Another Night With The Pole Vault

If you live anywhere near Princeton, you're well aware of the fact that the air is a bit thick these days.

It was Tuesday afternoon when TigerBlog first noticed it. He saw on the news that there were forest fires in the Pinelands of South Jersey, so he assumed it might be related. Then he started to understand the scale of it, which made it clear that this was something else. 

As it turned out, it's the result of Canadian wildfires and winds from the north, which are blowing the ashes hundreds of miles to the south. Princeton, and much of the Mid-Atlantic area, has been right in its path.

The sun became almost invisible behind the haze all afternoon, and pretty much anywhere you went, it was the first thing anyone wanted to mention.

It was tough to be outside for very long without feeling the effects. TigerBlog can't remember anything quite like this before.

It was definitely a weird sensation. Cars had their headlights on in the middle of the afternoon. Very few people were outside. Schools were talking about closing for today. Flights were delayed.

It was like a blizzard without the snow and the cold. 

How long will it last? The National Weather Service has issued air quality warnings until tomorrow. Hopefully it clears out.

The smoke was so bad that both the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies had to cancel their games last night. That has to be a rarity.

It's like "Twilight Zone" stuff. 

About 1,700 miles away from this, the air was clear and clean for the NCAA track and field championships, which got under way yesterday.

For Princeton fans, the highlight was clearly the men's pole vault, where the Guttormsen brothers were to compete for the final time as Tigers. Sondre was looking for his fourth NCAA title; Simen was looking for a third All-American finish.

As it turned out, it wasn't their night. 

The pole vault is a tough event, mentally and physically. It takes a definite toll over the course of a competition. 

Forget just the pounding of the sprints, the vaults and the landings. There are also the questions of when do you go, when do you pass?  

TB watched the coverage on ESPN+, which, like a year ago, had a camera trained on the event with only some background crowd noise and no commentators. 

Many of the names were the same as a year ago as well. TB has watched the NCAA pole vault finals so often now that he recognizes the other vaulters.

This time around, Simen Guttormsen no-heighted, which eliminated him from the competition after three misses at 17-4 1/2. Sondre cleared 18-4 1/4 on his second attempt, passed at 18-8 1/4 and then was unable to clear 19-0 1/4 on any of his three tries.

As a result, Sondre's quest for a fourth NCAA title fell short, though he still earned All-American honors once again. Both are great, charismatic athletes who have been incredible representatives of Princeton track and field and Princeton Athletics.

It was a tough way to see their careers end, or at least their Princeton careers. There are many days ahead for both, on that same track even, as they will compete next year as grad transfers at the University of Texas, not to mention internationally for Norway.

Their legacies as all-time Princeton greats were secure before last night's competition, which was probably of little consolation to them as the night wore on but which they will come to realize sooner rather than later.

As for the rest of the championships, there are still two Princetonians to compete. The first is today, when Kate Joyce competes in the women's javelin, beginning at 7:45 Eastern Time. Then it will be Nicholas Bendsten tomorrow at 10:55 pm Eastern time in the 5,000 meters.

And that will be it for the 2022-23 athletic year at Princeton.

The end has seen an eerie darkness come over Princeton, but make no mistake. 

The sun shone on the Tigers for much of this extraordinary year, with its 16 league championships and countless other great moments.