PENNSYLVANIA PREP TRACK Hickory's Andrew Rademacher dominates in vault

The defending state champ won the district title at 15 feet, 8 inches.
By BILL ALBRIGHT
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
HERMITAGE -- The General McLane High boys and Erie McDowell girls captured the team titles in the district Class AAA track and field Championships Wednesday afternoon, but that was only part of the story.
There were also outstanding performances by Hickory's Andrew Rademacher, Eric Sparks, Ben Woods and Alex Gottuso.
Rademacher and Sparks finished 1-2 in the pole vault, Woods won the discus and shot put and Gottuso won the high jump. With their performances, all four will compete in the state meet next weekend in Shippensburg.
Rademacher, the defending state champion in the pole vault, won the event with a height of 15 feet, 8 inches, while Sparks was next at 15-3.
"I didn't get the height I wanted, but things are starting to come together for me with my run and takeoff," said Rademacher.
As for feeling pressure on the heels of having won a state title last year, Rademacher doesn't see it that way. The only pressure he might have felt was his own doing.
"I don't think that [having won a state title] means that much here or even at states for that matter," he said. "I was pressured to make the qualifying height of 13-9 today and that made me a little nervous and might have fatigued me a little bit."
No pressure
Going into the state meet as the top seed, Rademacher doesn't feel any pressure because his teammate, Sparks, will likely be his nearest competitor.
"He does some things better than I do and I watch those," said Rademacher. "I know I learn from him and I am sure that he also learns from me."
Sparks agreed.
"I think I have learned a lot from Andrew," said Sparks, a junior. "He is definitely one of the reasons why I am jumping as high as I am. Not only have I learned a lot from him, he is a good role model for me to follow and he is also one of my best friends."
Double winner
Woods won the shot put with a toss of 52-9 before coming back two hours later to capture the top spot in the discus with a heave of 153-0.
"I definitely feel good about the way things went for me today," said Woods, who will be a kicker at the University at Buffalo. "This is my first year out for track so I don't really have any background in the sport."
While Woods was the favorite coming into the meet in the discus, he was seeded second in the shot put.
"I didn't want to be seeded first because when I am in that position, I don't feel like I have anybody to push me," he said. "When I am the underdog, it seems that it is easier for me to get the adrenalin flowing and to get more pumped up."
Gottuso entered the meet as the top seed in the high jump with a previous best of 6-6, before winning the event at 6-5 over Warren Area's Ben Maljovec.