The wind was not Lucy DeWolf’s friend a couple weeks ago at the Magnolia Dog Pound Invitational track and field meet.
“It was so bad,” DeWolf said a week after the fact.
The senior star pole vaulter at Lake Creek High School appreciates a calmer Mother Nature during competition. If wind is a factor, a tailwind ideal. A headwind is not. The wind that afternoon made for some adversity, to say the least.
Adversity is something DeWolf is accustomed to as it defined her junior season last year.
This week is the District 17-5A meet and the senior is in much better shape and has plenty of goals despite the fact that her pole vaulting career is ticking away.
A foot injury derailed DeWolf’s hopes during the postseason last year.
On Wednesday morning in College Station, DeWolf will continue gunning for her goal vault and will compete to keep the dream alive of making it to the UIL State Championship Meet next month.
“I have all the pieces that I need,” DeWolf said. “I just have to put them all together for one jump and make it work.”
From Minnesota to Texas
Lucy was born in Minnesota as her father, Josh, was a professional hockey player. Josh DeWolf was a second round pick by the New Jersey Devils in 1996. A defenseman on the ice, DeWolf represented the United States in the 2002 World Championships and his playing career ended in the AHL playing for the Houston Aeros.
“I was born in Minnesota and I lived there until, I think, the second grade I moved here,” DeWolf said. “My mom’s (Kimby) from here and she didn’t want to live in the cold anymore. So we moved back here and my dad stopped playing hockey. So I’ve been here for a bit.”
DeWolf’s first love was horseback riding.
“I rode horses for the longest time,” DeWolf said. “I had horses and I trained horses. I show-jumped them and stuff. But that was obviously outside of school. So my mom wanted me to kind of get into a school sport, also. My seventh grade year, I went out to track, but I didn’t do pole vault. But then school closed for COVID.”
The following year as the spring sports season returned to normalcy, DeWolf was leaping hurdles and pole vaulting at nearby Oak Hills Junior High.
“I didn’t like to do hurdles because I kept falling,” DeWolf said. “I was one of the only girls who could get off the ground and on the mat (pole vaulting). At that time, I thought that was amazing.”
Her coaches at the time encouraged her to visit MAC Vault Academy in College Station. With influences there, pole vaulting became DeWolf’s thing.
“The coaching staff there is so amazing,” DeWolf said. “I adore them. I made some friends, started to get better and really enjoyed it.”
DeWolf carried the momentum of an eighth grade district title into high school.
“At the time, I thought that was so cool,” DeWolf said. “I started getting into the club life more and I started to realize that there is a small community of pole vaulters in the area. They’re all really good. It was really cool because it’s such a unique thing that not everybody can do.”
Said Lake Creek track and field head coach Kevin Spruill, “Both parents were athletes. She has really good DNA, that always helps. But for the vaulters, they have to make that trek to College Station twice a week. You have to be really committed to being successful because there’s a lot of things you have to do on your own.”
Lucy DeWolf sprints down the runway at the Magnolia Dog Pound Invitational. (Chris Zorzi/SportCast Media)
Making a name for herself
Bare in mind, Lucy is the daughter of a professional hockey player. Toughness is in her genes.
Pole vaulting isn’t for the weak and fragile. Pole vaulting at a young age and just learning, you aren’t attacking the extreme heights right away.
But in high school, as DeWolf explained, once you’re bending poles, the risk gets bigger. DeWolf has fallen backwards on the runway. She recalled a meet her sophomore where she fell backwards, a coach tried to catch and the fall was at least softened a bit as she still landed on the ground. DeWolf has also hit her noggin so hard with a pole that it left a bruise on her forehead.
Those types of things don’t happen often, but injury risk is there.
After a remarkable sophomore year where she finished fourth in Region III-5A, DeWolf hurt her foot her junior year.
The injury was exacerbated on a program record vault her junior year at the Texas A&M Bluebonnet Relays. DeWolf cleared 11-6¼ that day, but there was discomfort in her left foot.
DeWolf added high jump last year and she felt that blip in her routine might have been a factor in a stress fracture that resulted in a broken foot.
“I think that’s what kind of put the stress on it for the injury,” DeWolf said. “That was the only thing I had changed through my routine. But I just kept jumping through and got to the Bluebonnet Invitational my junior year. I PR and I got 11-6¼. I was super excited. But I was walking off the mat limping and crying. It was really upsetting.”
DeWolf took some time off and attempted the district meet, but she didn’t qualify for area.
A year later at the Bluebonnet Relays – back on March 8 – DeWolf broke her own pole vault record with an 11-8.
Things didn’t go quite DeWolf’s way at last week’s Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays. She went 11-1¾ for eighth place Saturday morning against some of the best vaulters in the state.
“She came in and she was hitting around 9 her freshman year and she’s just progressed up to 11-8 now,” Spruill said. “Our district is really tough in pole vault. College Station has two great vaulters. If we can get out of district, we’ll be competing with those same girls at area and regionals. I think the biggest thing is her overcoming last year in not being able to compete because of the injury, even though she tried to.”
DeWolf, who vaults alongside senior Maria Ceballos, stated her goal of breaking 12-feet back in December. That’s a far cry from the 8-feet school record when she entered Lake Creek.
Lucy DeWolf poses for the camera. (Chris Zorzi/SportCast Media)
Legacy established
High school is where DeWolf’s competitive pole vaulting ends. She is enrolling at the University of Utah and is on a pre-dental track. The Utes don’t have pole vaulting.
“This is a really great season and I’m with all my best friends,” DeWolf said. “It’s really been fun and I’m hoping to end strong and be happy with it.”
No matter what happens over the next few weeks, DeWolf has left a legacy.
“She’s one of our captains,” Spruill said. “She’s a great leader. The girls listen to her. They respect her. I trust her with the things that make sure the locker room is good. They’re leading the warm ups and leading by example for the other girls. Just really fortunate to have her in the program for four years now. It’s going to be hard letting her go.”
Lake Creek senior Lucy DeWolf holds the the school record in pole vault at 11-8. (Chris Zorzi/SportCast Media)
