Pole vaulting is more than your ordinary leap of faith. You’ve got to charge down a narrow track, plant a pole that weighs just a fraction of your weight and hope that it will catapult you safely over a bar suspended several feet in the air. Without focus, and a strong core, it’s just not going to happen.
But Samantha Intili makes that happen on a very regular basis. A member of the Verona High School Winter Tack team for four years, she is a team captain this year and played a big part in Verona’s first-ever state sectional championship for the girls team with her pole-vault performance. Intili placed fifth that championship in the pole vault, with a jump of 8’6″. She also placed at at the conference and county championships, and qualified to compete at the state-wide Meet of Champions. For her efforts, Intili is the Verona Sports Boosters Senior Athlete of the Week.
Intili, who also competed on the VHS volleyball team in the fall, has also been inducted into the National Honor Society. Her athletic and academic record made Intili Verona High School’s honoree at the National Girls & Women in Sports Day at Seton Hall University in January.
During the 2011-2012 school year, the Verona Sports Boosters will be recognizing a different senior athlete at Verona High School every week. The Boosters support male and female athletes in all VHS sports through a variety of fundraisers and recognition events.