5.37m at the Pole Vault Summit

Height: 5.37m or 17′ 7.25″
Approach: 18 steps
Pole: 5m – 14.5
Place: 3rd

Boy did I get dominated by Brad Walker… haha. That was such a fun competition last night though! Nine of the country’s best vaulters competing in front of 1500 pole vault fanatics… you just can’t beat that. The energy in the arena was unreal and it got LOUD. My jumping didn’t amount to the hype I tried to create on my last post, but man am I close to doing some big things! I opened up at 5.22m/17’1.5″ and blew over it on the first attempt. Then I cleared 5.37m/17’7.25″ on my first attempt but almost brushed it on the way down. Luckily I didn’t touch it very hard and it stayed up, because the height was definitely there. Then the bar goes to 5.52m/18’1.25″ and I started doing things a little too good… I started running faster than I ever have. They had “timing gates” that measured our velocity at the last 10 meters from take-off on every jump. I’m not sure how accurate they are so I’ll refrain from telling Continue reading →

By AARON BLANKENSHIP

Gahanna Lincoln High School senior Jake Blankenship signed a letter of intent Feb. 1 to compete in track and field for the University of Tennessee.

Blankenship broke the state record in the pole vault as a junior by clearing 16 feet, 10 inches on May 14 in the OCC-Ohio Division meet, only to see Olentangy Liberty’s Joey Uhle set a new record by clearing 17-0 a week later in the Division I, district 2 meet.

However, Blankenship ensured that his name would remain in the state record book for a much longer period of time when he placed first in the pole vault by clearing a meet- and stadium-record 17-0 in the Division I state meet, which was held June 3 and 4 at Ohio State.

While competing in the New Balance Outdoor Nationals on June 18 at North Carolina AT&T in Greensboro, N.C., Blankenship cleared 17-3/4 to win his first national title

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Tulsa, Okla. – Track and Field head coach Joe Dial is pleased to announce that Jenks senior pole vaulter Dillon Lookout has signed a National Letter of Intent to compete for ORU in 2012. Lookout is currently the fourth ranked high school pole vaulter in the nation and is a three-time All-American and two-time state champion.  “What attracted Dillon to ORU is the fact that he is a local guy, and with Jack Whitt here, It was a nice fit for him.” said Dial “I think he will be a great addition.” Lookout boasts an impressive resume. He holds the Jenks high school vault record with a height of 16′ 6″.He was also a participant in the All-American Junior Nationals and Junior Olympics, and was the All-American Youth Nationals runner-up.

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VERMILLION, S.D. – South Dakota senior Ashlea Johnson and junior Christina Roberts each won two events, while assistant coach Derek Miles attained the second-highest pole vault height in the United States this year to highlight action at the Bill Hillenbrand Invitational hosted by the South Dakota track and field teams Thursday in Vermillion, S.D.

Miles, competing for Team Nike, cleared a vault of 18-4 1/2 (5.60 meters) — which is second-best in the U.S. this season. Miles, a two-time Olympian, has a previous best of 5.52 meters (18-1 1/4) at the Jack Johnson Minnesota Classic

Men Pole Vault
==========================================================================
    Name                    Year School                  Finals          
==========================================================================
  1 Miles, Derek                 NIKE                     5.60m   18-04.50
  2 Cammack, Calvin              SD State                 4.75m   15-07.00
  3 Mercil, Bennett              SD State                 4.30m   14-01.25
  4 Minneart, Evan               SD State                 3.85m   12-07.50
  4 Fossum, Kody                 SD State                 3.85m   12-07.50
– Sarahkhani, Kevin            South Dakota                NH          

Women Pole Vault Continue reading →

St. Patrick track and field standout Connor Foxworth has signed a scholarship with Alabama.
Mississippi State and Auburn were the other schools that offered Foxworth a scholarship. He is a pole vaulter. His best leap of 16 feet,1/4 inch set an Alabama Indoor Track and Field facility record last week.
“I’m extremely excited for Connor,” St. Patrick track coach Tim McDaniel said. “It shows how far pole vaulting has come on the Coast. For him to go to a Division I school shows he can compete on a collegiate level.”

Read more here: http://www.sunherald.com/2012/02/02/3728587/recruiting-notebook-foxworth-vaults.html#storylink=cpy

Linz, Austria – Tipped all week long as the marquee event, a riveting hurdle race between Americans Yvette Lewis and Lolo Jones unfolded as the highlight of the Gugl Meeting on Thursday (2) evening in Linz.   After a stunning 7.98 clocking in the heats, Lewis bolted to the lead quickly and held an advantage through four of the five hurdles.  Gradually, Jones crept close and over the last barrier sprinted past her American rival for a 7.96 win, as Lewis was timed in 8.00.  Jones had run a season-best 8.04 in the heats before her sub-8.00 in the final

Kostas Filippidis won the men’s Pole Vault with 5.62m but failed to increase his indoor personal best as his three attempts at 5.73m fell short.  “We’re still tweaking things during this part of the season,” the 25-year-old Greek said.  “Something here, something there, with the idea of getting it all right in Istanbul.”  Next on Filippidis’ schedule is the Pole Vault Stars competition in Donestsk on 11 February. Germany’s Fabian Schulze was second at 5.52m ahead of Jan Kudlicka of the Czech Republic (5.42m). Czech pole vaulter Romana Malacova took her event with a personal best 4.35m which was also a Gugl meeting record.  She followed with three unsuccessful attempts at 4.40m, which would have equalled her outdoor best.  Giorgia Benecchi of Italy was second with 4.15m, ahead of Daniela Höllwarth of Austria (4.05m). 

