Track: Lake City's Novak takes fourth in pole vault

ST. PAUL –- It was a rare day for Kristine Novak.

Novak, a junior at Lake City, performed flawlessly through her first set of jumps in the pole vault at the Class A state meet at Hamline University – which doesn’t usually happen. Still, Novak finished fourth for the second consecutive year after she failed on three attempts to clear 10 feet, 6 inches.

“It was rough all season because at sections I had to do three of my last three heights on my last jump,” Novak said. “Doing first jump on this got me fourth.”

Everything was going right early on for Novak even despite missing on her step.

“Her step was off by about a foot, but when she’s in the air she’s such a good gymnast when she gets off the ground she can make the vault,” Lake City pole vault coach Tom Pederson said.

Novak, who made her third trip to the state meet, cleared 10-6 last season to finish fourth.

Novak faced a tough field, which included Blake freshman Carolyn Nye. Nye set a new Class A record by clearing 11-7. Nye vaulted 11-8 in the section meet. Litchfield’s Shelbie Walsh went 11 feet and Walker-Hackensack-Akeley’s Sarah Knight cleared 10-9 to finish third.

Relay gets disqualified

Lake City’s 4x100-meter relay got disqualified after a failing to complete a handoff in the hand-off zone.

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