The WPIAL was forced to postpone the Class AA pole vault competition Tuesday because of rain and lightning.
Upon the restart early Wednesday morning, Chris Stewart captured lightning in a bottle.
Stewart, a junior from Apollo-Ridge, won the pole vault championship with a career-best vault of 13 feet.
He is the first boys WPIAL track champion from Apollo-Ridge since Brian Blystone -- his first cousin -- won the javelin in 2000.
The win also secures Stewart of a spot in the PIAA championships May 28-29 at Shippensburg University.
"To win this is amazing," Stewart said. "To win it by a foot over my career best is unbelievable."
In front of a small crowd consisting mostly of coaches and a few parents who could break away from work, Stewart nailed his first three attempts -- 12 feet, 12 feet, 6 inches and 13 feet.
His first miss came at 13-6, while he was attempting to tie a school record set by Dom Romeo in the early 1990s.
Stewart came in seeded eighth out of 15 competitors.
Stewart didn't have a problem getting up early after getting to bed late. The event began at 9 a.m., which meant he had to meet his coach, Matt Curci, at 7:15.
"I had a bowl of Cheerios and an egg sandwich," Stewart said. "Then, I was ready to go. My dad got on me when I got up. He told me to stretch, so I was awake for the meet. It seemed like the other guys were sleepy."
Curci said the team did not get back to Apollo from South Side beaver until 10:30 p.m. Tuesday night.
Just a few weeks ago, Stewart wasn't sure if he'd even get a chance to qualify for the WPIAL meet.
He overcame a six-week bout with mononucleosis. Doctors cleared him to return a few days before the Class AA Northern qualifier at Mars.
"We knew he had it in him to qualify for states, but to be honest, what really surprised me was how he came back from mono," Curci said. "What a shame that was. But he worked so hard. If you would have asked three or four weeks ago if he'd win, I would have thought no way. But he busted his butt."
Stewart also is a halfback and linebacker on the football team. He wants to play football in college -- as evidenced by his trip to the Metro-Index on the South Side Wednesday afternoon -- but if a track coach called him, "I'd take an offer in a heartbeat," he said.
Stewart's father, who is also named Chris, is the Vikings' volunteer vaulting coach.
