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Standing at the end of the runway, pole resting on shoulder, a pole vaulter’s emotions before charging toward the pit are a combustible concoction of anxiety, excitement and fear.

Granite Bay High’s Katie Zingheim knows.

Zingheim, who placed third in the CIF state meet for the second straight year with a vault of 12 feet, four inches on June 4, went through a spell just over a year ago in which she couldn’t bring herself to vault.

In a sport where the margin of victory can be as slight as a quarter of an inch, the difference between success and failure often times is the five inches between a competitor’s ears. After all,  plenty can go wrong sprinting down a runway carrying a carbon fiber pole, jamming it into the ground and using the flex of the pole to convert horizontal momentum into vertical energy to vault over a bar one story in the air.

Rather than vaulting with her feet pointed at the sky, they were planted firmly on the ground.