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Blind high school pole vaulter wins bronze at state championship

High school senior Charlotte Brown of Emory, Texas may be legally blind, but the track and field athlete did not let that stop her from grabbing a spot on the podium at the state championship meet.

High school senior Charlotte Brown of Emory, Texas may be legally blind, but the track and field athlete did not let that stop her from grabbing a spot on the podium at the state championship meet.

The New York Post reports Brown had finished in fourth place in the pole vault as a junior and made it her mission to make it to the top three in her last year of prep competition.

The Emory Rains high star first developed cataracts when she was just 16 weeks old and has dealt with deteriorating vision throughout childhood, according to the New York Post.

By 2013, she still had pinhole vision but couldn’t see color or distinguish shape from shadow. Brown is now blind. While not faced with total darkness, her mother described what remains as a “jigsaw puzzle” of mixed up shades of light and dark.

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Brown cleared a height of 11'6" to grab the final podium spot. She will be attending Purdue on an academic scholarship this fall, and hopes to walk on to the Boilermakers' track and field team.

Brendan Maloy