Tanner Kasischke and Lizzy Mabry article (FL)

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/app ... 00338/1002

Pole vaulters Kasischke, Mabry get kicks in air


Scott Hotard
@PensacolaNewsJournal.com
You don't need a bungee cord or parachute to be extreme. Just pick up a pole and head to track and field practice. Be like Pace's Tanner Kasischke and Gulf Breeze's Lizzy Mabry, who gobble up adrenaline right there on school grounds.

Teammates of the respective athletes fly by in spikes. Or hurdle obstacles as they sweat toward the finish line. Or run and jump and extend and land in sand. They are fun to watch, sure, but they'll never know what it's like to soar.

Want to fly?

Kasischke and Mabry do it every day. They are the best pole vaulters in the Pensacola Bay Area, teenage jumping jacks who fear nothing above the ground. Each athlete would rather soar through the air than run against the wind.

"This event is one that takes a lot of courage," says Pace coach Greg Gill, who works with the school's pole vaulters. "You run full speed and thrust your body into a pole that bends. They know the risks. They've all seen poles break."

Kasischke, for one, prefers breaking records. The 5-foot-9 junior vaulted 13 feet, 9 inches during a meet three weeks ago, eclipsing a school benchmark that had stood for 14 years. He since has bettered that height twice.

Not bad, either, considering where his vault toward history began. Kasischke (pronounced Kas-is-key) always envisioned himself playing baseball for Pace -- perhaps as its leadoff hitter -- but he failed to make the freshman team.

He traded his bat for a pole. By the end of the year, Kasischke, who grew up performing flips on a backyard trampoline, had cleared 12 feet. He vaulted 14-1 during a meet at Pace on April 11, marking the third time in three weeks Pace's school record had changed.

"He's never been afraid of anything," says Becky Kasischke, Tanner's mother. "I think that's why he's so good at this."

Fearlessness, to be sure, is a prerequisite for success. Coaches select athletes for the event based on a number of criteria -- speed, flexibility, athleticism -- but it takes a special athlete, a daredevil of sorts, to spin upside down and soar above a bar higher than most ceilings.

Not that Mabry struggled with the notion. The 5-5 senior was comfortable in the air because she has a background in gymnastics, a sport known for feeding pole vaulting some of its brightest stars. She qualified for state in the event by her junior year.

"I get nervous before a meet," Mabry says, "but I'm never scared of getting hurt."

It shows. Mabry, who will compete today in the Region 1-2A meet in Jacksonville, won the district championship last week with a vault of 11 feet, the best of her career. She is the next in line for Gulf Breeze -- the program has had two state champions in the event since 1997 -- which is back on track after slumping early in the season.

The key for Mabry, it seems, has been switching poles. She began the season using a 12-foot, 4-inch pole and has switched to one that is more than a foot longer. The bigger stick, though harder to handle, is conducive to higher marks.

Ask Kasischke. He's using a Carbon FX pole these days, a $500 stick he found on the Internet. He had outgrown most of the poles in Pace's storage shed and needed something with more bounce. The new pole is his baby, the equivalent of a bowler's favorite ball. He couldn't see himself shooting off the ground on anything else.

Mabry's success, though, has not come alone. A tough break for star senior Tyler Hampton, who would have challenged Kasischke for high marks this season, had benefits for Mabry. After suffering a wrist injury a couple of weeks into the season, Hampton has spent his spring helping coach the pole vaulters.

"She has improved," Hampton says of Mabry, "more than anyone I've ever seen improve."

Never scared, either.

Pole vaulting is known as track and field's most dangerous endeavor. Three amateur athletes, including Clewiston sophomore Jesus Quesada, died competing during April 2002 alone. The event has a higher percentage of catastrophic injuries than football.

Worries? Not for Mabry.

She grips her pole and rocks back in the runway. Seventy feet from the box, she gathers momentum with long, calculated strides.

There is no slowing down. Imagine an airplane approaching takeoff. Her performance is tied to the speed she builds.

"She always liked to fly," says her father, Mike, referring to Lizzy's days as a gymnast. "Pole vaulting was a natural progression for her."