Local track athlete wins silver at national indoor championships

Aria Sementilli of Amherstburg won silver in pole vault at the Canadian Indoor National Championships in Toronto.

A local track and field athlete set a pair of personal bests at the Canadian Indoor National Championships, one of which landed her a silver medal.

Aria Sementilli captured a silver medal in the U16 age category at the Feb. 27-March 1 competition in Toronto. Her personal best jump of 2.80 metres in pole vault earned her second place, only behind Dita Futo of the Bolton Pole Vault club.

“I couldn’t be happier,” the 13-year-old Amherstburg resident said. “I’m glad for Dita. She’s so sweet. She’s been trying for this her whole life. This meant more to her than it would have to me.”

Futo and Sementilli may train together in the summer, as Sementilli hopes to spend a few days at the Bolton club working with her. Year-round training in pole vault happens in Bolton, with Canadian record holder and Olympian Alicia Newman who trains there. The track community is tight, she added, and they support each other and cheer each other on.

Aria Sementilli goes over the bar at the nationals recently in Toronto.

“She’s Aria’s inspiration and she got to meet her a couple of weeks ago,” said Aria’s mother Martene.

Sementilli said she tries to earn personal bests in every meet she competes at. She also competed in the 60-metre hurdles while at the national championships, where she advanced to the final, finishing in eighth place. 

“I think I did really well,” she added.

Martene added “this is the biggest event by far we’ve ever been to. We had never seen anything like it.”

Sementilli trains at the Windsor-Essex Athletic Club and is coached in pole vault by Kevin DiNardo, himself an accomplished pole vaulter. She moved to the Windsor-Essex Athletic Club because of her desire to do pole vault.

“She wanted to get involved in pole vault since she was six or seven,” explained Martene. “It was a bizarre obsession.”

As it turned out, her grandfather was a pole vaulter in the U.S.Sementilli explained her grandfather liked watching “funny fails” and she recalled watching one video where a pole snapped. From there, she noticed pole vault and wanted to try it.

“There’s just something about it,” she said. “There’s a freedom you can really get with it. I don’t really know how to explain it.”

Sementilli said she was scared to try 2.20 metres two years ago, but that is where she starts at in competitions.

Other events she competes at includes sprints, with those including 60m and 150m during the indoor season and 100m, 200m and 400m in the outdoor season.

“I’ve loved running since I could walk,” said Sementilli. “It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.”

The silver in pole vault was the first time she was on the podium for the sport. 

“This is the first big competition she went to where she faced her own age group,” said Martene, adding her daughter has competed in open mixed age categories at other meets.

Sementilli competes in about a dozen meets per year. She trains in Windsor three times per week, spending part of the night with pole vault and hurdles the other part of the night. 

“I’m hoping in high school to break OFSAA records,” she said. 

Her long-term goal is to get to the Olympics.

“I really think by the time I’m old enough, I think I can get to the Olympics and put up a good fight,” said Sementilli.

Sementilli currently attends Monseignor Caron elementary school in LaSalle and will attend Sandwich Secondary School. 

Local track athlete wins silver at national indoor championships

By Ron Giofu