Irvine, California (PRWEB) June 21, 2012 It took three years of sacrifice, pain, and determination to find success in an afternoon. Last Saturday, Megan Jamerson edged out the competition to earn the rank of number fifteen in the United States while jumping 14’4″ in the Women’s Pole Vault, just what she needed to be invited to the Olympic Trials. Traveling yesterday morning to Eugene, Oregon (“Track Town U.S.A.”), Jamerson will be competing against twenty-three other women with only the final twelve advancing to “Finals” on Sunday; positions one, two and three will proceed to London. Friday will be a sea of emotions; Sunday, unbearable. Training for Friday’s meet has been intense over the past few months as she began seeing her dreams within reach. Although affable and easy-going by nature, when training, the champion in Jamerson finds its way to the surface: the determination to swallow any doubts, the ability to push all distractions passed her peripheral vision and focus on being relaxed and fearless. Jamerson jumps almost daily with her coach, Greg Woepse and has been training at Stark in Irvine, California to help with her strength and explosiveness. 

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Terre Haute. Ind.(WTHI) – Friday former Terre Haute North and Indiana State star pole vaulter Kylie Hutson will be competing at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trails trying to earn a spot on the Team USA roster and compete at the 2012 Summer Games in London. The top three pole vaulters advance on to the Olympics. Hutson is regarded as one of the top American pole vaulters. Twenty-four are invited to compete in the women’s pole vault qualifying round which will be held at 8:30 p.m. (ET) on Friday, June 22. The top 12 will advance to the final round which will be held at 5:25 p.m. (ET) on Sunday, June 24  more

Joe Sanford still tells aspiring pole-vaulters the story of Alexandra Acker’s first experience in the sport. Acker was 13 years old but already had the aggressive, powerful run that serves as the foundation to the nation’s best vaulters.”Her knees were high. Her foot strike was right below her knee,” Sanford recalled. “It was an accelerating cadence as she went from the back of the run to the (vault) box. If you can run in the pole vault, then you’ve got a good shot at being pretty good. She did it naturally.”Sanford, her coach at McDowell Senior High School, knew a decade ago that Acker could reach great heights, even as she struggled to surpass the 12-foot plateau and find her passion for vaulting.”She was talented right from the start,” Sanford said.Acker arrived Tuesday at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Ore., site of the U.S. Olympic Trials’ track and field  Continue reading →

Two-time Olympic pole vaulter Derek Miles’ attempt to make the U.S. team this year is being complicated by an injury that just won’t go away. The 39-year-old University of South Dakota coach and alumnus will be helping guide Coyote athletes Bethany Buell and Emily Grove through their first Olympic Trials competition today in Eugene, Ore., and then will be competing in the men’s qualifying round himself on Monday. He is hoping the extra days will buy him some time in quieting a persistent Achilles issue that has altered his training for months, but it’s pretty obvious he’s not overwhelmingly optimistic about that. “In terms of the competition, you’d have to say this could be the easiest team to make of all the Trials I’ve been involved in,” Miles said. “U.S. pole vaulting is down a little bit right now, which makes my injury seem even a little more frustrating.”   more

Steve Bastien enjoyed a solid track and field season as a junior at Saline High School. So he came into his senior year with high expectations. He did not, however, expect to be named “Mr. Track and Field” by the Michigan Interscholastic Track Coaches Association for 2012. “I never even knew the award existed,” said Bastien, who completed his high school track and field season by winning the state championship in long jump, taking second in the pole vault and running on the all-state 4-by-200 and 4-by-400 relay teams. “I found out the award goes to the state’s best all around performer. So it’s really an honor. I’m happy and proud to receive the award.” Bastien set Saline High School records in several events this year. He recorded a wind-aided leap of 25 feet in long jump early in the season. His official school record is 23.9 feet. In the pole vault, he cleared 15 feet to set a new Hornet record. He was also a part of a record setting relay quad. Bastien’s improvement between junior and senior year was remarkable. In the long jump, he added nearly 2.5 feet to his best. He improved by 11 inches in the pole vault. His time in the 400 improved from 54 seconds to 49.4 seconds.  more

Nicole Trenchard, a freshman at Pacific Collegiate School, is espousing the merits of pole vaulting to me while packing up after competing at the Central Coast Section track and field finals. “You’re going to love it,” Trenchard says. “It feels like you’re flying.” Hmm, aside from the ear popping and jet lag and the crazy high-speed landings, I actually like flying. I would even go as far as to say it’s one of my preferred modes of transportation. Pole vaulting is not flying. It’s running with a long stick, planting it into the ground and holding on for dear life as you attempt to slingshot your body into the air. It’s trying to go up a fireman’s pole instead of down. It’s playing Tarzan, swinging through the forest, with fiberglass rods as the trees. OK, it may actually be even better than flying — and more dangerous. Don’t think I didn’t do my research before taking on this challenge. Thanks to the wonders of the web, I know all about the consequences of missing the mat or landing head-first. I know that about one person a year dies doing it and that few years ago, the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research at the University of North Carolina labeled the pole vault the most dangerous Olympic sporting event. Period.  more

RECORDS/STANDARDS

World: 16-7 1/4 Hayward Field: 16-1 3/4

U.S.: 16-1 3/4 Olympic ‘A’ Standard: 14-9

Meet: 16-1 3/4 Olympic ‘B’ Standard: 14-5 1/4

ANALYSIS

Jenn Suhr, nee Stuczynski, reigns supreme over the field — both Hayward Field and this field of vaulters. She is the top-ranked vaulter in the United States, and also holds the meet and field records, set in the Trials four years ago. That came in the midst of a five-year run of national championships for Suhr, the 2008 Olympic silver medalist. The streak was broken in 2011 while she adjusted to a diagnosis of Celiac disease, which requires a gluten-free diet. Suhr decided not to jump at both this year’s Pre Classic and the adidas Grand Prix in new York earlier this month. The reigning U.S. Outdoor champ is Kylie Hutson, who established her PR in winning that title a year ago at Hayward Field.

FORM CHART   Continue reading →