Aaron Konigsberg soars at Hispanic Games (NY)

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Track and field: Hackley's Konigsberg soars at Hispanic Games
BY DAN MARRA • THE JOURNAL NEWS • JANUARY 11, 2009
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NEW YORK - It was one of the most frustrating things Aaron Konigsberg has had to go through.

He loves track and field and he loves the pole vault, but last spring after qualifying for the state meet in the pouring rain, the Hackley senior wanted to see how high he could go. So, he attempted to clear one more height.


His pole slipped, he went one way, the pole went the other and by the time Konigsberg crashed to the ground he had broken his left wrist, ending his spring.

"Obviously I have regrets. If I had it over to do again I wouldn't have kept jumping," Konigsberg said.

After returning from his injury only a few weeks ago, Konigsberg finally got back to the level he was at last spring. Yesterday at the New Balance Armory he was able to clear 14 feet in the pole vault to take first place at the Hispanic Games.

"I wanted to try and do better than I have been doing this season. Now I'm where I want to be at this point in the season," Konigsberg said. "The first couple of meets I just wanted to get out the kinks."

It didn't take Konigsberg long to get back to jumping. As soon as he was healthy enough to jump, he did. His pole vault coach, Tim St. Lawrence, wouldn't allow him to think about the wrist.

"Tim was so energized to have me back, I couldn't be nervous," Konigsberg said. "I took a couple of run-throughs and within 10 minutes I was jumping. There's no room for tentativeness in the pole vault. I was ready to go and I went."