A little less than four years ago, Darby Semenza was dragging herself through yet another day of school at C.M. Russell High. To make matters worse, she was headed to math class. She starting talking with her teacher, Brad Packer, who was also a pole vault coach on the track and field team. “I told him that I was in gymnastics throughout elementary school to middle school,” Semenza said, “and he was like, ‘Well, how about you just try out pole vaulting? And I was like, ‘OK.’” Little did Semenza know, looking back on that conversation Saturday at Memorial Stadium, she would set the school record in pole vaulting her junior year: 10 feet, 1 inch. Even more, that she would break her own school record on Saturday against Helena High: 10-6. more
