Daily Archives: June 7, 2012

NCAA Men’s Decathlon

1 Kurt FelixSR Boise State 8062

2 Romain Martin  JR Texas-Arlington 7956

3 Kevin Lazas SO Arkansas 7955

4 Gonzalo Barroilhet SR Florida State 7952

5 Gunnar Nixon FR Arkansas 7892

6 Marcus Nilsson SO UCLA 7823

7 Isaac Murphy JR Texas 7818

8 Bjorn Barrefors JR Nebraska 7769       more

Wichita Kansas River Festival’s River Vault a chance to see pole-vaulting Olympic hopefuls up close

Speed.
Stealth.
Strength.
That’s what it takes to be a pole vaulter, said Denis Fraizer, coach for Wichita’s public high schools and most Catholic schools.
Being “a little nutsy,” he joked, doesn’t hurt, either.
“You have to be gutsy enough to at least come out and try it. And then stick with it.”
That’s what Wichita River Festival goers will have a chance to witness Saturday when more than 75 pole vaulters showcase their skills at River Vault, a new event for 2012. It’s pole vaulting taken to the streets in a fun-filled, energetic show, Fraizer said.
Some like Olympic hopeful Jordan Scott, a champion vaulter expected Saturday who’s known for his dyed hairstyles, can clear an 18-foot bar.
“The people are right there, five to 10 feet away from the mat, watching these people jump,” he said. “They are never able to get that close to them.” River Vault
What you’ll see: Pole vaulters, ages 9 to 50, participating in a street vaulting show. Participants also have an opportunity to qualify for the 2012 U.S. Olympic team trials, held later this month in Eugene, Ore.
When: 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2012/06/07/2364038/wichita-river-festivals-river.html#storylink=cpy

Brad Walker explains tough choices for injured athletes

Pole vaulter Brad Walker is optimistic that the long history of featuring track & field events in 2012 Olympics host country Great Britain will generate more benefits in the future. 2008 Gymnastics Gold Medalist Shawn Johnson announced her retirement from Olympic sports on Monday, after combating pain from her 2010 skiing injury and carefully considering the risks of continuing to train for the Olympics while trying to heal. Pole vault world champion Brad Walker of U.S. Track & Field explained the difficult decisions that Johnson, Walker and other injured athletes face in an interview with Examiner.com today. “Injuries are going to happen for sure. That’s just a part of sport,” observes Walker. “I was really bummed when I heard Shawn Johnson was retiring. The public would have really loved to see her at the Olympics. Olympic athletes struggle. Some end up with no money and a broken body.” Walker’s success has shown that there are alternatives, but that it remains difficult for injured athletes in sports like gymnastics where there are not many career opportunities beyond college and top athletes tend to retire in their late teens or early twenties, like Johnson. Brad Walker was injured while pole vaulting in late 2008. It looked gruesome: a pelvis injury, a ruptured disc in his back, plus a disc bulge in his neck. As Walker explains, injured Olympic athletes have only three choices — retire from sports, continue to train with pain, or undergo medical treatment. Walker chose the third option,  more

Taylore Jaques always goes above and beyond

Presentation sophomore pole vaulter is already thinking national record after winning California state title.    Presentation (San Jose, Calif.) sophomore pole vaulter Taylore Jaques did what she always does after a big clearance – she looked directly into the stands.
She looked for her triangle of support: Her dad, Presentation coach Warren Jaques and club coaches, the father-son tandem of Bob and Scott Slover.
 This was no ordinary make, mind you. This was 13 feet, 4 1/4 inches to win the California Interscholastic Federation State Track and Field championship Saturday at Veterans Stadium on the campus of Buchanan (Clovis) High School.This was Taylore’s lifetime best, a season-long goal and the second-best mark in the nation this year. And Taylore, perhaps more than the vault itself, vividly recalled the reactions of the three gentlemen who have been there virtually every approach, plant and take-off along the way.
“Scott was jumping up and down, my dad had his hands in the air and Bob was just smiling,” she said. “When Bob smiles you know you’ve done something very, very good.” more

