Aly Jo Warren raising the bar at Menard High School

ALEXANDRIA, La. (KALB) - Throughout her high school career, Menard’s Aly Jo Warren has been setting school records. She added her name to another record over the weekend, jumping a new school high, 12 feet and eight inches, in the pole vault event.

“I was just very determined to clear it,” Warren said. ”I told myself no matter what I got to get over this bar, I was going to do whatever it takes.”

That’s been her mindset since she was little. Warren has been a multi-sport athlete competing in basketball, softball and track, where she sets records in different events. However, pole vaulting has always been the sport that piqued her interest.

“I participated in something called the fitness team in junior high, and that’s where I met Miss Louisiana, and she was a pole vaulter,” Warren said. “She told me that I would be good at it, so I just tried it for fun, and after my first vault, I realized it’s something that I want to do in the future.”

Warren, who is committed to LSU for track and field, is following in her family’s footsteps. Her mother, Shelly, also ran track herself. However, she said Aly’s drive to perfection is what makes her so successful, and what makes her mom so proud.

“I would say that she is a better version of me,” said Shelly. “I don’t know that I had the mindset that she has. If the younger version of me was still competing, she would absolutely beat me because she is mentally stronger at this age than I was at seventeen.”

Warren’s record-setting career and push for even more is what earned her this week’s ACA Athlete of the Week.

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