Longwood's Halli Silberman, Northport's Thomas Acosta first at pole vault event

Halli Silberman was a gymnast for 11 years before becoming a pole vaulter. When she joined the track team at Longwood, her coaches suggested she give the field event a try.

“When I got pulled up to the track team, they were like ‘Oh, you can flip. How about you try pole vaulting,' ” Silberman said. “And it kind of just worked out from there.”

Silberman placed first at the Connetquot pole vault meet as she cleared 10 feet, 6 inches at Connetquot High School on Monday.

She got through the first few rounds and began at 9 feet, 6 inches, which allowed her to both save energy and give herself an easier starting point.

“It helps me save my adrenaline,” Silberman said. “That’s like a safety jump, and from there I know that I can keep going. It helps me. It’s like a mental jump.”

That “mental jump” also sets the tone for how she’ll approach her remaining vaults. Silberman tries to stay out of her own head and keep her routine normal.

When she heads into the final round, she has to put everything else aside and focus on the competition at hand.

“It’s pure competition at that point,” Silberman said. “Even if I’m friends with some of the girls, it’s like, ‘If they make it, then I have to work harder. If they don’t make it, then I still have to work hard to go over and keep going.”

Northport's Acosta wins boys title

For Thomas Acosta, he treats these meets as competition and practice.

The Northport senior doesn’t have an indoor practice spot for pole vaulting, so he’s reliant on warmer weather.

“During practice, I do sprint training,” Acosta said. “If it’s not terrible outside, I can do pole runs sometimes. That’s about it, though. The rest of the time is just dedicated to sprint mechanics and just working out.”

Acosta cleared 13 feet, 6 inches to place first in the boys' meet at Connetquot. He felt that he should have reached higher considering he peaked at 14 feet this season and 14 feet, 6 inches last spring.

Acosta begins his preparation five days before a meet by making sure he’s feeling well and eating properly. A light day before the meet coincided with a thorough warmup gets the senior ready to perform his best.

“Really I’m just trying to lock in mentally,” Acosta said of the final round. “Sometimes I’m not aware of my surroundings at all since I’m locked in. I’ll walk into people sometimes.”