Weigl 10th at Ontario Canada midget pole vault meet

BROCKVILLE — It only lasted a second, but it seemed like an eternity for Tom Weigl. The pole vaulter had just cleared his personal best of 2.90 metres on his final attempt at the midget boys provincial championships in Brockville Thursday afternoon. Then, as the Jacob Hespeler Secondary School student lay on the crash mat, he watched his discarded pole begin falling back toward the bar. “It went by really slow,” said the 14-year-old. “I saw the pole coming back and saw it hit the bar, and I was crushed.” And so, the Grade 9 student’s Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations track and field championship experience is over. Ridgeway’s Joel Mueller grabbed gold and set a new OFSAA record of 3.75 metres (12-3), beating the old mark of 3.56 set by Waterloo’s Nic Hoedino, of Sir John A. Macdonald, three years ago.Weigl ended up tied for 10th out of 24 competitors in the province. Not bad for a first-timer.“It has been awesome,” he said. “I’m going to train a lot more. I’m going to work on my cardio all summer. Hopefully, I’ll be back next year.”More than 2,300 students from across the province will compete at the all-Ontario finals, which continue Friday and Saturday at Brockville’s Thousand Islands Secondary School. About 60 athletes from Waterloo Region qualified for the event.  more

Olympic Hopeful Lacy Janson Q&A

Former Seminole Lacy Janson looks to earn a bid to the 2012 Olympic Games.Former Seminole looks to earn spot on 2012 United States Olympic Team.

After qualifying for the past three World Championships teams (World Indoors in 2010, 2012 and World Outdoors in 2011), Lacy Jansonwill make a push for her first Olympic team in the pole vault. The Cardinal Mooney (Fla.) High School and Florida State University alum was ranked #3 is the U.S. in 2011 by Track & Field News. USA Track & Field caught up with Janson for a short Q & A as she continues her preparation for the Olympic Team Trials – Track & Field, which are scheduled for June 21-July 1 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

Give us an update on how you’re feeling and how your training is going into the Olympic Trials?

“I am in a great place. I feel physically ready and my confidence is really high on the runway. I’ve had some great confidence builders in the last couple meets.”

How is your preparation different this season heading into the Trials? Continue reading →

Owens vaults to second place at Ohio state meet

Midpark's Aaron OwensCOLUMBUS Last season was a bit of a nightmare for Midpark pole vaulter Aaron Owens, to say the least.Stricken with mono for much of the year, Owens couldn’t participate in most track and field meets and barely made it regionals. This season was a different story.Owens returned to form and soared to a second place finish in the pole vault at the Division I state tournament over the weekend at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Columbus.In his first ever trip to states, the junior posted a final height of 15-feet, 8-inches. Continue reading →

Massachusetts All State

Boys Pole Vault
  1 Brendan Sullivan          12 Westford Aca          15-03.00*
  2 Dan Kfoury                12 Central Cath          13-06.00 
  3 Kyle Tereso               11 Chicopee              13-00.00 
  4 Matt Fenlon               12 Central Cath         J13-00.00 
  5 Devon Stearley            11 Chicopee Com          12-06.00 
  5 Chang-Bae Son             11 Wachusett             12-06.00 
  5 Michael Bradley           12 Clinton               12-06.00 
  8 Michael Araujo            11 Algonquin            J12-06.00 
  9 Tyler Roberts             12 Agawam               J12-06.00 
10 Patrick Delisle           11 Chicopee             J12-06.00 
11 Wes Dominique             12 Ludlow                12-00.00 
11 Connor Morette            12 Saint John’s          12-00.00 
13 Bob Donahue               12 Hudson               J12-00.00 
14 Todd Peixinho             12 Durfee               J12-00.00 
15 Vladimir Popusoi          10 Greenfield           J12-00.00 
16 Cameron Hastings          11 North Reading Hi      11-00.00 
16 Austin Stevens            10 Triton                11-00.00 
18 Dillon McGee              10 Westford Aca          10-00.00 
18 Tyler Colbert             12 Triton                10-00.00 
18 Nick Ng                   11 Wayland               10-00.00 
21 Alex Schlecht             12 Hamilton-Wen         J10-00.00 
21 Tom Funk                  11 Pentucket            J10-00.00

Girls Pole Vault
   1 Casey Teska               12 Nashoba               11-06.00  Continue reading →

