Track and field athletes, like most teams and athletes, try to peak at the end of the season and continue performing at their best throughout the postseason.

Aiden Hurlburt was hoping to follow that plan, but as the biggest meet of the season approached, he wasn’t sure if it would work out.

Hurlburt, the East Penn Conference and District 11 pole vault champion, ran into a bit of a roadblock during his final preparation for the state championship meet. He eventually got past it and took fourth place at the state meet.

“I cleared 14-6 and I’m actually really happy about it,” said the Hornet junior. “For the past week, I’ve just not been able to take off and when you can’t take off you can’t go up. You just run straight into the mat.”

Hurlburt was one of two Emmaus athletes to earn the Trip to Ship as teammate Hailey Reinhard was also at Shippensburg University’s Seth Grove Stadium last weekend competing in two events.

Hurlburt, who made it to states as a sophomore but failed to clear any height, started this year’s state meet at 13 feet. He cleared that and 13-6 on his first attempt before it took him all three tries to get over the bar at 14 feet. He then made 14-6 on his first try but was unable to get over at 15 feet.

“I was feeling super iffy today,” he said. “I’m just super happy that I cleared almost to my PR. At 14 feet I got it on my third attempt. 14-6 miraculously I somehow got it on my first. Then 15 I got close on my first two, which is nice. And then my third one I was kind of gassed.”

He said being at the meet during inclement weather last year helped him be ready for this year’s event. After the girls pole vault moved indoors Friday morning, the boys pole vaulters were unsure where they would compete in the afternoon as storms rolled through the area.

“I’d say it helped an insane amount,” Hurlburt said of having been to the state meet a year earlier. “Last year the exact same thing happened with the weather. We were pushed inside, except this year we were taken back outside. Last year definitely prepared me with the weather.”

Hurlburt got into pole vaulting after his older sister, Jessica, tried. She moved on to diving and became a successful member of the EHS team, while Aiden continued to attend pole vault training at Vertical Assault in Bath.

He’s continued to improve throughout his high school career and cleared 15 feet for the first time in 2022, just a few weeks before the postseason.

“It’s been a really solid season,” he said. “I got sick a bunch at the beginning and shin splints kind of tore me down. Next year I won’t be sick so it should be nice.”

A district champ and third-place finisher at leagues as a sophomore, Hurlburt is looking to keep getting better next season.

“I’d like to get 16-6, but that’s pushing it,” he said. “I’d be fine with 16, but 16-6 would be great next season.”

Hurlburt added that he’s excited to compete with teammate Tyler Grabinski next season. A freshman, Grabinski finished third at districts this year and is already able to clear the bar at 13-6.

Reinhard, a junior, was making her second trip to the state championship meet for track and field. She’s been to state championships in cross country all three years of high school and was at Shippensburg last year as part of a relay team.

This season she qualified individually in both the 1600- and 3200-meter run.

She placed 16th in the 1600 while running a career-best time of 5:00.83, which is four seconds faster than her previous best and nearly nine second faster than her runner-up time from districts (5:09.67).

“I’m really happy with it,” she said Friday after the 1600. “I just wanted to try the very best to get a PR.”

She returned Saturday to run an 11:02.04 in the 3200, which was 22 seconds faster than her winning district time of 11:24.98.

The chance to run with the fastest distance runners in the state helped Reinhard run her best at the season’s most competitive meet.

“I was so excited and over the moon for getting here and it’s a great experience,” she said. “I just want to PR and race some fast girls.

“Having girls around me that can push me, that helped me focus on the third lap where I normally drop off.”

The state tournament ended a good year for Hornet head coach Kami Reinhard’s program. The girls finished fourth in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference tournament, while the boys finished fifth. The team did well during the District 11 Class 3A tournament as well. Overall, the Hornets had two District 11 champions, and 10, top four finishes.

“We have a ton of freshman talent, but we need time to help them develop,” Kami Reinhard said at the season’s start. “If you think about it, our seniors are the only class to have experienced a full, ‘normal’ track and field season in their freshman year. So, we have a lot of work to do.”