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Havana, Cuba – After improving his personal best by 20cm and clearing 5.90m to win a surprise World silver in Daegu, Lázaro Borges wants to keep dreaming for higher goals in this Olympic year.

The 25-year old Cuban makes his indoor career debut this Sunday at the Russian Winter Moscow, followed by other three outings in Donesk, Bydgoszcz and Germany before the World Indoor Championships in Istanbul.

In the Polish city, he is expected to meet World champion Pawel Wojciechowski.

“Expectations are high coming to my first indoor experience. I want to equal or come close to my personal best (5.90m) and be among the top three at the World Championships (in Istanbul),” said Borges, who travelled to Europe with his coach Ruben Camino. Continue reading →

VALLEY CENTER, California — John Uelses’ garage bears the look of a man comfortable working with his hands. There’s a circular saw, a band saw and a hand saw. Multiple toolboxes fill space, as do pipes and wooden molds.

“I have to keep the door closed because it looks unorganized,” said the 74-year-old Uelses (pronounced YUL-ses). “But I know where everything is.”

Particularly one 16-foot fiberglass pole. It rests upon two hooks in the upper left-hand corner of the garage. It’s rust colored, scarred and scraped with weather-worn white tape turned tan at one end and black tape at the other.

It’s the pole Uelses used 50 years ago, on Feb. 2, 1962, inside New York’s Madison Square Garden when he became the first man to soar above 16 feet in the pole vault, clearing 16 feet, ¼ of an inch.

“The crowd went nuts when I went over the bar,” said Uelses. “I never touched it at all. So many people came rushing down and pulled me out of the pit.” Continue reading →

17-6 Watson, Reese (Spring, TX) The University of Texas at Austin, TX

17-4 ½ Blankenship, Jacob (Lincoln, OH) The University of Tennessee, TN

15-0 Steigler, Johnny (McGill-Toolen, AL) The University of Alabama, AL

12-3 Hancock, Hadley-Reed (Deerfield-Windsor Academy, GA) The University of Alabama, Al.

15-0 Foxworth, Connor (St. Patrick, MS) The University of Alabama, AL

12-1 ½ Poncik, Shelby (Needville, TX) Texas Tech University, TX

12-6 Wooten, Brittany (Tomball, TX) Texas A & M University, TX

Walker, Megan (Port St. Joe HS FL.) Mississippi State University

Acton, Hannah (Bloomington South, In.) Florida State University

Rudolph, Kimyanna (Lawrence Central, In.) Indiana State University

Winters, Zach (Shawnee HS, NJ) Bucknell University

11-3 Harding, Danielle (Fairfield, OH) University of Cincinnati

BOULDER — Former University of Colorado cross country and track and field coach Jerry Quiller, who coached 15 years and hundreds of student-athletes at the school, has passed away after fighting a battle against multiple myeloma. He was 69.

 Quiller, a Fort Collins, Colo. native lettered in cross country, track and field and baseball at Fort Collins High School. He was a member of the Colorado State track and field team, graduating in 1964 with a bachelor’s of science degree in physical science. He earned his master’s in education in 1966, also from CSU. He was born on April 28, 1942 in Denver. He and his wife, Sandy, had three sons, Ryan, Rory and Robb, who were all pole vaulters. Continue reading →

The Moravian College men’s indoor track & field teams competed at the Thomson Invitational hosted by the University of Delaware on Saturday with the Greyhounds finishing fourth of 17 in the NCAA Division II and Division III events. The meet is divided into Division I competition and then NCAA Division II and Division III competition. The Moravian men had a team score of 88 points, which had them seventh of the 22 overall teams competing and fourth in their division. Widener University led the NCAA Division II and Division III squads with 123 points while Rowan University was second with 96 points and The College of New Jersey was third with 94 points.

Moravian had two individual champions and a pair of ECAC qualifiers in the men’s competition. Senior Timothy Layng captured the pole vault with school record and an ECAC qualifying height of 4.90 meters (16 feet, ¾ inch). That height also tied for fifth on the Track & Field Results Reporting System (TFRRS) list to compete at the 2012 NCAA Division III National Championships. Layng entered the meet tied for 14th on the TFRRS list.

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By Justin Feil, The Packet Group  

 Craig Hunter tried a new pre-meet approach when he woke up on Saturday morning.

It paid off for the Robbinsville High School junior, who went to bed Saturday night as the new Mercer County boys pole vault record holder.

Hunter cleared 15-feet-1 to break by one inch the Lawrenceville School and Princeton University graduate Kevin McGuire’s 15-foot mark that had stood since 1989. Hunter eclipsed the record at a batch meet on McGuire’s old stomping grounds.

”It was exciting when I realized what I did,” Hunter said. “And I did it at Lawrenceville.”

Hunter knew it almost immediately. As soon as his hands cleared the bar and he started to settle back toward the landing pit, he started to let a scream of joy. He jumped off the pit to receive congratulatory hugs from his pole vault coach Dan Bertolami of IPoleVault and Robbinsville head coach Jon Hutchinson. Then, he tried to bump it up to 15-6. Continue reading →