Setting the bar high
Dover’s Kylee Bell soars above Class A competition in pole vault
![KYLEE BELL clears the bar in the pole vault at last weekend’s Class A state meet at Western Heights. The Dover junior won the state title by 2 feet. [Photo by Chris Simon/www.simon-sports-photos.smugmug. com]](https://www.kingfisherpress.net/sites/kingfisherpress.etypegoogle10.com/files/styles/article400/public/69762dd462_Ar00601020.jpg?itok=rso_4xap "KYLEE BELL clears the bar in the pole vault at last weekend’s Class A state meet at Western Heights. The Dover junior won the state title by 2 feet. [Photo by Chris Simon/www.simon-sports-photos.smugmug. com]")
KYLEE BELL clears the bar in the pole vault at last weekend’s Class A state meet at Western Heights. The Dover junior won the state title by 2 feet. [Photo by Chris Simon/www.simon-sports-photos.smugmug. com]![DOVER’S KYLEE BELL on the medal stand after winning the pole vault at the Class A state track and field meet last Friday. [Photo by Rylee Broadbent]](https://www.kingfisherpress.net/sites/kingfisherpress.etypegoogle10.com/files/styles/article400/public/89c1208518_Ar00601021.jpg?itok=7AhPbkSk "DOVER’S KYLEE BELL on the medal stand after winning the pole vault at the Class A state track and field meet last Friday. [Photo by Rylee Broadbent]")
DOVER’S KYLEE BELL on the medal stand after winning the pole vault at the Class A state track and field meet last Friday. [Photo by Rylee Broadbent]
The Class A girls pole vault was a “jump” for second place in 2025.
That’s because Kylee Bell dominated the field Friday at the Class A state track and field meet at Western Heights High School.
The Dover High School junior made history as she won not only her first ever state gold medal, but also the school’s first in that event.
“Kylee set a goal of not only winning, but jumping her PR this year,” said Dover coach Kerri Lafferty.
Bell was the runner-up in the 2024 pole vault finals and was fourth in Class 2A while a freshman at Crescent.
Her best jump entering this year’s state meet was 10 feet, 6 1/2 inches.
To win gold, however, Bell didn’t even need to clear 10 feet.
The bar started at 6-6 and was raised in increments of six inches after that.
Bell didn’t even opt to jump until it reached 8-6.
By that time, 11 of the 16 competitors had been eliminated.
Two more were knocked out at 8-6, a height Bell cleared on her first attempt.
Only two vaulters - Bell and Jentri Edwards of Ringling - cleared 9 feet.
Bell then soared over the bar at 9-6. Edwards didn’t. She missed all three attempts, giving Bell the state title.
But she wasn’t done. Intent on getting the PR, Bell kept her momentum going at 10 feet.
She missed her first attempt at 10-6, but made good on her second.
The bar was raised to 11 feet, a height she’d never cleared.
That fact changed as Bell slipped over the bar on her very first attempt.
Win? Check. PR? Check.
“She works incredibly hard at vaulting, so I was thrilled to see her get the gold,” Lafferty said.
Bell had no time at all to rest as she had to race over to the high jump pit for her second event of the meet.
She placed 13th by clearing 4-8.
That didn’t score any team points, but Bell did grab some more on Saturday.
In a new event for her this season, Bell took fifth place in the 300 meter hurdles with her time of 48.77.
“This is her first year to run the hurdles and only ran them in four meets prior to state,” Lafferty said. “Kylee will admit she wasn’t too happy when I told her she was going to run them this year.
“So I’m very proud of what she was able to accomplish this year.”