Taking advantage of the high speed shooting capabilities of the NEX, these were some of my pole vault attempts… the composites are a bit experimental (which is my way of saying please don’t be too critical of technique as I’m on a learning curve with it All taken with the Hexanon 200 at around f4.0 more

JONESBORO, AR (KAIT) – Region 8 will have it’s own Olympic contender chasing the Gold in London. Jeremy Scott a pole-vaulter will leave Wednesday and start officially competing next week.We caught up with Scott at the Bell Athletic Center where he trains under Olympic medalist Earl Bell. Scott says he would have really liked to march in the opening ceremonies. “You know there’s still so much work yet to be done. There’s still a few things I want to get done training wise.” Scott said. Scott gives full credit to Earl Bell for helping him to get a shot at a medal. “He’s a genius.” Scott Said. “He takes something that is really complicated that’s got so many different moving parts and he’s able to break it down in a way that is easy to understand.”Scott spent a portion of Friday afternoon helping to register young pole vaulters at a weekend training sessions. 3 days of learning the ups and downs of the sport. The young people come in from all over the nation and at all levels of experience.14-year old Bernice Ford is from Pomapno Beach, Florida. She just got into pole vaulting last year. “My track coach nudged me into it. ” she said. “I was a really fast runner. He wanted me to do it so I tried it and I liked it.” As we talked her eyes looked up to the walls where former students have marked with their names and their heights they were able to achieve.”What made you come here?” we asked. “We were coming here for a reunion and the dates fell just right and I was also told that Olympians train here and I thought that was pretty cool. ” Ford said.Scott says he is not ashamed to brag on Earl Bell. “I tell this to everybody. ” he said. “I don’t think Earl is the best coach in the area, the state or the country. I think he is the best coach in the world.”The young vaulters must agree, the license plates of the vehicles in the parking lot reflect people coming from all corners of the county to learn.There are only three men on the American Olympic team, they compete against the best of the best. Scott says however there is a tougher competitor.”Pole vaulting is ultimately about competing against yourself and making sure you do the things that you need to do.” Scott said. “I agree” Bernice said. “When you know what you’re doing and you are vaulting good, it’s really fun.”  more

Mack coaches pole vaulting; he knows how it feels to be a champion.”I started focusing on making the team and then eventually got to the point where I was like, I’m going to focus on gold,” said Mack.He was a member of the U.S. Track and Field team that competed in Athens, Greece in 2004. He came home with a gold medal in pole vaulting, after he set a new Olympic record.As the London games are set to begin, Mack said he understands how the athletes are feeling.”You couldn’t think about the gravity of the situation, and the whole reason I did that is because I wanted to do the best I possibly could,” Mack explained.Mack’s Olympic dreams took shape during his time pole vaulting for UT in the mid-1990s. Now he trains athletes, like Clendenning and Lynda Cooper, to someday follow in his footsteps. Clendenning moved to Knoxville from Virginia a month ago to work with Mack; Cooper moved to Knoxville from Alabama in 2010 for the same reason.Both women said they have an Olympic dream. Training with Mack inspires them to practice, work hard, and improve. They also said they look forward to watching other athletes in the Olympic Games.”I think about how hard they have to train,” said Cooper.”The dedication they put in. How long they’ve been working, and watch technique,” are what Clendenning said she will be focused on as she watches Olympic pole vaulters on television over the next two weeks.”They respect me, what I’m saying is more than they would if I hadn’t won gold,” said Mack about training the Olympic hopefuls.  more

CHARLES TOWN – Roland Rush has spent a summer vaulting for some acknowledgment.The recent graduate of Washington has been winning quite a bit, too, which has helped him gain recognition that should reward him with a college scholarship.He’ll take one more step on Sunday morning when he competes in the U.S. Track and Field Association’s Junior Olympics at Morgan State in Baltimore. winner of a five-state regional held at Cedarville, Ohio, the former state champion pole vaulter will be flying upward in search of a vault of 16 feet, 6 inches – the height he thinks will win.Rush, who no-heighted as a senior at the 2012 West Virginia state meet after winning the competition a year earlier, cleared 15 feet in regional competition. In other regional competition, a scan of the competitors shows one who reached 16-3.5, a handful who tied in another meet at 15-7 and someone else somewhere else at 15-5.Those others might or might not compete. Rush really won’t know until the competition begins.”And who is having a bad day and what not,” Rush said. “There’s a lot of possibilities.”It should be a good meet; everybody will be pushing each other.”Rush and his coach, Tim Smith, are confident.”I think he’s going to do well,” Smith said. “(Thursday), he had an excellent practice and is ready to go.”Rush also qualified for the national AAU finals in Houston, but he won’t be attending that competition.”I guess I’m doing pretty well,” Rush said. more

VERMILLION SD— “You make one bar, you go to the next.”
Derek Miles calls that the pole vaulter’s mindset. You always want to push forward; to accomplish one goal and focus on the next one.
For the 39-year-old University of South Dakota graduate and current assistant track coach, however, his third appearance at the Olympic Games — where he has twice finished in the top eight in his event — will be his last.
Though Miles finished outside the qualifying mark at last month’s trials in Eugene, Ore., he previously met the London Olympics standard back in 2011. As he heads to England next Thursday, Miles is not only battling an Achilles injury but the fact that this is his last competition.
“It’s a little surreal in terms of calling it quits,” he said during a media session in Vermillion a week ago. “It’s exciting to be able to do the things I’m doing here coaching-wise. That fills that void a little bit.”
That void is about to be filled with the preeminent athletic event in the world — a stage Miles knows all about  more