Daily Archives: June 28, 2012

Owen places 13th at Olympic Trials

 Melinda OwenEUGENE, Ore.- Polson native Melinda Owen finished 13th in the Women’s Pole Vault at the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore., last Sunday. Owen, a 2003 graduate of Polson High School, needed to clear the qualifying height of 14 feet 9 inches to have a shot at one of three possible spots on the U.S. Olympic Team.Owen cleared the competition’s opening height of 13 feet 11 1/4 inches on her second attempt, but could not surpass the next mark of 14 feet 5 1/4 inches.Her personal record of 14 feet 11 inches would have tied for second place at the trials.Though grappling with pain and disappointment, hope springs eternal for Owen. Recent postings on her blog and Twitter feed reflect feelings of “heartbreak… and new beginnings.”Tremendously appreciative of the groundswell of support from friends and family near and far, Owen seems to be putting last weekend’s events in perspective and is setting new goals for her career, which she has made clear is far from over. Her latest blog entry concludes by stating that her sights are now set on making the U.S. World Championship Team for next summer’s competition in Moscow, Russia   more

U.S. Olympic Trial Men’s results

Pos Name Mark Flt

5.40m
17-8 ½

5.50m
18-0 ½

5.60m
18-4 ½

5.67m
18-7 ¼

5.72m
18-9 ¼

5.82m
19-1

       
1 Brad Walker
- Nike		 5.67m
18-7 ¼

1

PPP

O

XO

XO

PPP

XXX

        
2 Jeremy Scott
- Nike		 5.60m
18-4 ½

1

O

O

O

XXX

            
3 Scott Roth
- Unattached		 5.60m
18-4 ½

1

PPP

XO

XO

PPP

XXX

          
4 Derek Miles
- Nike		 5.60m
18-4 ½

1

O

XXO

XO

XXX

            
5 Mark Hollis
- Nike		 5.60m
18-4 ½

1

O

PPP

XXO

PPP

XXX

          
6 Dustin DeLeo
- Unattached		 5.50m
18-0 ½

1

O

O

XXX

              
7 Michael Woepse
- U C L A		 5.50m
18-0 ½

1

XXO

XO

XXX

              
8 Rory Quiller
- Unattached		 5.40m
17-8 ½

1

XO

PPP

XXX

              
8 Jack Whitt
- Oral Roberts		 5.40m
17-8 ½

1

XO

XXX

                
NH Jordan Scott
- Unattached		  

1

PPP

XXX

                
NH Darren Niedermeyer
- Jump High Athletic Club		  

1

XXX

                  

 

USA Youth Outdoor Championships

ARLINGTON,Texas– Temperatures soared to well over 100 degrees on the track at the USA Youth Track & Field Championships in Arlington, Texas. The competition kicked off Tuesday at Maverick stadium at The University of Texas-Arlington.

Decathlon Young Men

                               Points      100       LJ           SP             HJ           400     110H       DT           PV       JT           1500

1 Jazdyk, Steven                 11.41  6.26m   11.63m    1.70m    54.91  16.95   29.74m    3.95m   41.76m  5:13.19

    unattached          5790    (771)    (644)    (584)    (544)    (602) 3145    (629)    (459)    (603)    (468)    (486)

2 Snow, Scott                    12.73    5.76m    9.62m    1.80m    54.11   17.28   28.22m    3.05m   39.62m  4:28.50

    unattached         5360    (515)    (535)    (463)    (627)    (635) 2775    (595)    (430)    (369)    (437)    (754)

3 BenBen, Ridge               12.40    5.05m    8.47m    1.70m    59.29         19.57   26.66m    2.60m   38.10m  5:06.47

              Wildcats    4327    (574)    (392)    (394)    (544)    (438)     2342    (384)    (399)    (264)    (415)    (523)     Continue reading →

Behrenbruch on course in decathlon

Behrenbruch Pascal-LJPascal Behrenbruch put himself into pole position to win the decathlon ahead of the two final events of the day as he produced a personal best vault of 5.00m to take over the lead which Oleksiy Kasyanov had held overnight, finishing the morning session on 6989 points to the Ukrainian’s 6970.
The penultimate event – the javelin – will offer the German the opportunity of opening up that lead over a rival whose best is more than 15m inferior. And it may also provide Roman Sebrle, the 37-year-old former world record holder, the opportunity to reach the podium in what must surely be his last European Championships.
The 37-year-old Czech produced a season’s best pole vault of 4.90m to enter the final session in fourth place, with the javelin – one of his strongest events – to come.
But Ilya Shkurenyov of Russia did his best to secure third place as he won the pole vault with 5.20m, taking his total to 6789, with Sebrle 116 points behind on 6673.  more

Giant Olympic Rings unveiled on Tower Bridge to mark one month to London 2012

boris johnson_27-06-12

June 27 – A giant set of Olympic Rings have today been unveiled here at arguably London’s most iconic landmark to celebrate exactly one month to go to the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games on July 27.
The giant aluminium Rings, which were manufactured in Yorkshire at a cost of £259,817 ($406,146/€325,005) and installed at an additional cost of £53,000 ($82,855/€66,292), were lowered in to place at precisely 10am GMT after the orders were given by Mayor of London Boris Johnson (pictured above, left).   more

