AUSTIN — When it mattered on Saturday, Argyle pole vaulter Samuel Retzloff simply didn’t miss.

The junior passed on the first three heights in the Class 3A meet, picked up at 14-6 and hit his next six vaults until it was just he and Lorena’s Mark Thomas left at 16-3.

Both vaulters failed to clear 16-3, but Retzloff took the gold medal because he had fewer misses at the UIL state track and field championships at Mike A. Myers Stadium.

“That’s what my goal was coming into this,” Retzloff said. “All this year, we were trying to be consistent in the vault so we worked on getting my first attempt every time. Basically, that’s what you saw here.”

The gold medal was one of eight medals for the Eagles in the meet, as they started the meet on Friday with gold medals in the 3,200 by Stephen Curry and Colbea Harris.

Retzloff entered the meet with a personal best of 15-9. Argyle head coach Steve Chancelor said it was impressive enough to improve his personal best and take the gold medal, but what was even more impressive was the efficient manner in which he got it.

“When you include in that that 16 feet was his [personal best] and to do it in his first attempt, it just showed how confident he was going in,” Chancelor said. “He’s really been training hard.”

But that confidence wasn’t always there for the junior.

As a sophomore, Retzloff finished fourth in the event at the state meet, and at the District 9-3A meet this year, he broke a pole for the first time in his life, which messed with his head a bit.

“That scared me really bad,” Retzloff said of the incident. “I had to push through that mental barrier. I was going for 15-9 there. Today I proved myself that I could do it, and better.”

And if there was any doubt whether Retzloff had a newfound confidence this time around, all one had to do was watch him after each of his flawless vaults on the way to the state championship.

Whether he was bowing to the applauding crowd of 10,476 people, saluting them or cheering them in appreciation, Retzloff quickly became a crowd favorite.

“You always have to give the crowd a performance,” Retzloff said. “They like you better. I feed off of that energy too.”

Chancelor also appreciated his junior’s boisterousness.

“I dig that about him,” the Argyle head coach said. “He didn’t have a lot of self confidence before, and I think he’s starting to get that. I think that was the difference this year, I really do.”

Retzloff’s performance was a good start for the Argyle boys, who finished in a tie for second place in the team standings with Waco La Vega with 44 points, 14 points behind first-place West Orange-Stark.

The Argyle girls finished in a four-way tie for fifth place with 24 points.

ADAM BOEDEKER can be reached at 940-566-6872. His e-mail address is aboedeker@dentonrc.com .