DAYTON — Clinton-Massie junior Zach Borton won the pole vault title Thursday at the Region 8 Track & Field Championship meet at Welcome Stadium.Borton, the district record-holder at 14-9, took the regional championship by clearing 14-0.He had three attempts at 15-1, which would have given him the regional record, but he failed on all three attempts.“I should have gotten a bigger pole,” Borton said. “We’ll get it at state.” more
Daily Archives: May 24, 2012
Krueger earns national pole vault bid
UW-Stout’s Andrea Krueger (So, Menomonie) won the pole vault event at the UW-Oshkosh Last Chance Meet and earned a spot in the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships which start today in Claremont, Calif.Krueger jumped a career-best 12-feet, 5.50-inches, second best in school history, to win the event by just under a foot. Krueger had jumped 11-7.75 the night before at UW-La Crosse.Jodi Larson (Sr, Baxter, Minn) finished third in with a mark of 11-5.75.Kody Zahrte (Sr, Black River Falls) finished ninth in the discus (156-8).Krueger earns national pole vault bidJump at UW-Oshkosh ranks Krueger eighth in the country Read more:
http://chippewa.com/dunnconnect/sports/local/krueger-earns-national-pole-vault-bid/article_40a0c704-a59d-11e1-8e85-0019bb2963f4.html#ixzz1vphVHM86
California: Pole vaulting daredevils display athletic skills in aerial acts
Run-up. Plant. Swing. Release. Clear. Tokay High School’s Austin Dean has done it time and time again, well enough to earn a berth in the Sac-Joaquin Section Masters Championship competition tomorrow, along with five other Lodi-area pole vaulters.Yet even he never feels completely calm as he gets set to clear a bar.”It’s pretty challenging,” Dean said. “It gets pretty scary up there.”Lodi’s Colin Anderson differs on the specifics.To him, the most frightening part is not being airborne, but rather the exact opposite situation — when he gets the pole completely vertical, only to see his movement stop.
That they have different thoughts on the matter only serves to illustrate how exhilarating — and daring — the pole vault can be. Continue reading
Ohio: Alexander vaults to Columbus
Nathan Alexander said that once he knew he was state-bound, the pressure was off.The Old Fort senior had the trip to Columbus assured when he cleared 14-4 in the pole vault. After that, he could relax.Two of the other competitors, Carey’s Cory Larick and Columbus Grove’s Collin Grothaus couldn’t get beyond 14-4.When Alexander cleared 15 feet, only one competitor remained – Columbus Grove’s defending state champion, Tyler Wolfe.Neither could clear beyond 15 feet. Alexander won the event on jumps.”Last year, I kind of choked here, so I wanted to make sure I stayed consistent and not have any early misses,” Alexander said. “I just kept going and just (vaulted), didn’t pay attention to anyone else.”Old Fort coach Tony Miller said it was good to see Alexander enjoying himself.
“That is the big thing,” Miller said. “With pretty much any athlete there, once you know you’re qualified, you’re out and the pressure’s off. He was just having fun.”
Larick advanced to state by taking fourth on jumps. The Blue Devil said he had to make some adjustments due to the warm conditions at Frost-Kalnow Stadium Wednesday. more
Washington: Vaulter escapes serious injury, returns to action
YAKIMA, Wash. — One second Zane Irvine was skying toward victory and a possible career pole-vault best in Friday’s regional meet, and the next he was just praying his season wasn’t over.And hopeful his head would stop bleeding.Irvine, a senior at West Valley, was leading the 3A event in Richland at 14 feet, 1 inch and was taking his first attempt at 14-6, seeking to raise his school record from 14-3.But he never got his hips to the bar, his legs angling sideways as he tried to control his missed attempt and decent. He came down head first — on the mat, thankfully — and in the process suffered a deep gash across his right temple.“I’ve seen the video and it’s hard to tell what got me in the head, my knee or shoe,” he said. “At first my whole body was tingling and I wiggled my fingers and toes just to make sure I could. That was a relief, but then the right side of my face got warm.”That was all the blood from the cut, which required seven stitches to close.Irvine actually won the event on misses over University’s Jay Alexander at 14-1 and they share the top qualifying marks for the 3A state pole vault, which will be held today in Tacoma.But even after his head was patched up, Irvine wasn’t out of the woods.“I was worried about a concussion and praying I didn’t have one,” he said. “I knew if I had a concussion I’d be done. I almost broke down worrying about it.”Irvine, however, passed all the tests and was cleared to continue vaulting, which he did on Monday.“The video looks pretty bad and makes people cringe, but now I almost laugh about it,” he said. “What a relief.” more
Lost vaults motivate University of Memphis vaulter
