Reno, Nev. -      One week after putting his name in the Seattle University indoor track and field record book, sophomore Stephen Squatrito (Phoenix, Ariz.) literally raised the bar, adding almost one-quarter of a meter to the school pole vault record Saturday at the 22nd annual Pole Vault Summit held at the Reno Livestock Events Center.

Squatrito won his section of the competition by clearing 4.45 meters (14′ 7″), over nine inches higher than the height he cleared just last week at the UW Indoor Preview. Out of the 59 total participants in the college men division, Squatrito finished 15th overall.

“I am very proud of Stephen.  He had two brand new poles waiting for him in Reno, and he definitely broke them in well.  He barely missed at 15 feet and should be at that height and beyond come the indoor conference championships. This should be a fun year for Stephen,” assistant coach Chad Pharis said.

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Ohio Record and Personal Best on his way to winning the High School portion of the 2012 National Pole Vault Summit in Reno, Nevadawith a clearence of 17-4.5. Jake’s mark tops his previous best performance at New Balance Outdoor Nationals where he cleared 17-0.75 on his way to winning the National Championship.

It has been reported that Blankenship had solid attempts at 17-10, which would have been a National High School Indoor Record

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British pole-vaulter Holly Bleasdale has taken a giant leap towards the Olympic gold medal after an astonishing clearance of 4.87 metres that has only been bettered indoors by the great Yelena Isinbayeva and puts her fourth on the all-time world list for indoor and outdoor competition.

New Jersey –Emily Shipley and Marlena Sabatino are pole vaulters now, but they first knew each other as gymnasts.

”We’ve known each other for a while,” said Shipley, the Hillsborough High School senior. “I taught her her first back handspring.”

More recently, Shipley encouraged Sabatino to invest some time in the pole vault. It’s paid off as the two combined to win the Group IV state relay championship on Friday at the Bennett Center in Toms River.

”Emily and I were hoping for it,” said Sabatino, a HHS sophomore. “We definitely weren’t expecting it. We’ve been training and we were hoping for it.

”I think it meant a lot to both of us,” she added. “We’re both really happy. I think it was just great to do this so early in the season.” Continue reading →

New Jersey –For the second consecutive year, The Montclair Kimberley Academy girls track team set smashed the pole vault record at the New Jersey State indoor track Non-Public Relays at the Bennett Center in Toms River Sunday.

The Cougar duo of sophomore Lyndsi Ross-Trevor and junior Dana Placentra easily outdistanced the rest of the field with their vaults totaling of 20 feet, 6 inches. Ross-Trevor and Placentra were three feet better than second-place Monsignor Donovan (17-6), and they also broke their own Non-Public meet record by more than two feet, after jumping 18-0 last year. Continue reading →

Pole vault world champion Paweł Wojciechowski will be the top name at Poland’s leading indoor meeting – the Pedro’s Cup in Bydgoszcz – on 8 February.

His country’s only medallist at last summer’s World Championships will be joined in Bydgoszcz (the meeting website in Polish is here: http://www.pedroscup.pl) by other well-known Polish athletes such as the 2008 Olympic Games shot put champion Tomasz Majewski and 2009 World Championships pole vault gold medallist Anna Rogowska at the European Athletics Indoor Permit Meeting.

The rise of Wojciechowski, who also won at the 2011 European Athletics U23 Championships, in the last year has lead to meeting director Sebastian Chmara replacing the traditional men’s high jump with the men’s pole vault on the Bydgoszcz programme. Continue reading →

Pole vaulter Sue Yeomans returned from the Open Graded Competition at Lee Valley with a new V55 British record.

Yeomans, now competing for St Albans Athletics Club, set a height of 2.76m to claim the record – beating the previous height of 2.70m.

Not content with just a British record she attempted to break the European record of 2.91m. Unfortunately on this occasion she came up short but her early season form will continue when she travels to Jyvaskyla Finland in April for the World Indoor Championships.

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Washington –the pole vault community lost one of its best yesterday. Jean Licari passed away after a fight with cancer. She was the pole vault coach at Federal Way HS and the wife of University of Washington pole vault coach Pat Licari. She is survived by Pat and two teenage daughters.

Federal Way High School lost one of its most beloved teachers and coaches Sunday. Jean Licari succumbed to cancer after spending her entire 21-year teaching career at Federal Way.

Licari taught math and also coached the Eagles cross country and track teams during her tenure, with her athletes winning multiple state championships. The 45-year-old mother of two hailed from Potlatch, Ida. Continue reading →

ELMHURST, Ill. — South Dakota freshman Emily Grove was named the women’s co-athlete of the week for Summit League indoor track and field, announced Tuesday.

Grove, a freshman from Pontiac Ill., cleared 13-5 1/4 in the pole vault at the Graphic Edge Alumni Meet in Vermillion. The mark is just shy of the USD school record, and ties for eighth in NCAA Division I so far this season.

Grove shared honors with Southern Utah thrower Kayla Kovar. Oral Roberts pole vaulter Jack Whitt earned men’s honors.