HELENA — Fifteen feet, six inches.
That’s the height Helena Capital's Brayden Brisko cleared to win this year’s boys pole vault title at the Class AA state meet in Kalispell. But even before then, Brisko had to clear a much greater obstacle.
“I started getting sick like the first meet,” said Brisko, who battled through pneumonia during his championship season. “I Jumped okay, but then after that I had two meets in a row where I no-heighted — and two meets after that where I couldn’t even jump from a full run.
“I lost quite a bit of weight, and lost quite a bit of strength, And I couldn’t really gain it back because I was trying to jump.”
Brisko’s pneumonia effectively sidelined him from vaulting in April. And the eventual state champ said he didn’t get back to feeling like himself until the final two weeks of the season.
But it was Brisko’s teammates and coaches who he said pushed him to keep going.
“I was super mad. So, I would say it’s just way more important this year just where I was struggling with that,” said Brisko. “And when I wasn’t doing good they were there all along and keeping me going. So I’m just thankful for them dealing with even my bad days when I was mad.”
Capital’s pole vault coach said it was “really tough” to watch Brisko battle through his pneumonia.
“I know he really wanted to do well,” said Mikayla Nickol. “So, you just feel for the kids who are trying their best, and it’s not coming together for them.
“And at the same time I was just so proud of him for sticking with it and every tough meet he had, he was right back the next day at practice, trying to get better, trying to fix the things. So, really cool journey to watch him battle through it all this season, and very proud of him for all the work he put in to come back from that.”
