ELMHURST, Ill. – South Dakota juniors Bethany Buell and Kyle Ballew have been named the Summit League Outdoor Track and Field Athletes of the Week, the league announced on Tuesday. It is the first weekly honor from the Summit League for both athletes.
Buell (St. Louis, Mo.) earned the women’s athlete of the week honor after setting a school outdoor record of 14-2.05 at the Aztec Open on Friday in San Diego, Calif. The mark topped her previous school record by five inches and is the top-ranked outdoor pole vault in the nation so far this season. While this is Buell’s first Summit League honor, it is the sixth time in her career that she has earned a weekly conference athlete of the week honor.
Ballew (West Hills, Calif.) earned the men’s athlete of the week honor after a strong showing in the pole vault at the Aztec Open. Ballew cleared a pole vault height of 16-7.25 – the best height in the Summit League and the ninth best in the nation so far this season. Ballew, who finished third in the Summit League Indoor Meet, is in his first year in the Coyote program after transferring from Los Angeles Valley Junior College

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As a young girl, BYU pole-vaulter Rachel Fisher hoped to be a collegiate gymnast. Fisher spent the next 14 years striving to excel in her passion, gymnastics. Assisted by her coach, world champion Yevgeny Marchenko, Fisher won 85 gymnastics medals, including the multi-state Regional Jr. Olympic first place All-Around Champion for level nine. However, Fisher came to the realization her dream as a gymnast would end as she continued to get taller, and the effort she was putting in wasn’t paying off. Battling the height issue accompanied by a serious back injury, Fisher eventually left the mats and ventured a new route. Little did she know, this setback would pave a future for a national championship title and other prestigious awards as a pole-vaulter. “When I decided to quit gymnastics, I needed something else to do because I was bored out of my mind,” Fisher said. “My dad had been bugging me for the longest time to try pole vaulting … I gave it a try and loved it.” Unlike many collegiate athletes, many of whom get involved in their sport at a young age, Fisher started later in track and field. She attempted her first vault as a junior in high school. However, it didn’t take long for her to recognize the talent she possessed. “The high school record was 10 feet, 6 inches.”

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Two women from the Cerritos College women’s track team have the chance to break records this year in the male-dominated sport of pole vaulting.

#It’s a sport that combines the speed of sprinting with the full body strength and perfect technique necessary to fly up and over a 12-foot bar.

#Cerritos pole vaulter Jennifer Marroquin said, “It’s a full body sports event.

#“It’s very mental too but you have to do it without really thinking about it.”

#More so than most other track and field sports, pole vaulting engages all major muscle groups.

#During the approach, a vaulter is running while using his upper body to control the pole and get a good plant.

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“The Pole Vaulter” was the story of a young man’s brush with death in a college pole vaulting competition. It was effective. It was a story produced for the web and in many ways was completely different than anything we’ve seen in the contest, yet, this style is nothing new in the world of multimedia. There were arguments about whether it went overboard with music, jump cuts, no tripod. Having worked in multimedia for over a year now, one thing I’ve come to realize is that style isn’t as important as adhering to certain universal truths: strong central character set up, reveal, beginning middle end, etc. In the end, do we care about the character and the story. Some of my favorite documentaries could be seen by some ‘traditional’ news photogs as poor photography, but in the end I care about the story. We just thought it was cool. There was some debate about whether it should be a second place, but it was well done.

Video: http://bop.nppa.org/2012/tv_news_video/news_photography/winners/index.php?cat=SPF&place=2nd&group=

ATLANTA — Megan Clark of Columbus High won the girls pole vault during the Coaches Invitational Track and Field Meet at Georgia Tech.
Clark’s vault of 12 feet gave her a first place at the meet, which featured hundreds of athletes from 67 high schools throughout the Southeast

Read more here: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2012/03/19/1978341/columbus-highs-megan-clark-captures.html#storylink=cpy

For Quakers, vaulting success falls on shoulders of freshman Everett Hateley The average Penn men’s pole vaulter hails from Los Angeles, stands six feet and one inch tall and attended the same high school as Miles Cartwright. His high school team won three Division II California state championships, and he has his eyes set on breaking the 16-foot mark this outdoor season. As it turns out, the average Penn men’s pole vaulter is freshman Everett Hateley. Due to some unforeseen twists and turns in the recruiting process, Hateley is the lone vaulter on this year’s track and field squad. By comparison, his squad at Loyola High School fielded a team of about 15 vaulters in his senior year.As a captain, Hateley led the small legion of vaulters in workouts. Now, he works with just three other pole vaulters from the women’s team.“It’s changed a lot going from high school with a huge team to basically being the only one representing my school,” Hateley said.Though Hateley does not have pole vaulting teammates on the men’s side, he is able to rely upon the instruction and advice of three vaulters from the women’s team, including junior Davielle Brown, who ranks fourth all-time in the outdoor pole vault and is tied for third in the indoor vault at Penn.

The pole vaulters are coached by Samantha Crook, a 2005 alumna and the most prolific vaulter in Penn women’s history — setting records in both the indoor and outdoor events that still stand. Continue reading →