GREENSBORO–The more things change for the Fowlkes family, the more they stay the same.
In 2022, Caroline Fowlkes won the 3A State Championship in the pole vault. The first time she had ever heard the term “jump-off,” she competed in it.
Competing for Cedar Ridge, Caroline defeated West Carteret’s Alyssa Cooley when she cleared 10-feet, six-inches. But Fowlkes didn’t know there was such a thing as a jump-off until she was told by North Carolina High School Athletic Association officials when she and Cooley both failed to clear eleven-feet.
Flash forward four years and Caroline’s younger sister Clara found herself in another jump-off with the state title hanging in the balance on Friday afternoon.
Unlike her sister, Clara had heard of a jump-off.
She had just never competed in one.
“It was pretty stressful,” Clara said.
Competing for Orange, Fowlkes sailed over 11-feet-3 inches in the third extra jump, turning away the challenge of Lelu Hill of East Rowan to claim the 5A State Championship inside Truist Stadium at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro on Friday.
Fowlkes is the first female outdoor track & field state champion in Orange High history.
In February, Fowlkes and Adelyn Alvis both won state championships in the 5A State Indoor Track & Field Championships at the JDL FastTrack in Winston-Salem.
Fowlkes won the pole vault while Alvis captured the 300 meter dash.
“This is a tougher field that what Clara had to face when she won the indoor state championship,” said Orange track & field coach Brian Schneidwind. “It’s one thing if you’re all alone at the head of the pack. But it’s another thing when you’ve got somebody breathing down your back. It’s tough having to step up and compete knowing that any single misstep will have a penalty. I was happy with her height and that takes athleticism and a lot of hard work. But it takes a special level of mental toughness to push through at this level.”
Fowlkes easily won the 5A State Indoor title with her best attempt at eleven-feet. The runner-up, Elizabeth Surface of the Durham School of the Arts, cleared nine-feet, six-inches.
From that day in February, Fowlkes has been dead set on winning double state championships in this, her junior season. She set the tone leading up to Greensboro, winning the 5A Central Regional championship at Southeast Alamance High in Haw River on May 9 by clearing eleven feet. Hill had a runner-up finish at ten feet in regionals.
“I had a really good start to this season,” Fowlkes said. “After winning the indoor title, I wanted to get both of them in one year just once. I’m proud of myself.”
In the jump-off, both Fowlkes and Hill cleared ten-feet, six-inches. They also both got over at eleven-feet. Fowlkes sailed over eleven-feet, six-inches, a bar that Hill couldn’t get over.
Fowlkes claimed the title one day after her older sister competed for the final time for Appalachian State University. After graduating inside the Holmes Convocation Center in Boone on May 9, Caroline Fowlkes ended her career at the Sun Belt Conference Championships at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, AL.
As fate would have it, the University of South Alabama is where Clara and Caroline’s father, Thomas, also competed as a pole vaulter. Their mother, Jenna, was a pole vaulter at the University of Florida.
Clara first picked up a pole at the age of six on the encouragement of her parents.
“It was just something we did,” Fowlkes said.
Last year, Clara finished 2nd in the 3A State Championships in a three-way tie with Gracie Finley of Ashe County and Blythe Jaworsky of North Lincoln at 10-feet, 6-inches. Fowlkes will now focus on her summer travel season going to various places across the region in preparation of her senior year.