Senior Games offer older athletes shot at glory, camaraderie

Nevada Senior Games will take place Sept. 24 to Oct. 14 in Las Vegas. Each year hundreds of athletes from all over Nevada gather in Las Vegas in venues all over town to compete.One of the current organizers is Gary Cotter, who said the Nevada Games is currently running in Reno, Henderson and Mesquite. He said it took a great deal of coordination and a lot of volunteers to put on this event every year in Las Vegas. He said Las Vegas has been doing this for the past 32 years with the goal being to improve the quality of life for seniors who need to stay active physically, mentally and socially. “We had a 79-year-old pole vaulter out-vault a high school kid. The 79 year old vaulted more than 14 feet,” Cotter said proudly.Cotter assures all participants that everything is done with safety in mind.“We have insurance and EMTs at the events and volunteer nurses. We are complying with everything that the insurance company requested. We have had one injury in the last 32 years. We had a guy who pole vaulted and missed the pit and it was not even a senior. It was a high school kid that got injured,” he said.   more

Hollis hopes for new heights

Freeport, Ill. — There aren’t too many people who can say they lived their dream.
Thursday night, Freeport native Mark Hollis gets a chance to say he’s living his.
The Pretzel graduate stands in first at the United States Olympic Track and Field Trials in the pole vault after the first day of qualifying.
Hollis cleared 17 feet, eight and one-half inch on his first try at the height on Monday night, putting himself in great position to be one of three vaulters to make the U.S. Olympic Team and participate in the London Olympic Games.
The field began with 24 potential Olympians on Monday but was whittled down to 11.
Of those 11, Hollis was one of five to clear 17-8.5.
It’s been an amazing journey for Hollis, an athlete who had trouble finding a sponsor a short time ago.  Continue reading →

Rory Quiller vying for pole vaulting spot

Boulder, Colorado –Son of former CU coach facing uphill battle    Rory Quiller has accepted the fact that he has a major decision to make in the very near future. He also is making what likely will be his final run at his lifelong goal with a bit of a heavy heart. All the more reason for Quiller to chase his dreams just one vault at a time. Quiller, a Louisville resident and the son of former University of Colorado track and field/cross country coach Jerry Quiller, overcame woeful weather conditions on Monday to advance out of the preliminary rounds of the pole vault at the U.S. Olympic Trials. Although he will need to make a significant leap in the standings, Quiller will attempt to land a berth on the Olympic team when the finals begin on this afternoon in Eugene, Ore. “I feel like I was pretty lucky to get through the prelims with the weather, with all the wind and rain,” Quiller said. “It was borderline dangerous to be out there vaulting. I almost took a header into the box on a run-through. I’m thankful I could get through that.” Quiller has been making his final preparations for the trials — he trains frequently with the Boulder-based club Above The Bar — while grieving the loss of his father. Jerry Quiller, the venerable CU coach who was considered one of the greatest track/cross country coaches in the nation, passed away on Feb. 2 at age 69 due to complications from cancer.  more

High Risk, Reward in Men’s Pole Vault

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The men’s pole vault final at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials will be an eye-popping experience. It’s a strong field in the finals, and each athlete will improve just from the competition alone—and for as difficult as that appears, the ultimate reward is a great opportunity to win Olympic gold. Here, the strategy during the men’s pole vault final will be extremely vital. Not just making the expected height will be enough to make Team Continue reading →

USATF screws over women pole vaulters too

USATF keeps screwing over the athletes on the bubble in the women’s pole vault…
On the last weekend of qualifying, a small PV-only meet produced five lifetime PRs, including three USA WPVers. There were suspicions raised about multiple aspects of the meet, and there was much discussion about whether or not the results would be rejected. The four girls that were bumped out were left hanging for days.
Two of the athletes made the trip to Eugene and two did not. The latter two _could_ not make the trip after some phone calls a little less than 48 hours before the meet with USATF where they were explicitly told: DO NOT GET ON THE PLANE. YOU ARE NOT GETTING IN UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE. Both athletes are in college and it would be an NCAA violation if their school sent them out here after having official word they were not competing. Continue reading →

Two Western Australian Olympians on the road to London

Steve Hooker – Pole Vault Steve Hooker has been on a real rollercoaster ride since his memorable triumph in the pole vault at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. He also set an Olympic record that night in China (5.96m) becoming the first Australian male in 40 years to win an athletics gold at an Olympic Games. Victory in the World Championships of 2009 in Berlin followed, a year he also set his PB of 6.06m in Boston. Steve’s run of success continued at the 2010 World Indoor titles with a championship record vault of 6.01m. It was a year he also took Gold at the Delhi Commonwealth Games. 2010 though was also the start of what Steve has described as a nightmare, with injuries and a loss of confidence which he revealed earlier this year. With the help of a specially built indoor training facility in Midland, Steve stripped back his technique and run up and achieved a qualifying mark for London. With qualification complete, we caught up with Steve as his quest for another Olympic title has taken him to lead-up Grand Prix meets in Europe.

Lauren Mitchell – Pole Vault  — 2010 was a year to remember for WA gymnast Lauren Mitchell. After a record equalling four gold and one silver medal at the Continue reading →

Pole vault camp scheduled for July 9-12

Amarillo, Texas –The Great Plant Pole Vault Camp is set July 9 to 12 at the Tradewind Office Park Indoor Arena. The camp will be coached by Bill Heley of Dallas Jesuit Prepatory Academy and Jim Langdon of Amarillo High. The camp costs $270 for all four days or $90  per day. It will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a one-hour lunch break at noon.  source