Kade Wright showed off his patience Saturday.
The St. Elizabeth freshman's only event, the pole vault, was scheduled to start at 11 a.m., but a rain delay pushed the start time back one hour. By the time he stepped to the podium with his all-state medal, it was just after 4:30 p.m.
"I've had those experiences (where I've had to wait), I know what it's like," Wright said after finishing in eighth place during the Class 1 state track and field championships at Adkins Stadium.
The boys pole vault was intended to be one of the first field events to begin. Because of its duration, it was one of the last field events to be completed.
"When they pushed it back, I went and sat in the truck for a little while," Wright said. "Finally, when they started back up, I came back in. It took a while for them to start, but we finally got it in."
Wright cleared 9 feet, 10 inches on his first attempt, then cleared the bar at 10-4 on his third try. He needed just two attempts to make it over the bar at 10-6.75 before missing on all three tries at 10-9.25.
After Wright's day was done, the bar was raised 12 more times, which kept him hanging around for his state medal for a few more hours. The bar was raised a total of 17 times following the opening height of 9-4.25.
Liberal's Case Hampton won the event with a vault of 13-9.25.
"It was a lot better than what I've seen," Wright said of the competition.
Only three freshmen competed in the Class 1 boys pole vault, and Wright had the highest finish of the three.
"Since I'm just a freshman, I was wanting to get all-state," Wright said. "I didn't expect to get really high up."
Wright posted a personal-best in the pole vault at state. His previous best was 10-6, set last month at Fatima's Rick Buersmeyer Invitational.
St. Elizabeth's other state qualifier, junior Caroline Buechter, finished in 16th place in the girls 400-meter dash with a time of 1:05.06.