It was State Track Meet number two for Nicole Lium as she headed to Hamline University on June 9 to compete in the pole vault event. The competition was moved indoors due to impending bad weather.

Though the close quarters may have deterred some pole vaulters, Lium was not one of them. According to her coach, Tom Plocker, the throng of parents, coaches and fans merely encouraged Lium in her competition.

“She made her first attempts at 8-6, 9-0 and 9-6,” says Plocker. “She missed her first try at 10-0, and then made her second. There were 12 vaulters still in competition as the bar was raised to 10-6.”

Plocker says Lium went out at 10-6, along with five other female competitors, but because she missed her first attempt at 10-0, she was aced out of a medal.

“But, Nicole did break the crossbar on one of her attempts at 10-6, the first time she had done so in her long career. A nice souvenir from State,” says Plocker.

Comparing Lium’s statistics at the State competition last year, she has improved her mark from a 9-6 to 10-0 and placed the same as last year: 10th place.

Medal or no medal, the Blue Earth Area senior certainly held her own throughout her brilliant vaulting career.