Anaiah Rolle makes history in pole vault

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WITH a strong background in gymnastics, Anaiah Rolle made a transition to track and field, becoming the first Bahamian female competitor to compete in an international pole vault event.

The 16-year-old did it by joining the Leap of Faith Track Club headed by her uncle James Rolle this year and it was on to making history yet again for the Bahamas.

She got her introduction to the event between late May and early June. Under the guidance of coach Kenny Moxey, Rolle was able to make her successful debut at the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations’ Nationals in July where she qualified for the Junior Pan American Games.

Having represented the Bahamas in various competitions in gymnastics as a member of the Bahamas Star Gymnastics under coach Tennille Thompson. Rolle said she decided to get into track and field where she was doing the long jump.

“At the end of May, I started practicing for the pole vault,” she said. “Because pole vault for under-20 women was not something that was being done in the Bahamas before, most meets didn’t have the event, so I had to wait for the Nationals.”

At the Nationals over the weekend of July 5-7 at the Thomas A Robinson Track and Field Stadium, Rolle cleared 8-feet, 10 1/4-inches or 2.70 metres.

A month later at the Jr Pan Am Under-20 Championships at the Jose A. Figueroa Freire Stadium in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico on August 6, she improved her personal best to 9-4 1/4 (2.85m).

She would finish at the bottom of the eight-woman field, but noted that it was all about getting the exposure.

“Competing in my first international event in the pole vault was different because since there were no other young females doing pole vault in the Bahamas, I normally compete by myself,” she said.

“But when I went to Puerto Rico, I competed with eight other females, who were more experienced and who were older than me, but I learned a lot of new things from that experience,” she reflected.

The Americans took the top two spots at the Jr Pan Am with Kenna Stimmel clearing 14-1 1/4 (4.30m) for the gold and Ella Mritchie doing 13-11 1/4 (4.25m) for the silver.

The bronze went to Alyssa Mixon of Puerto Rico with 13-5 1/4 (4.10m).

Based on the little experience she had going into the event, Rolle said she was quite pleased with what she accomplished.

“I expected the competition to be hard and I expected to compete against girls who were more experienced in pole vault than me,” she insisted.

“The competition was great. I learned that I had to be patient because those