Dexter senior continues to soar to new heights

Dexter High School senior athlete Abbie Lloyd will kick off her final season of cross-country training when the Bearcats officially open up practice on Monday, as all MSHSAA varsity sports do. However, Lloyd will be pulling double duty – to a degree – as she continues to train in the pole vault, which has very quickly become her athletic specialty.

“She has progressed amazingly,” Poplar Bluff assistant track coach Mark Barousse said recently of Lloyd.

Barousse is one of three coaches (Dexter track coach Chad Jamerson and Bearcat assistant track coach Jamie Dona, as well) who work with Lloyd depending on the time of year.

Lloyd’s development has been “amazing” because it isn’t like she has been competing in the event for a long time.

In the summer of 2021, Lloyd went to a track meet and watched other athletes compete in the pole vault and became intrigued by the notion.

“I thought,” Lloyd recalled, “’You know what? I want to do this.’”

She quickly became enthralled by the event and her passion for it hasn’t waned.

“It’s close to flying without anything else,” Lloyd said.

And Lloyd has been “flying” higher than ever before this summer.

She has competed in several outdoor meets throughout Missouri, and last month, soared over 10 feet 6 inches, which was a personal best.

“In two years,” Barousse said, “to go from never jumping to jumping 10-6 is a big accomplishment.”

And Barousse doesn’t think Lloyd’s potential has been met.

Lloyd trains all year long and will compete in indoor meets this winter, even through the Bearcat basketball season, which she participates in following her cross-country season.

All of the different types of sports contribute, in some ways, to benefitting her in the pole vault.

Barousse said that her physical development, in terms of strength, both upper body and core, as well as improving her speed, will be critical for her in the future.

“She started from scratch,” Barousse recalled of 2021, ‘and she was weak. But all of the workouts, and upper body stuff that I gave to her, she did it. Now, she is sprinting and getting faster.

“That is the next big step.”

Lloyd finished sixth in the MSHSAA Class 3 State Finals in June with a jump of 10-3 ½, and Barousse said if she gains the speed and strength to move up from a 12-foot pole to a 12-6 pole or 13-foot pole, that will help her in her climb.

“Nine times out of 10,” Barousse said, “the (athlete) with the biggest pole, and who runs the fastest, wins. If we get her a little faster, then she’ll be able to get on a 13-foot pole and jump what she is capable of jumping, potential-wise, in high school.”

Lloyd qualified for the 2023 AAU Track and Field Junior Olympics, which are being held this week in Des Moines, Iowa. However, it interfered with the Dexter cross-country season, so she elected not to travel to the meet. However, she is excited about her future in the event.

She ranks 30th in her class at Dexter and has maintained “straight A’s” in the classroom. Her goal is to earn an opportunity to compete at the college level in the event, while she studies veterinary medicine.

“You either love to pole vault,” Lloyd said, “or you’ll hate it. There is no in-between.”