Of all of the school records in track and field amongst Burbank and Burroughs highs, it is pretty clear that the boys’ pole vault at Burroughs and any of the boys’ distance events at Burbank are special ones.
Saturday Burroughs High’s Eli Gault-Crabb rewrote history, setting a new school record by pole vaulting 16 feet, 6 inches to win the CIF Southern Section Division 1 title at Trabuco Hills High in Mission Viejo.
Gault-Crabb broke the previous record that was set in 1994 by Esa Sallinen, a foreign exchange student from Finland, who went 16-4 3/4, which is also the equivalent to 5 meters.
“(I’m) glad to have broken the record after a couple of years of work,” said Gault-Crabb, who will attend Cornell University in the fall.
Gault-Crabb, who has battled through some nagging injuries, cleared 16-6 on his third and final attempt.
“I knew I was going to stop after the jump, so in my head I said I had to go all in on it. It was a little nerve-wracking, but I got it,” Gault-Crabb said.
Burroughs has a history of elite pole vaulters including 1960 Olympic silver medalist Ron Morris and Jon Switzer, who once competed in the U.S. Olympic trials.
Burbank High didn’t have any CIF champions in 2021, but was well represented in the CIF Finals.
The Bulldogs received a fifth-place finish from senior Jayla Flowers, who went 36-11 ¼.
The Burbank boys’ team received seventh-place finish for senior Layne Buck in the triple jump, as he went 42-4 ¼.
Junior Emma Cusumano finished seventh in the girls’ 100 hurdles, going 15.40. Cusumano finished ninth in the 300 hurdles in 48.45.
Burbank junior Jahki Hayes finished seventh in the boys’ 110 high hurdles, going 15.32.
Junior Jack Sapyta took seventh in the boys’ 400 meters, going 50.06.
Gault-Crabb’s victory gave Burroughs 10 points in the team standings. That placed the Bears in 23rd place.
Both the Burbank boys’ and girls’ teams finished 31st overall, each scoring 6 points for the respective teams.
