Blind pole vaulter wins bronze medal at Texas state high school championships
May 16, 2015, 1:59 PM | Updated: 2:02 pm
Senior Charlotte Brown of Emory (Texas) Rains High School may be blind, but that didn’t stop her from completing an incredible — if not inspirational — third place finish in the pole vaulting competition at the Texas 4A high school state championships Saturday.
After finishing eighth at the state meet as a sophomore and tying for fourth as a junior, Brown found the podium in her final year competing at the prep level, clearing 11 feet, 6 inches.
“Any time you can get on the medal stand, it’s great,” said Jeff Lester to espnW.com. Lester is Brown’s pole vaulting coach at Rains. “She’s getting better, and that’s all that really matters. And emotionally, it’s closure because the most rewarding thing as a coach is when a kid moves forward and goes on to better things, which Charlotte is doing.”
Brown intends to walk on at Purdue University next fall, where her brother, Lachlan, is a hurdler.
“I definitely should’ve gone higher today if I had done a few other parts technically better,” Brown told espnW. “But I have done better each year at state, so that’s good. And I was happy I was on the medal stand.”
Born with normal vision, Brown began developing cataracts when she was 16 weeks old. Brown underwent numerous operations to maintain her vision, but when she turned 11, her condition began to worsen. Now completely blind, Brown says she takes pride in her disability, using it to fuel her competitive fire and desire to clear obstacles both on and off the track.
“If I could send a message to anybody, it’s not about pole vaulting and it’s not about track,” said Brown to ABC 13 in Houston. “It’s about finding something that makes you happy despite whatever obstacles are in your way.”
