Great Falls High's Bree MacDonald ties school pole vault record, takes third at state meet

Not only is Bree MacDonald an All-State performer after Thursday, she’s in the school record books.

The Great Falls High sophomore hit 11 feet, 6 inches in the pole vault to finish third in the event as the Class AA state track and field meet kicked off at Memorial Stadium.

MacDonald twice surpassed her personal record of 10-06 en route to the state silver, hitting 11 feet before 11-06 on her first try and then three close attempts at 11-09. Helena High’s Reghan Skogen took the pole vault title at 11-09, hitting the mark on her third and final attempt. Fellow Bengal Annika Nehring earned second by way of a tiebreaker on total attempts.

“It was so fun,” MacDonald said. “Just being around the girls, they just make it that much better.”

MacDonald slightly clipped the crossbar on her successful attempt of 11-06 and looked up with joy as it remained in place as she sat on the pad. As a sophomore, MacDonald has now tied the Bison program record set by Heidi Biehl in 2006.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the performance was how far MacDonald has come in less than a month. She had hit 9-06 four times this season before improving to 10-06 just last week at the Eastern AA divisional in Bozeman.

“It feels so good,” MacDonald said. “Just the improvement the last two weeks and the support from all my coaches and all of my friends, it just makes it 10 times better. I can’t even put it into words. I’m just so excited that I got (the record) and hopefully next year I beat it.”

The state meet gets into full swing Friday morning with field events beginning at 9 a.m. before running contests at 10:30. The meet concludes Saturday with the same start times.

This article originally appeared on Great Falls Tribune: Great Falls High's Bree MacDonald ties record, takes third at state meet