Tornusciolo continues vaulting success

Lansing girls have been dominating the Section IV pole vaulting circuit for years, winning a streak of sectional championships. Since 2016, every pole vault event at the Section IV Championships, indoor and outdoor, has been won by a Lansing athlete. The chain started with Emily Gallagher, continued with Meghan Matheny and Gwen Gisler and now resides with senior Kiara Tornusciolo.

Tornusciolo won the Section IV outdoor championship in June with a height of 10 feet 6 inches to keep the streak alive. COVID-19 has slowed down the progress she hoped to make in her senior year, but she still remains at or near the top of leaderboards during meets this season. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, Tornusciolo is unable to pole vault during practice, limiting her jumps to the large weekend meets that have been held at SUNY Cortland.

“It’s definitely hard,” Tornusciolo said. “I’ve had a pretty drastic decrease in my jumping heights, so it’s been hard. But you just have to go to the meet and know that’s the only time to jump and really get into it so that you’re using your time wisely.”

While she’s not able to actually vault in practice, Tornusciolo detailed the drills she does throughout the week to ensure the technique does not fade away.

“The rest of the team, we do workouts throughout the week, and then [on] Sundays, we will go down to the gym,” Tornusciolo said. “We do different drills that [coach Matt] Scheffler has designed for us. We use rings, we work on our swing, and we also have a pulley system that we use to work on our inverting.”

Scheffler, the Lansing track and field head coach, runs the Tompkins County Pole Vault Club, which has produced several great pole vaulters over the years. Rosie and Isabel Morse, Trumansburg twins who compete against Tornusciolo in pole vaulting, are members of the club alongside Tornusciolo. She discussed the friendly competition they have had.

“We practice with each other a lot when we are practicing [with Scheffler],” Tornusciolo said. “We were in a warehouse for a while practicing last year, so we’d see each other twice a week. We’ve been vaulting with each other for years. It’s definitely a friendship, and we’re very supportive of each other when we do well.”

Scheffler, who has been an assistant coach for the Ithaca College track and field team for over 15 years, is an incredibly valuable resource for Tornusciolo and the entire Lansing team.

“It’s amazing to have him,” Tornusciolo said. “It’s also amazing to have all the equipment that we have. We have hundreds of poles. Other schools come to meets and only have one pole. It’s really awesome to have the supplies.”

Looking back to what got her into pole vaulting, that involved Scheffler too.

“In middle school, we would do a track unit,” she said. “Coach Scheffler would let kids pole vault. It’s just taking a couple steps and holding on to the pole and just flying into the pit a little bit. It’s not too serious, but it got me pretty excited about the sport, and Scheffler asked me to come back and do some more practices.”

Years later, she was able to vault alongside the aforementioned Gisler, who is currently on the Ithaca College track and field team. Tornusciolo talked about her experience learning under Gisler.

“I was on the team with Gwen for two years,” Tornusciolo said. “She definitely taught me the ways that the team worked and she would cheer me on. I remember, I’d be standing on the runway, and, before my jumps, she’d make a little hand signal to remind me to swing over the bar because I had some issues with that for a while. It was awesome to have that kind of support.”

Gisler and Tornusciolo were also teammates on the girls soccer team at Lansing. This past season, Tornusciolo anchored the Bobcats’ defense, helping them reach the Section IV Championship. She discussed the differences between soccer and track.

“I like to think of track as a team sport because you’re all working together to get some points for winning the meet,” Tornusciolo said. “It’s not like passing the ball to each other but supporting each other so that you can get a PR and get points for the team. It’s definitely different being more alone, though. I’m jumping into the air alone. It’s kind of hard switching over, but you get used to it pretty quick.”

Tornusciolo is looking forward to the switch from indoor to outdoor track, as she’ll be able to practice pole vaulting during the week again. Until then, however, she’s hoping to reach 11 feet 6 inches or 12 feet pole vaulting during her final season.

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