Senior Daniels reaches new heights at state meet

BOYS TRACK-- When Lonny Daniels joined the Elmwood Park track team, he never really considered competing in the pole vault.

But he took up the event in his sophomore after transferring from St. Patrick and his high school career has not been the same.

While Daniels fell short in the hurdles, he made up for it huge in the pole vault, becoming the first all-stater in pole vault, or any other field event, and the first all-state athlete for Elmwood Park since 1994.

Daniels, a senior, cleared 13 feet, 6 inches to finish eighth in the finals of the Class 2A state championships Saturday. It was the highest finish for a track athlete in school history.

"I was hoping I would do a little better," Daniels said. "But I (had a persona record), so it was great. I was hoping for a school record (14-2), but you can't ask for everything."

Joe Gianneschi set the pole-vault record at Elmwood Park in 1986. Gianneschi is now the coach at Morton and was in Charleston to see Daniels compete.

"He's helped me out a few times this season," Daniels said. "I actually jumped on two of his poles (Saturday)."

Entering Saturday's finals, Daniels was seeded as an underdog because he had only gone 13-0 at the Glenbard South Sectional a week earlier. His 10 other competitors had cleared 13-3.

"I was just hoping to come out as a finalist and I did. So I'm satisfied," Daniels said.

Daniels qualified for the finals by clearing 13-0 in Friday's preliminaries.

"It was nerve-wracking, really," Daniels said. "I wasn't as excited coming into this meet, I'm sad to say, as I was from last week (at sectional). I wish I could have been a little more excited coming into it.

"Right when I stepped foot on that runway, I had butterflies going," he said. "It was pretty intense. (Friday) was pretty sketchy for me. I three-attempted 12-6 and 13-0, which isn't usual for me. I usually clear things on the first and second try. Once I cleared 13-0, an official from the other pit came by and said, 'Congratulations, you made finals.' "

On Saturday, Daniels vaulted 13-3 on his first attempt and 13-6 on his second. He bowed out at 13-9.

"It's a great day to end the season," Daniels said. "When I cleared 13-6, it looked like the bar was going to pop off, but it jumped up, spun around a few times and landed back. I don't think I'll ever forget that."

Elmwood Park's other pole-vaulter, Bart Marczyk, fell short of making Saturday's finals.

Daniels did not qualify in his other event, the 110-meter hurdles. He finished sixth in the prelims with a time of 16.57. Matt Plata also did not qualify for finals in the 200 dash. He placed third in his heat in 23.02.

Staff Writer Bill Stone contributed.