths soon.

Shriver found Akron through her good friend Marisa Kalsey, a former pole vaulter at Waynesburg.

“I’ve talked to the coach and I like the plan he has for the program,” Shriver said, “It’s a beautiful campus. It was one of the schools I knew a little bit about because Marisa recommended it.”