PIAA track championships: Freeport’s Mackenzie Magness wins 2A girls pole vault gold in friend’s memory
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Freeport's Mackenzie Magness clears the bar in the Class 2A girls pole vault Saturday, May 24, 2025, during the PIAA Track and Field Championships at Shippensburg University. Jason Malmont/Special to the Eagle
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Seneca Valley's Audrey Wolfe competes in the Class 3A girls javelin Saturday, May 24, 2025, during the PIAA Track and Field Championships at Shippensburg University. Jason Malmont/Special to the Eagle
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Seneca Valley's Jordan Monteleone clears the bar in the Class 3A girls high jump Saturday, May 24, 2025, during the PIAA Track and Field Championships at Shippensburg University. Jason Malmont/Special to the Eagle
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Freeport's Michael Braun runs in the Class 2A boys 3,200-meter race Saturday, May 24, 2025, during the PIAA Track and Field Championships at Shippensburg University. Jason Malmont/Special to the Eagle
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Freeport's Michael Braun, front, runs out near the front of the pack in the Class 2A boys 3,200-meter race Saturday, May 24, 2025, during the PIAA Track and Field Championships at Shippensburg University. Jason Malmont/Special to the Eagle
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Freeport's Mackenzie Magness smiles after winning gold in the Class 2A girls pole vault during the PIAA Track and Field Championships on Saturday, May 24, 2025, at Shippensburg University. Derek Pyda/Butler Eagle
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North Catholic’s girls 4x100 relay team, from left: Anna Lazzara, Audra Lazzara, Seava Cresta and Daphne Flerl. The quartet won Class 2A gold Saturday, May 24, 2025, during the PIAA Track and Field Championships at Shippensburg University. Derek Pyda/Butler Eagle
SHIPPENSBURG — Mackenzie Magness stood on the artificial turf at Shippensburg University's Seth Grove Stadium basking in the glow of a PIAA Class 2A girls pole vault championship.
Surrounded by reporters, the sophomore proudly displayed the state gold medal around her neck and held a small photo in her right hand.
The picture was of Dylan Tarbi, a good friend of Magness who was struck by a pickup truck and killed in May 2024.
"I found out that he died when I was here at the state meet," Magness said. "I became very emotional. This win today was for him."
Magness finished in ninth place 12 months ago at the state track and field championships, just out of a medal spot. She returned here Saturday, just over a week after winning her second straight WPIAL title in the pole vault. A height of 12 feet won for her state bragging rights.
Two other vaulters — Quaker Valley's Evie Rosselli and Grove City's Aleah Morgante — also reached 12 feet, but unlike Magness, they did not clear that height on their first attempt.
"I knew clearing a height on my first try would be very important (toward winning a tie-breaker)," said Magness, who went 12-4 to win her district crown. "I honestly thought I would have to go 12-6 to win today, but when I cleared 12 feet on my first attempt, I knew that was big.
"The wind affected us, but I always tell myself to not let weather get into my head."
Magness has been vaulting for nearly five years.
"I went to a track camp when I was in sixth grade, and that got me into the pole vault," she said. "My dad, Ian Magness, was a pole vaulter in high school, and he's now my coach. He's taught me a lot, and I'm very grateful for him."