Eastern States Invitational

Iona Preparatory School, New Rochelle, NY

Boys Pole Vault
=========================================================================
    Name                    Year School                  Seed     Finals
=========================================================================
  1 Mike Brunoforte              St. Anthony’s                  15-06.00 
  2 Greg Gallagher               Iona Prep                      15-00.00 
  3 Emelio Hines                 Mount Vernon                   13-09.00 
  4 Sean McEvoy                  Fordham Prep                   13-06.00 
  5 Joe Crispi                   Monsignor Farrel              J13-06.00 
  6 John Varsam                  Archbishop Mollo               13-00.00 
  6 James Deutmeyer              Fordham Prep                   13-00.00 
  6 Matt Pluhowski               St. Anthony’s                  13-00.00 
  6 Lucas Gilbride               Fordham Prep                   13-00.00 
10 Daniel Kaul                  Fordham Prep                   12-06.00 
10 Jacob Seidman                Harrison                       12-06.00 
12 Ryan Herrera-Murphy          Iona Prep                      11-06.00 
12 Steve Martinelli             LaSalle Institut               11-06.00 
12 John Hyatt                   Iona Prep                      11-06.00 
12 Ed Logsdail                  Iona Prep                      11-06.00 
12 Robert Horvath               Fordham Prep                   11-06.00 
12 Brendan Beyer                Fordham Prep                   11-06.00 
18 Matt Sullivan                Iona Prep                      10-06.00 
18 Daniel Bomba                 Iona Prep                      10-06.00 
18 Coleman Kraemer              Fordham Prep                   10-06.00 
18 Michael Sabarese             St. John the Bap               10-06.00 
18 Jahkeem Wheatley             Iona Prep                      10-06.00 

Girls Pole Vault
   1 Margo Motulsky               Brearley School                 9-06.00 
  2 Kiera Fellegara              Ursuline School                 8-06.00 
  3 Caroline Moore               Ursuline School                 6-00.00

more

Thornton breaks dad’s pole vault record

Ew_ThorntonVaulters-2348_storyPERRYSBURG, OHIO- For 32 years Steve Thornton held the Perrysburg High School pole vault record … until his son came along.
The long-standing 13-6 record came tumbling down last month when the younger pole vaulting Thornton, Ben, vaulted 13-8 at the Division I district meet at Toledo St. Francis.
“I just wanted to show my old man who is boss,” said Ben Thornton, who just graduated from Perrysburg on Sunday.
Steve Thornton set the original record as a junior at Perrysburg in 1980.
“I’ve had the record long enough. It’s time somebody else had it and if it has to be somebody else, it might as well be my son,” he said.
“I didn’t think it would last more than five years.”
Breaking his father’s decades-old record has been in the making since Ben was in elementary school.
“I was just hoping he could to it. He has been saying ever since fifth or sixth grade that he was going to break my record,” Steve Thornton said.
The son’s desire to break his father’s jump mark is reflected in past school papers which listed his goals.   Continue reading →

Blankenship vaults into Ohio history

Unlike last year, senior Jake Blankenship of the Gahanna Lincoln High School boys track and field team didn’t win the pole vault in the Division I state meet held June 1 and 2 at Ohio State in dramatic fashion. After clearing his opening height of 15 feet, 8 inches on June 2, he easily cleared 16-0 and watched as runner-up Aaron Owens of Middleburg Heights failed to clear that height on three attempts. But having easily secured the state title didn’t stop Blankenship from ending his prep career on a high note, as he went on to clear 17-2 to break his own state record by an inch.   Continue reading →

Wiedemeier repeats

LA CROSSE, WISCONSIN — Crivitz junior Jake Wiedemeier repeated as the Division 3 champion in the boys pole vault with a vault of 14 feet, 3 inches on Friday at the WIAA state track and field meet.Wiedemeier won the Marinette-Oconto Conference its third consecutive D3 boys pole-vaulting title with a vault that was 9 inches better than his championship effort a year ago.After he wrapped up the state title, Wiedemeier made an attempt at 14-9½, which would’ve broken the Crivitz school record held by his pole-vaulting coach, Scott Banaszak.”I’m just very happy and thankful to my coaches, parents and friends that they are always there with me and rooting me on.” Wiedemier said. “It gets me excited looking towards next year already, but I know the target on my back is even bigger now.”Crivitz teammate Treven Gezella placed eight with a pole vault of 13-0.  more