Karlis Pujats prefers to say little about the frustration he encountered a year ago. He’d rather toss the memory aside, much like the fiberglass pole he dismisses atop one of his ascents.It was during a warm-up session at the 2011 Conference USA Track and Field Championships that Pujats, a pole vaulter for the University of Memphis, injured his hamstring, rendering him unavailable for the C-USA finals and the ensuing postseason.The news was crushing. Pujats, a native of Latvia, was coming off an impressive indoor season, one in which he became the first in school history to achieve indoor All-America status. He had finished four inches shy of earning first-team All-America honors.”He’d come into the (C-USA) meet as one of the favorites, as one of the best vaulters in the country, and while he’s warming up his hamstring pops,” said Tiger coach Kevin Robinson. ”His season, immediately, was over.”As one of 14 UofM athletes preparing for the NCAA East Preliminary, which starts today in Jacksonville, Fla., Pujats finds himself particularly motivated to make up for lost leaps. He’ll be a strong favorite to advance to the NCAA Championships, along with fellow pole vaulter Austin Crenshaw, a Houston High product, and hurdler Robert Jackson, a senior from Snellville, Ga more
Ohio: Vaulter agonizes over one miss
AUSTINTOWN —This wasn’t the time for Jackson pole vaulter Vinny Martello to agonize over one miss that cost him a regional titleAt this stage of the season, it’s all about survive and advance. And the senior is heading back to the state high school track and field championships for the second straight season. Continue reading
California Central Section Rankings
Pole vault — Hughes (Los Gatos) 15-8; 2, Toney (St. Francis) 15-6; 3, Decker, Austin (North Monterey County) 15-0; 4t, Mackanerney (Aptos) and Magna (Gilroy) 14-0; 6t, Yeh (Carlmont) and Benko (Scotts Valley) 13-6; 8, Clary, Matt (Palma) 13-4; 9t, Foster (North Monterey County), Serrano (Mt. Pleasant), Nicholls (Santa Teresa), Proulx (Menlo-Atherton), Lynch (St. Ignatius) and O’Neill (Bellarmine College Prep) 13-0 Pole vault — Jaques (Presentation) 13-0; 2, Bolton (Homestead) 12-10; 3, Wagner (Los Gatos) 12-0; 4, Benham (St. Francis) 11-9; 5t, Vinson (Aptos), Hendel (Westmont), McCarthy (Presentation) and Fish (Soquel) 11-6; 9, Shaffer (Salinas) 11-1; 10, Trenchard (Pacific Collegiate) 10-7 more
Harvard: Weller holds record
junior pole vaulter Nico Weiler took history-making to a new level this season. Weiler, the school’s record holder in the pole vault (5.38 meters), was a force for Harvard in 2011-12. Except at the outdoor Heps—where in a shocking disappointment he failed to clear a single jump—Weiler was the top collegiate finisher at each of the Crimson’s outdoor meets, even when matching up against vaulters from some of the best track and field programs in the country. At every regular-season outdoor meet, Weiler topped the clearance made by Stephen Brannon ’95 (5.13 meters), who stands at No. 2 in Harvard history. more
UK: pole vaulter makes new biography
AN Ulverston sporting legend features in the latest edition of a biography of people who have helped shape the history of Britain. Champion pole vaulter Tom Ray has been honoured with a place in the new edition of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography which is published today. The sportsman, who died in 1905 aged 42, had won seven Amateur Athletic Association pole vault titles, was second twice and third once. Mr Ray’s best mark at the championships was 11ft 3ins in 1881.In 1880 he took the first ever northern title and won five more times over the decade.During these years competitors used a climbing technique up the pole.Mr Ray also won the 1884 Amateur Athletic Association high jump title at 5ft 7ins and had a personal best high jump of 5ft 10ins in 1885 – the best mark by an English jumper in that season.The National Biography says Mr Ray, who was 6ft tall, put on considerable weight during the 1880s and ultimately lost his dominant position in the UK to Ernest Latimer (Lat) Stones, also of Ulverston, and Robert Dickinson.Ulverston is claimed to be the birthplace of pole vaulting Continue reading
Kansas: Swanson eyes lucky 13 at state
WICHITA — Earlier in her fledgling pole vault career, Taylor Swanson recalls telling Salina Central vault coach J.D. Garber that by the time she graduated, she’d be clearing 13 feet.”He said it would never happen,” said Swanson, who as a senior entering her final meet this weekend at the Kansas State High School Track and Field Championships would love nothing better than to make him eat his words. “He’s going crazy.”Actually, Swanson is still six inches away from that 13-foot mark, which would tie her with Mill Valley’s Emily Brigham at No. 1 all time in the Kansas high school ranks. But her progress the last month, which does include a 12-9 clearance in practice, has her eager for one last opportunity. Continue reading
Minnesota: Braham’s Eng sets pole vault record
Cqmbridge, MN. –The Great River Conference track & field finals were hosted May 15 at Hinckley where the Braham girls finished 5th in the final standings and the boys were 6th. The Mille Lacs girls and the Hinckley-Finlayson boys took home the team titles while closely contested by the Rush City squads.Senior Austyn Eng had a monster day for the Bombers by racking up three 1st places. Eng set a team and conference record in the pole vault by clearing 9-05. more
