T-burg’s Isabel Morse wins state championship

Trumansburg senior pole vaulter Isabel Morse saved her best jumps for last this season. She won the Section IV Championship with an 11-foot-1-inch jump on May 26. Then, on June 10, she cleared 11 feet again, taking home the Division 2 State Championship from Cicero-North Syracuse High School.

Morse was the best of 13 small school vaulters at states, including cross-town opponent and friend Kiara Tornusciolo of Lansing, who placed third. Morse gave her reaction to winning the title to cap off her senior year.

“I’m still kind of in shock,” Morse said. “But it’s been really rewarding just to finish off the season and just seeing it all come together, all the hard work. I really owe it to my coaches. They’ve been super dedicated to coaching me and just making me the best athlete I can be. It’s been kind of surreal. I’m just super grateful to have been able to finish off the season and just really do what I never thought I could do. It’s always been a dream of mine.”

Isabel has been vaulting alongside her twin sister, Rosie, since sixth grade. Rosie went to states earlier this year for pole vaulting during indoor season, placing 16th overall, and then focused on sprinting events for outdoor season. Isabel looked back on the years of work that led up to this point.

“It’s been a lot of reps, a lot of pull runs, training,” Isabel said. “Lots of hours. Just to be able to leave my high school career with definitely big marks and be able to reflect on it all is something that’s definitely special. I’ll carry it with me going into college. I’ll just really cherish it as something that, as an athlete, a lot of people work towards.”

To get to her winning height of 11 feet, Morse needed a third and final attempt to clear the 10-foot-6-inch mark. She broke down what she was feeling heading into that pivotal jump.

“That third jump, I really just knew that basically my season came down to it,” Morse said. “So, I just kept focused, did what I’ve been doing all season and just tried to really focus in on the fact that this may be my last jump and that I didn’t want to leave it at that height. So, [I was] just really focusing in on that and then just trusting the training, trusting my coaches and putting it all together. I just told myself I could do it and stayed strong.”

Clearing 11 feet on her second attempt separated Morse from Herkimer’s Melia Couchman and earned her the State Championship. She recalled the feeling after accomplishing that jump.

“I remember my sister came and gave me a big hug, and that felt great,” Morse said. “She knows how much it meant to me, and to be able to share that with her was really great. Coach [Matt] Scheffler, coach [Tim] Hamilton, they both were super supportive. Coach Hamilton’s been there through it all since seventh grade, so I wouldn’t be here without him [and] all the support from my parents and other track athletes that had graduated from T-burg. Having everybody there was super special and something that I’m really grateful to have experienced.”

Morse went into detail about the bond she has with her twin sister and how that’s helped her in her athletic pursuits.

“We don’t stay mad at each other,” Morse said. “If we do, we’re always there for each other. It’s definitely something that being a twin, we can look at each other, and she was coaching me on the side. Just to be able to have that and going into college as well having that is just something that I really couldn’t be happier with.”

Winning a State Championship is not the last thing Morse will do in the sport. She plans on continuing to vault at the Division III level and is staying in New York to do so.

“Both Rosie and I are going to head to Nazareth College,” Morse said. “I’m going to study environmental science and then continue the dream of vaulting. Coach [James] Goss and coach [Zachary] Ferrara, they’re super excited, and I’m really excited to work with them. [Ferrara] is a great polo coach and he’s still jumping. Just to be able to work with people that love the sport as much as I do and really are super enthusiastic is really exciting.”

Morse will continue to learn from knowledgeable coaches, as Ferrara is a former NCAA champion pole vaulter at Nazareth. Morse was able to improve her height in pole vaulting by 2 feet over the course of the outdoor season alone and plans on continuing that trajectory at the next level.

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