It’s been a tough offseason for Adrienne Salemme.
First, her pole vault coach at Columbus North, Dale Stelting, died of a heart attack in December. More recently, concerns over the coronavirus shut down the school until at least May 4, leaving Salemme’s senior outdoor track and field season hanging in limbo.
Late last week, Salemme had a little bit better news. She signed a national letter-of-intent to pole vault for Samford University and plans to send it today to the Division I school in Birmingham, Alabama.
Salemme actually discovered Samford through its academics. She plans to major in health sciences and minor in Spanish with the hope of becoming a physician’s assistant.
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“I was looking for a school that had a good academic program and a good track and field program,” Salemme said. “So I went down for a visit just to tour the academic side of it. Then I went down for a recruiting visit and decided that was the place for me.”
Last season, Salemme cleared a personal-best 11 feet, 6 inches at the Franklin Sectional, then matched at at the Shelbyville Regional. She injured her heel two days before the state meet and cleared 11-3 to tie for 13th. She was named The Republic Girls Track Athlete of the Year.
Since the start of this indoor season, Salemme has been working with new North pole vault coach Dan Newell. She cleared 10-6 and 11-0 to win a pair of indoor meets at Indiana University.
The Hoosier State Relays, the unofficial state indoor meet, has been canceled.
“It’s been hard,” Salemme said. “I was really looking forward to indoor state. I had been making a lot of progress. I’m hoping to go back to school in May and get an outdoor season in. That would be great.”
Since school coaches aren’t permitted to work with their athletes, and the athletes aren’t allowed to use school facilities during the shutdown, Salemme has been traveling to Fortville two or three days a week to work at Pole Vault Elite, which coach Collin Gayde runs out of his back yard.
The Pole Vault Elite club practiced at University of Indianapolis’ indoor facility during the indoor season.
“It’s going to start getting really busy now,” Salemme said. “The IHSAA just cleared us to start working out in our clubs, so we can work out together now instead of just having private lessons. I’ve been doing a lot of sprint and weight workouts to improve my speed. I’m very consistent at 11-6 now, and 12-0 is just around the corner.”
