PEARL — Three times Monday, Maggie Waites planted her pole into the ground and vaulted toward the bar sitting 9 1/2 feet above her.

Three times, she bumped into it and sent it clattering to the mat below. The normally attainable mark seemed just out of reach for the St. Aloysius junior, just like it was for most of her teammates at the Class 1A state track meet.

Waites, the state record holder in the Class 1A girls pole vault, settled for second place for the second consecutive year. As a team, St. Al medaled in just two of its nine events, and didn’t win any during a long, frustrating afternoon at Pearl High School.

Waites, a three-time state champion, was looking to reclaim the crown she lost last year to French Camp’s Chelsey McDaniel.

Waites had vaulted 11 feet at last week’s South State meet — a foot better than McDaniel’s personal best — but couldn’t get going on Monday.

After clearing the 9-foot mark, Waites failed on all three attempts at 9 feet, 6 inches. McDaniel soared over the mark, and then the 10-foot mark for good measure, to retain the title.

“It doesn’t feel too good,” Waites said. “I just didn’t jump like I knew how to do. I felt good today, and then I just didn’t do it.”

St. Al’s other championship favorite, Alyssa Engel, didn’t fare any better. The defending state champion in the long jump leaped a personal-best 17 feet, 9 inches, but it was only good enough to bring home a silver medal.

John F. Kennedy’s Latina Jones jumped 18 feet, 3 inches to easily claim the title.

Jones and Engel were the only two athletes in the eight-person field to jump farther than 17 feet.

“I PR’d, so I did my best. She was just better than me. That’s the best I could do,” Engel said. “It feels a little better knowing that I did my best, and she was just more talented.”

Engel competed in three other events, but finished just short of medals in all of them. She was fourth in the triple jump and the 200 meters, and part of the 4×400 meter relay team that finished fourth.

In the 200 meters, she was edged out by two one-hundredths of a second for third place and a bronze medal by Coldwater’s Paris Jamison.

“We were neck-and-neck. I tried to step across the finish line, but I guess it was too close to call,” Engel said.

In other events, St. Al finished sixth in the 4×200 meter relay and got a seventh-place effort from Madalyn Burke in the 1,600 meter run.

Tori Thomas qualified for the state meet in the discus and shot put, but skipped the competition to take an advanced placement test.

As a team, the Lady Flashes totaled 36 points to finish seventh in the team standings. John F. Kennedy won the girls meet with 109 points, and Coldwater was second with 81.5.

St. Al’s only entrant in the boys’ meet, Josh Price, finished fifth in the discus and sixth in the shot put.

Hinds AHS, which is closing its doors at the end of the school year, went out a big winner in its final athletic competition.

The War Dawgs won state championships in 11 of 17 events and totaled 197 points to cruise to their third consecutive team title. John F. Kennedy was a distant second with 55 points.