The indoor track and field season is challenging enough for pole vaulters. Actual practice time spent pole vaulting is extremely limited due to the lack of facilities, so meets during the regular season are of the utmost importance.

This winter got a lot more difficult for Cony High School's Bethany Dumas, the state's top pole vaulter, when she suffered an ankle injury early in the season. She was unable to do anything for two weeks, then was extremely limited through the end of the season.

"It took so long to heal," said Dumas, who rolled her right ankle in the second week of January. "I missed two weeks. It was like starting over."

Dumas was limited, but it didn't limit her success. Once again, she set the Class A state record in the indoor pole vault, winning the state title with a vault of 11 feet, 10 inches.

For her effort, Dumas has been named the Kennebec Journal Girls Indoor Track and Field Athlete of the Year. Hall-Dale High School's Laura Peterson was also considered.

Dumas also finished fifth at the Class A state championship meet in the 55-meter hurdles, despite only running in the event four times this season.

"She didn't hurdle at all," Cony coach Taylor Harmon said. "When we were getting ready in December, we didn't have a place to hurdle. Then she missed three meets when she could have hurdled and didn't get to do any of that. We were really lucky."

The only time in the regular season that Dumas ran the hurdles was on Dec. 29 when she competed in the New Year's Relays at the University of Southern Maine. She returned to the event at the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference Class A meet and finished fourth with a time of 9.80 seconds.

"I was kind of disappointed in my times in the hurdles, but I didn't have a chance to compete because of the ankle," Dumas said.

Because of her ankle injury and her prowess in the pole vault, Harmon didn't want Dumas to compete in the event at the state championship meet. Dumas was scheduled to continue vaulting after the finals for the hurdles and Harmon was nervous she might reinjure the ankle.

Dumas wasn't having it. She wanted to compete in the event at her last indoor state meet.

"She was quite a trouper," Harmon said.

After finishing fifth in the hurdles (9.19 seconds), Dumas went back to the pole vault and continued to set the standard in the event. In the last three seasons, Dumas raised the indoor pole vault record from 10-6 to 11-10.

She said she was lucky the injury was to her right ankle because she jumps off her left foot. It bothered her more, she said, in the hurdles than in the pole vault.

"The running part (in the pole vault) bothered me," Dumas said.

Dumas didn't qualify for the championship meets until Jan. 25, a little over a week before the conference championships, with a vault of 10-0. She didn't compete in a league meet during the season until Jan. 25 but did have a chance to vault earlier in the season. She competed at the Brown Relays, where she won with a vault of 11-2. She then set the meet record at the USM relays with a vault of 11-3. At the National Pole Vault Summit in Reno, Nevada, she vaulted 11-6.

Scott Martin -- 621-5618

smartin@centralmaine.com