Roseville’s Jayda Wilson is already among Minnesota’s track and field best. She’s aiming even higher.

For as fast as Jayda Wilson might run on the track, or when she’s approaching her state-best pole vault attempt of 13 feet, 1 inch, the Roseville junior refines her technique in the slower moments. In fact — the “slow-mo” moments.

Head coach Greg Ueland describes Wilson as a “technique geek.” At a coach’s suggestion, she watched the entire 2021 Tokyo Olympics long jumping event in slow motion and adopted technical changes into her approach.

That mindset has helped Wilson reach rare air among Minnesota pole vaulters, even while juggling duties as an all-around track and field standout for the Raiders.

She won a Class 3A pole vault state title as a sophomore, vaulting 12 feet, and has received an offer from the Gophers. Her vault of 13-1 this April is the spring’s best mark in Minnesota. She is one of only seven girls to clear 13 feet in state history, according to Minnesota Prep Track & Field and Cross Country.

“Nothing Jayda does surprises me. So if she says 14 feet, it‘s going to happen,” Ueland said. “She’s quiet and quietly confident, but she quietly works, too.”

Wilson’s 13-1 vault is tied for 16th in the nation among high school girls, according to MileSplit. If Wilson clears attempts at 13-6, she would jump to seventh nationwide.

Wilson has even eyed the state record: 13-11¼, set by Mounds View’s Julia Fixsen in 2018. Fixsen went on to win an NCAA title at Virginia Tech with a 14-7¼ performance.

For perspective, the current minimum qualifying height for the U.S. Olympic trials in women’s pole vault is 4.30 meters (14 feet, 1 inch).

Eventually vaulting 14 “would be crazy,” Wilson said with a grin.

Wilson has been flying through the air since she began gymnastics at age 4. The sport has taken her to California, Florida and Arizona, and she still competes in regional club competitions.

Gymnastics to pole vaulting is not a rare pipeline, thanks to the strength and body awareness both sports require. Most of the state’s top girls pole vaulters also have gymnastics backgrounds, including Mankato East senior Rylie Hansen, Eagan sophomore Peyton Taylor, Perham junior Gracie Morris and North Branch junior Ella Dick.

Ueland, who also coaches Wilson on the Raiders volleyball team, was familiar with her family from working with her mom, Jennifer, who is now Roseville’s principal. He encouraged the young gymnast to try pole vault at a middle school summer camp.

She “fell in love,” Wilson said.

“It was nice because sometimes it was a smaller group in pole vault,” Wilson said. “It helped me, since I was so young, connect with some of the older girls who also pole vaulted.”

After adding sprints, long jump and hurdles to her repertoire, Wilson now bounces among four different coaches at Roseville practices — plus her pole vaulting trainer at Flight Deck Athletics, Steve White.

By now, Wilson is used to hearing a coach tell her she’s doing well in an event but if she reinvents part of her technique she can fly just a little farther or higher.

To be among the state’s best athletes, and then be told to overhaul how you got there — it can leave an athlete feeling “definitely frustrated,” said Wilson. But her coaches push her because they see her potential.

This year, Ueland deemed her “too good” for the typical eight-step approach most high school hurdlers take, then challenged her to try seven steps. One rocky race with an awkward nine-step approach later, Wilson is smooth sailing.

She tried a longer 14-foot pole for vaulting this winter, but it snapped, cutting her skin open. She tried the 14-footer again this spring, nervously.

“I try to approach it with an open mind,” Wilson said. “Gymnastics is so mental, so I’ve grown up with that side of things. You’re always trying new things.”

At dusk after summer training, it‘s not unusual to see a bedsheet draped over Roseville High School’s pole vault equipment, with a projector playing a movie for a group of Raiders pole vaulters.

Last summer, Wilson relaxed on the soft pole vault pit to watch “The Lorax.” For a moment, she didn’t need to be rushing around, constantly in motion. She could just enjoy a moment with her teammates.

Ueland jokingly called the Wilson “the biggest dilly-dallier on our team” but “for all the right reasons.”

At a meet, if Wilson is late to her next event, it’s because she’s carefully executing each event with a calm, quiet confidence. Or, self-admittedly, stopping to chat with another Raider.

“Our team has built a really good culture over the last couple years, and a lot of it is because of people like Jayda bouncing around and bringing that positive culture to all the different events that they’re in,” Ueland said. “Jayda can kind of sprinkle that magic dust wherever she goes.”

That magic dust includes her eye for technique.

“I can watch back, even when I PR, and I’m like, ‘Wow, it was a good jump, but there’s still so much room for improvement,’ ” Wilson said.

In addition to a fifth-place Class 3A finish in pole vault as a freshman and first place last year, Wilson placed second in long jump as a sophomore with a personal-best of 18-5½. Her track and field success has caught the eye of multiple Big Ten schools, including Minnesota, which has offered her a scholarship.

“I think what sets Jayda apart is she’s just fearless,” Ueland said. When Wilson is asked to make changes, “she’s willing to throw it all out for the big picture, which is really hard for a high school kid to do, hard for us adults to do.”