Double-winner Kira Martin fuels North Shore

North Shore's Kira Martin was stuck. The North Shore pole vaulter wanted to increase her personal best mark of 8 feet, 6 inches before graduating next month. With little time to spare, Martin reached for a new pole and it made all the difference.

Martin said her new pole is designed for a person who weighs more than she does and allows for an increased curve.

"Once I got more bend on the pole, I was able to control it and jump higher," she said.

And it worked like a charm. Martin cleared 9 feet and won the Class A-I pole vault title at the Nassau Class County Championships, held Tuesday and Wednesday at Westbury High School.

Martin also won the 400- meter hurdles in 1 minute, 6.31 seconds. It was only her fourth time running the event, she said.

"Every time I've ran it, I've set a new personal record," she said. "I'm really competitive. So I just wanted to push forward and do the best I could. When I saw that [Valley Stream North's Emily Martino] was ahead of me, I noticed that she was within a distance that I could catch up to. At the 200-meter mark, I made it my goal to catch up to her and try and push through and beat her. The last stretch was crazy. We were right next to each other."

Martino finished second in 1:06.35.

SEE PHOTOSNassau track and field county championship

Martin's two wins helped North Shore capture the A-I title, scoring 129 points. Garden City won A-II with 171.75 points and Uniondale took Class A-III with 126 points.

Garden City's Emma Gallagher was a triple winner. The junior standout took the A-II 400 in 57.49 seconds, the 800 in 2:20, and the 400 hurdles in 1:06.22. Gallagher's teammate Steph Gerland won the 1,500 in 4:46.85 and the 3,000 in 10:24.28.

Uniondale's Crystal Green also won three events: the A-III 200 in 26.14, the 100 hurdles in 15.43 and the 400 hurdles in 1:03.02.

Cold Spring Harbor's Isabelle Harouche won the A-I 800 in 2:19.82 and 1,500 in 4:50.51. During the first half of the 1,500, Harouche paced off her teammate, Daniela LoCastro.

"It started off pretty slow," Harouche said. "That was good for us. [LoCastro] held out the race, because that's what she does well when it starts out slow. I like when she's in front of me. She keeps me going."

After removing herself from an inner pack and running on the outside, Harouche was able to move up at will.

"Running on the outside gives you more space," she said. "If you want to pass someone, it's easier to go around them. I kept that in mind when I was running. I didn't want to stay boxed in."

LoCastro finished fourth in 4:56.13.

Westbury's Denisha West won the A-II long jump in 16-8 and the triple jump in 34-6 1/2.