Coastal Carolina's Mark Johnson goes for consecutive All-America honors at NCAAs
By Ian Guerin
The Sun News
Source
- It's been 16 years since Mark Johnson and his brother, Steven, would pole vault over bamboo sticks in the family's Clemmons, N.C., backyard.
There, outside Winston-Salem, Mark Johnson said he and his brother would search out the woods behind the house, looking for stray sticks that looked sturdy enough to hold their weight.
The goal was to mimic their father, Steve Sr., a former vaulter at N.C. State.
"We lined the [jump pit] with wood and we'd land on mattresses," Mark Johnson remembered. "Sometimes, we'd land on the dirt just to have fun. ... Nowadays, that would be really unsafe."
As Johnson's Coastal Carolina track and field career winds down this week at the NCAA Track and Field Championships at Sacramento State University, the senior vaulter still attaches those childhood memories to the success he has had on the Grand Strand.
There were three Class AAA state titles at North Myrtle Beach High School.
There were four Big South Conference championships at Coastal.
And this week, Johnson hopes to finish in the top eight at nationals to earn his second consecutive All-America honor.
The qualifying marks for the event will take place today, with the finals coming Friday.
While Johnson will have some company from teammates Thomas Jordan (javelin) and Ebony Brown (400M hurdles), it is Johnson's name recognition that CCU men's coach Jeff Jacobs knows will again bring some notoriety to the school.
Johnson's All-America status last year made him the first male track athlete at CCU to earn such honors.
"It's great recognition for Coastal. He's given us a lot of good publicity," Jacobs said. "We're still a relatively new program. People still ask what conference we're in [when the team travels to national events]."
With Johnson, two things have helped his - and Jacobs' - cause.
First, the senior began jumping at Coastal's track when he was in eighth grade. So by the time he joined the Chanticleers' program, he was ready to compete at the NCAA Division-I level.
Secondly, Johnson uses a jumping style slightly different from the majority of other pole vaulters.
"They see my double-leg swing and say 'Oh, that's the kid from Coastal Carolina," Johnson said.
His style and success could actually lead him to another school in the fall. Since Coastal does not have an indoor men's track and field team, Johnson has one year of eligibility remaining for the indoor season. South Carolina, Clemson and Auburn have all offered graduate school scholarships.
Other future options include being signed by a sponsor so he can compete professionally. Johnson said he would have to reach a height around 18 feet, 5 inches to guarantee that.
Reaching a similar height could also earn him a spot to train full-time at the United States Olympic facility in California.
But that is a concern that Johnson said he will broach after this week.
His time in Coastal colors isn't over yet.
"It's been such a long career, it seems like," Jacobs said. "I would say there's some nostalgia there."
Nostalgia, of course, that started with some bamboo sticks.
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What | NCAA Track & Field Championships
When | Today-Saturday
Where | Sacramento, Calif.
CCU qualifiers | Men, Mark Johnson, pole vault; Thomas Jordan, javelin; Women, Ebony Brown, 400M hurdles
When CCU athletes compete | Johnson, men's pole vault: Today, qualifying round, 7:45 p.m.; Friday, final, 7:45 p.m.; Jordan, men's javelin: Thursday, qualifying round, 4:15 p.m.; Saturday, final, 1 p.m.; Brown, women's 400M hurdles: Thursday, first round, 7:10 p.m.; Friday, semifinals, 6:10 p.m.; Saturday, final, 3:52 p.m.
