Broussard wins Southland Conference pole vault title

Annemarie Broussard closed out the indoor track season by making history at Northwestern State.
This past weekend, Broussard competed in the Southland Conference Indoor Track and Field Meet and walked away first in the pole vaulting event. It was also the first time a female from Northwestern won a Southland Conference pole vaulting title.
Her winning jump was 12-11.75 feet.
“It’s not my best jump, but I am happy that I got to jump it there because it was my heightist height that I jumped this indoor season,” said Broussard.
Broussard and the rest of the track athletes watched their outdoor season get cut short last March because of COVID-19. They could not practice due to COVID-19 restrictions. But that turned out to be a good thing for Broussard. When she was getting into the outdoor season, she began having foot pain.
Today, she is better thanks to the rest.
“I feel pretty good with this height because I have only been practicing for six weeks,” said Broussard. “I didn’t have any fall training due to an injury, so saying that it’s pretty good for just getting back to jumping.
“It always feels great to get back to competing. I missed being around my friends and competitors, and everyone is so friendly and nice. We all enjoy it when we are out there. I missed it a lot, and we had a short indoor season, but we have a very full outdoor coming up.”
This was only the third indoor meet Broussard competed in this season. Now it is time to move on to the outdoor season. She enters the outdoor with expectations.
“I am so excited for this outdoor season because we have a meet almost every weekend for the rest of the semester,” she said. “I’m also ready to compete for outdoor. I haven’t jumped in a competition outdoor since 2019 since COVID shut us down last spring.
“My outdoor goals are just to do my best and get back to where I was before my injury. I want to jump 14 feet because that’s around the height you need to go to nationals in Eugene, Oregon.”
The sophomore begins the season with a new look. She recently cut her long hair.
“I cut my hair just to,” she said. “It was something different I had never done before. I was like, ‘Why not, it’s hair, and it will grow back.”
Thus far, the new look is agreeing with her and her pole vaulting career.