PUP track notebook: North Allegheny’s Lindsay Breneman soars to school record, one of top marks in WPIAL history

Lindsay Breneman has a short but sweet handle on Instagram, one befitting of an athlete who competes in the pole vault.

@lindsay__flies

This Lindsay has been flying since seventh grade, and just last Wednesday the North Allegheny junior flew all the way to the top of the school record book and soared to a mark only a few from the WPIAL have ever achieved.

Just a few years after setting the North Allegheny middle school pole vault record, Breneman shattered the high school record when she vaulted 12 feet, 8 inches in a dual meet win against Butler. The mark broke Breneman’s personal record of 12-3 from last April while breaking the previous school record of 12-6 set by Brooke Mancuso in 2012.

“It meant a lot,” Breneman said. “This is junior year, so this is a big year for me. It felt nice to get the record.”

And while it wasn’t unexpected — Breneman also vaulted 12-8 during indoor season — the fact that it came on that particular vault was a little surprising, the reason being that North Allegheny pole vault coach Rachel LaSitis often doesn’t let her athletes know where she sets the bar. In her mind it’s, “Don’t worry about where it’s set. Just clear it.”

“I knew she could do it. I told her what she did I knew she was capable of. And I know she has even more in her,” said LaSitis, a 2001 Butler graduate (then known as Rachel Farabee) who went on to compete in the pole vault at the University of South Carolina.

Breneman’s new PR ranks fifth in WPIAL history, per historian Jim Faiella. Only Hempfield’s Larisa Debich (13-0¼ in 2012), Waynesburg’s Taylor Shriver (13-0 in 2021), Laurel Highlands’ Cassandra Phelan (12-9½ in 2017) and Norwin’s Hannah Shaw (12-9 in 2023) have soared higher. 

“I really want to get 13 this year. That’s my goal,” said Breneman, who trains at Steel City Pole Vault.

Breneman is a former gymnast who began pole vaulting when she was in seventh grade.

“One day I was watching the pole vault in the Olympics. I thought it would be fun to swing myself through the air like that,” Breneman recalled.

Breneman has been swinging ever since. While she’s only a junior, she already has two top-three finishes at the WPIAL Class 3A championships to her name. After vaulting 11-9 to finish third her freshman year, Breneman actually tied Butler’s Aubrey Rock with a top vault of 12 feet last season. But Rock reached the height on fewer attempts, meaning Breneman had to settle for second place. Breneman followed that up by claiming her first PIAA medal, as she placed sixth at the state meet.

“She’s progressing by leaps and bounds,” said LaSitis, who has been coaching Breneman since middle school. “She’s always been talented, but now she’s starting to fine tune things. She’s incredibly smart.”

And versatile. Breneman is also one of North Allegheny’s top triple jumpers, and her past work as a sprinter running the 100- and 200-meter dashes has played a role in her pole vault success, according to LaSitis.

“I’m a big believer that the best pole vaulters are the best sprinters, so we train her like she’s a sprinter,” LaSitis said.

Is there a connection between pole vaulting and playing the cello, too? Because Breneman is very good at both. She’s been playing the cello since the third grade and is a member of the school orchestra, which last Tuesday had their spring concert, one day before Breneman set the school pole vaulting record.

“I used to do private lessons,” Breneman said, “but I’m doing it more now because I’m having fun. I like music.”

She likes pole vaulting, too. And if Breneman goes 13 feet this season, wins a WPIAL title or both, it undoubtedly would be music to her ears.

All-time marks

While Breneman’s big vault placed her among the top pole vaulters in WPIAL history, she’s not the only local girl who has reached the all-time leaderboard this season.

North Allegheny senior Isabella Costa now ranks 14th in the 400 (55.86), Laurel senior Tori Atkins 17th in the 200 (24.67), Thomas Jefferson senior Sylvia Kashak 19th in the 800 (2:13.82), Winchester Thurston sophomore Alexis Bansah 20th in the triple jump (38-7½), South Fayette junior Delaney Schumaker 21st in the 300 hurdles (44.22), and Carlynton senior Jordynn Carter 21st in the long jump (18-8).

One to watch

As usual, quite a few football standouts — Central Catholic’s Xxavier Thomas and New Castle’s Kaevon Gardner among them — are expected to have big seasons this spring. And while some of them have already had loads of success in past years, others are hitting some big marks for the first time.

One athlete having a breakout season is Pine-Richland junior Jay Timmons. Timmons, the son of former Steelers linebacker Lawrence Timmons, is a big-time football talent who has about two dozen Division I offers, but he’s been a big hit on the track, as well. In a meet earlier this season, Timmons hit PRs in the triple jump (44-6) and long jump (22-8). Those marks would have earned him second- and third-place finishes at the WPIAL Class 3A championships a season ago when he placed 10th and 13th in those events.

Butler Invitational

Annually one of the area’s biggest meets, the Butler Invitational will celebrate its 60th anniversary on Thursday. The event will take place at Art Bernardi Stadium, with both running and field events beginning at 11 a.m. As of Tuesday evening, 94 schools were set to participate.

Five meet records were set a season ago, among them Butler’s Drew Griffith running a jaw-dropping time of 3:59.81 to win the boys 1,600. Griffith is now at Notre Dame, but two athletes who set meet records last season are expected back — Woodland Hills speedster Scoop Smith, who won the 100 in 10.62 seconds, and Derry’s Sophia Mazzoni, an Auburn recruit who captured the javelin title following a throw of 144-5.