At the midpoint of the indoor season, in the final home meet of the year, sophomore pole vaulter Kyal Meyers had yet to create his defining moment of the 2012 season. That quickly changed at the Red Raider Open on Feb. 4. After clearing the bar at heights of 17′-00″ and 17′-3.75″, the reigning Big 12 indoor champion cleared a lifetime best of 17’7.75″. With the mark, he secured his third win of the indoor season and solidified a defining performance for the 2012 indoor season.  Meyers not only cleared a lifetime best, but the mark propelled him to the No. 7 ranking in the country. The momentum carried him through remainder of the season as Meyers went on to finish second at the Big 12 Indoor Championships and qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships in Nampa, Idaho. Meyers garnered second team All-American honors, finishing 11th at the national meet in one of the most highly competitive fields to date in pole vaulting.Associate Head Coach Rock Light’s Take:“It was just a great jump for him. This was only his sophomore year and to place 11th at the indoor championship, in the deepest field in many, many years and coming off of a lifetime best jump along with a Big 12 runner up finish – I’m just very proud of him. He has made a lot of progress.”

Texas Tech

The meteoric rise of Howell High School pole-vaulter Colton Lambert was one of the major stories of the 2011-12 indoor track and field season. “In twoweeks hewent fromvarsity jumper to second in the state,” said Kevin Dee, Howell jumps and throws coach. “He is a hard worker, and things just popped this year.” As Dee said, when the indoor season began, Lambert was just another varsity polevaulter, perhaps above average but not a championship contender. It all came together in February for the Rebel senior and he began soaring above everyone else. The season culminated with Lambert’s second-place finish at the NJSIAAIndoor Meet of Champions when he cleared 14-0 for the first time. He became the second Freehold RegionalHigh SchoolDistrict pole-vaulter to clear 14-0 indoors.

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ALANA Boyd admitted she blew a great opportunity after finishing a disappointing ninth in the women’s pole vault at the world indoor athletics championships.She arrived in the best form of her life, having cleared an Australian record height of 4.76 metres last month in Perth. But Boyd never looked comfortable in Istanbul and could do no better than 4.55 as Russian great Yelena Isinbayeva claimed gold with 4.80 metres.”I don’t know what happened. It’s not reflective of the way I’ve been jumping,” said Boyd, who was competing at her first indoor meet.”I was getting things on third attempts. There is no wind to worry about. You go when you’re ready so I just don’t know.”The Perth-based Queenslander entered the competition with a first-time clearance at 4.30 before needing three attempts at 4.45.She went on to clear 4.55 on her second attempt but bowed out at 4.65 metres. ”I should have been able to mix it with those girls,” she said.France’s Vanessa Boslak and Britain’s Holly Bleasdale won the minor medals with clearances at 4.70 as the peerless Isinbayeva dominated once again for her fourth world indoor title.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/sport/olympics-2012/pole-vaulter-boyd-slides-to-ninth-at-world-indoors-20120312-1uwkj.html#ixzz1p1XmNfSe

15–16……………………………………. TCU Inv; Fort Worth, Texas

15–17……………………………… Aztec Inv; San Diego, California

……………………………. 49er Classic; Charlotte, North Carolina

16–17…………………………………….Castillo Inv; Tempe, Arizona

…………………………………Hurricane Inv; Coral Gables, Florida

…………………………………………… Potts Inv; Boulder, Colorado

………………………….. Texas Southern Relays; Houston, Texas

…………………………………… Williams Classic; Tucson, Arizona

18………………………………..Oregon Preview; Eugene, Oregon

ISTANBUL (AP) – Yelena Isinbayeva was humbled this time. Over the years, the Russian pole vaulter had won so much and set so many records that she said she lost the value of success. Then came a long slump, and now she has fresh appreciation for what it means to win a competition even without a world record. “The main problem was that, for me, victory was like nothing special at all,” Isinbayeva said after winning the gold medal Sunday at the world indoor championships with just two jumps. “To set a world record – ‘Ah, it’s easy.’ No, it’s not. It’s really difficult.” The Russian set a world record of 5.01 meters last month and failed to improve that to 5.02 after ensuring gold on Sunday. It was Isinbayeva’s fourth indoor world title overall but her first in four years. Over the same period, she also lost her world outdoor title. “I was waiting for this victory like a mother is waiting to give birth to her baby,” Isinbayeva said. “The last three years showed me how important it is for me to win.” She won the title at the Atakoy Arena with a height of 4.80, which she cleared with the consummate ease she has so often showed during her career. While others struggled, she covered herself in towels and waited. When her toughest competitors were tiring from earlier attempts she came in with one regal jump at 4.70 and later silenced all opposition with a winning vault that had just as much grace, speed and power.

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India –On the first day of the 60th All India Police Athletics Championship in Delhi, the biggest stir was raised in one corner of the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium where the pole vault event was underway. Dusting his hands with white chalk, Vijay Pal Singh Tomar grasped the 4m long fiber glass pole, took a deep breathe and began his sprint to the 3.40 m obstacle he had to vault.Alongside his run, his competitors, some less than half his age watched with a mix of incredulousness and curiosity as the man whose still standing national record, set more than 25 years ago, returned to the senior circuit. 17 years after he had last won gold at the national level however, neither Tomar’s reflexes nor his weight (74 kg compared to 58 kg in his prime) were not what they once had been. As the pole buckled and launched him skyward, his legs failed to straighten completely, and his body crashed into the bar. That would be the only jump made by the 45-year-old who retired from the competition citing a foot injury.“I think they were a little bit surprised to see me in the competition,” he would say of the onlookers. “They would have known that I could vault around 3.60 which is my Masters record but I don’t think they would have been too worried to see me,” he said. However Tomar wasn’t done with the event. Despite pulling out from competition, he could be seen shouting out encouragement and handing out tips to the competitors after the end of play

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