Raising the bar
By JIM HERSH, Sports Editor
Sunday News
Published: Mar 25, 2007 12:04 AM EST
LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa - Elizabethtown College's Kevin Clark has everything you need to be a national-champion pole vaulter: strength, speed, dedication and competitiveness.
And there's one other thing: the focus to overcome some adversity.
Clark, a junior, won the NCAA Division III indoor pole-vault championship March 10 in Terre Haute, Ind., clearing a school-record 17-1½ on his final try.
He is the school's first individual national champion since 1982, when Beckie Donecker won in tennis.
Remarkably, Clark became the national champion even though E-town has virtually no indoor track training facilities.
When it can't train outdoors in the winter months, the track team runs in the narrow hallways at Thompson Gym. The pole-vaulters work on their technique in an old racquetball court.
Of all the vaulters at nationals, Clark was the only one who doesn't have access to at least a multi-purpose indoor facility suitable for pole vauting.
"What he's accomplished with the lack of facilities amazes people," E-town head coach Chris Straub said. "They can't wrap their mind around it."
To Clark, there is a positive side to the situation.
"If we had a place to vault, we'd only vault and we wouldn't do all the drills we do," Clark said. "I know a kid from Susquehanna and a kid from Dickinson, and their practices consist of just vaulting. They're not improving as much as I am.
"I like the drills we do because they're so creative. It makes it more fun that way. People say, 'How do you improve so much [without an indoor practice facility]?' It doesn't take vaulting every day to improve."
Evidently not.
"There are many parts that led to the the national title," Straub said. "He's genetically gifted. Throw that in with really good coaching [by pole-vault coach Eric Bennett] and a really incredible work ethic. He's very goal-oriented, and he has the ability to step up in big meets."
Clark was already a good pole- vaulter when he arrived at E-town.
He started pole-vaulting seriously as a sophomore at Hatboro-Horsham High School. By the time he graduated, he had a best performance of 15 feet and a sixth-place finish in the PIAA Class AAA championships.
Several factors transformed Clark from a good pole-vaulter into a great one.
He grew a little, going from about 5-foot-11 and 155 pounds when he entered E-town to his current 6-1 and 170. He also got stronger and faster, thanks to some serious weight training and conditioning work.
"It's mostly speed and strength," Bennett, who once held E-town's pole-vault record, said in describing what it takes to be a high-level pole-vaulter. "Just general fitness. Kevin's a good athlete. We try to make them really good athletes before they even start technique work."
As much as strength in the arms and shoulders, pole-vaulters need to be strong in the abdominal area. So, one of the workouts calls for 1,600 stomach crunches in a single session.
"Halfway through you think it's the worse thing you've ever done," Clark said. "But then you're numb. ... It's crazy."
Clark isn't just a pole-vaulter. He competes in several other events for the Blue Jays, including the long jump and hurdles. He also runs on the 4x100 and 4x400 relays.
He won the decathlon in the Keystone Games last summer, despite failing to clear a height in the pole vault. He expects to start doing the decathlon more often next year.
Clark, an accounting major, was second in last year's Division III national outdoor pole vault (16-3¼) and fourth in the national indoor championships (16-5½).
This January, he won his flight and finished fifth overall with a vault of 16-10¾ in the National Pole Vault Summit in Reno, Nev., a competition that included vaulters from all college divisions.
At nationals, Clark missed twice at 17-1½. Had he missed another time, the gold would have gone to Matt Novak of the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse.
"His best two performances this year came with about as many jumps as you could possibly take," Bennett said. "It makes me really nervous, but you really can't tell from him. He just goes back and jumps the same way. After his warmup, I don't think there's any shaking him."
Clark, whose winning height at nationals would have placed 11th at the Division I indoor championships this year, knows there's room for improvement.
"I really don't have the greatest form in the world," Clark said. "There are a lot of guys with a lot better form than I have. If I can clean up some things, that will help me tremendously."
As he's progressed in his college career, he has had to revise his goals.
"Coming into college, I wanted to get to 17 feet. I guess since last year, the [goal] is to get to the Olympic Trials and eventually go to the Olympics."
The qualifying "B" standard for the Trials is 5.5 meters, or just a shade over 18 feet. The automatic qualifying standard is 5.7 meters, or 18-7.
Clark's best height has progressed by about 6-12 inches a year since he's been at E-town, so ... .
"He should be able to reach that about mid-April next year," Bennett said, "as long as he keeps hitting the points we set for him."
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