USATF Men's Review

[VaultnGus]

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The Pole Vault World According to Gus Volume #09 Issue #22
2004 USATF Indoor Championships Men's PV Final 02/28/04
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Man it was an awesome battle in Beantown this afternoon for those
two tickets to Budapest for the World Indoor Championships. Nearly
all the top talent in the US made the trip out east. I was hoping
to show those Californians and Texans what a real New England
winter was like but sad to say it was 50 degrees out and sunny all
afternoon. IT'S NOT FAIR! They should have to suffer like we have
the past three months heh heh

I had a pretty sweet seat for the event - right on the infield with
a walkie-talkie in my hand relaying the action on to the field to a
supposed stat taker in the booth. I got the feeling I was talking
to no one but it didn't matter. You might have seen me on the ESPN2
broadcast - I was the thin-haired goofy guy in a blue USATF
sweatshirt in front of the white signs on the right side of the
runway. Got to talk to a few old buddies and meet some new ones too.
Vaulters really are cool folk. Everyone was catching mid marks,
starting up clapping - you know the way it is. Good times, good
times...

Well here's a recap of the final results and scoresheet

1 Toby Stevenson 5.80 19'00.25" =PR
2 Jeff Hartwig 5.75 18'10.25"
3 Russ Buller 5.75 18'10.25"
4 Brad Walker 5.60 18'04.50"
4 Nick Hysong 5.60 18'04.50"
6 Tim Mack 5.60 18'04.50"
7 Jim Davis 5.60 18'04.50"
8 Derek Miles 5.60 18'04.50"
9 Justin Norberg 5.60 18'04.50" PR
10 Tye Harvey 5.50 18'00.50"
11 Jacob Pauli 5.40 17'08.50"
12 Mark Calvin 5.40 17'08.50
13 Scott Slover 5.40 17'08.50"
14 Bubba McLean 5.30 17'04.50"
15 Dean Starkey 5.30 17'04.50"

530 540 550 560 570 575 580 585
Buller p xo p p xxo xo xxx <-- Corrected
Starkey xxo p xxx
Walker p o p o xxx
Davis p xo xo o xxx
Stevenson p p p o xo xo o xxx
Miles p p o xxo xxx
Hysong p p p o p xxx
Harvey p o o xxx
Hartwig p p p xxo o xo xxp x
Calvin xo o xxx
Norberg o p xo xxo xxp x
MacK p p xo o xxx
Slover p xo xxx
McLean xo xxx
Pauli p o p xxx

The action started at 5.30 17'04.50". Well actually it started
before that during warmups. Looked like a lot of folks were having
trouble getting their runs down - lots of inside takeoffs and late
plants. Luckilly for us fans that did not carry over to the main
competition. The only other action of note was it looked as if Jake
Pauli had the bottom foot of his pole break during one of his warmup
jumps. Nothing consequential. Stuff happens...

Also noted during warmups : Dolf Berle would've been so proud to see
that Tye Harvey has a tiny rubber duckie impaled on the top of one
of his poles. Awwwww.....

The first height of 5.30 17'04.50" was rather uneventful . Only 4
vaulters decided to start here - Justin Norberg cleared with ease on
his first, Mark Calvin and Bubba McLean did so on their second while
Dean Starkey needed all 3 and did so with a slight brush but plenty
of daylight.

At 5.40 17'08.50" Russ Buller, lone collegian Brad Walkerm Jim Davis,
Tye Harvey, Scott Slover and Jake Pauli decided to enter. Starkey
and Norberg passed as did Toby Stevenson, Derek Miles, Nick Hysong,
Jeff Hartwig and Tim Mack. Walker, Harvey and Calvin all made good
on their first. Buller, Davis and Slover each needed two tries.
McLean was real close on his third but was the first casualty of the
day.

At 5.50 there were a surpising number of folks who hadn't started yet
still decided to pass - Stevenson, Hysong and Hartwig - like the
Russians of old. Buller, Walker and Pauli elected to pass too. Miles
started his day with an easy make. Harvey followed with a big
clearance of his own. Davis, Norberg and Mack all went clean on their
second. Starkey, Calvin (real close 3rd attempt) and Scott Slover saw
their days end here after three misses.

after 5.50 :

1 Miles, Harvey
3 Norberg, Mack
5 Davis
6 Walker, Pauli
8 Calvin
9 Buller, Slover
11 McLean
12 Starkey

not started : Hysong, Hartwig, Stevenson
eliminated : McLean, Starkey, Calvin, Slover

At 5.60 the real action began as Stevenson, Hysong and Hartwig
finally decided to enter the fray. Buller was the lone passer.
Walker, Davis, Stevenson, Hysong and Mack all cleared on their
first. Davis creamed the bar but the bar gods were with him. Miles,
Harvey, Hartwig, Norberg and Pauli had several close-but-not-quite
attempts but were all down to their third attempts. Heart-attack
third attempt clears were successful for Miles, Hartwig and Norberg
who although he rattled the bar pretty hard got himself a new PR.
Money baby! A very dejected Harvey and Pauli were unable to navigate
the height and were eliminated

after 5.60 :

1 Walker, Stevenson, Hysong
4 Mack
5 Davis
6 Hartwig, Miles
8 Norberg
9 Harvey
10 Pauli
11 Calvin
12 Slover, Buller
14 McLean
15 Starkey

eliminated : McLean, Starkey, Calvin, Slover, Harvey, Pauli

The bar was going to be raised to 5.65 18'06.50" (the World
Championship auto qualifying mark) but only Norberg was electing
to jump. When he heard he was the only jumper he decided to pass
as well. So the bar was raised instead to 5.70 18'08.25". Amazingly
we still had a passer - Buller and Nick Hysong decided to play the
strategy game. Only Hartwig was able to clear on his first to take
over sole posession of the lead. Davis' first attempt saw him come
in way inside and take off under. He let go of the partially bent
pole which recoiled right back at him. I think he saw a few stars
or birdies or whatever else cartoon characters see when they get
hit in the head with an anvil or frying pan. Stevenson brushed the
bar on his second but as was to be a theme with him the bar stayed
put and he moved into second. The rest of the field missed their
second. Norberg decided to pass his remaining attempt. Buller
squeaked over on his third to catapult from 13th into 3rd place.
Despite a lot of close attempts especially from Miles and Mack the
remaining four (Miles, Mack, Davis, Walker) were eliminated.

after 5.70 :

1 Hartwig
2 Stevenson
3 Buller
4 Walker, Hysong
6 Mack
7 Davis
8 Miles
9 Norberg
10 Harvey
11 Pauli
12 Calvin
13 Slover
14 McLean
15 Starkey

remaining : Hartwig, Stevenson, Hysong, Buller, Norberg
eliminated : McLean, Starkey, Calvin, Slover, Harvey, Pauli, Miles,
Mack, Davis, Walker

At 5.75 18'10.25" Hysong finally rejoined the competition. None of
the remaining 5 were able to clear the height on their first
attempt. This eliminated Norberg. Buller squeaked over again on his
2nd to briefly take the lead. Stevenson had yet another brusher and
another clutch clear to retake the lead. Hartwig responded with a
monster clearance of his own to retake the all-important 2nd spot.
Hysong went under the bar on his third to end his day

after 5.75 :

1 Hartwig
2 Stevenson
3 Buller
4 Walker, Hysong
...

remaining : Buller, Stevenson, Hartwig

The next height was 5.80 19'00.25 - a height all three had cleared
before although for Buller it had been awhile and for Stevenson his
first time was only a few scant weeks ago. Buller pulled out a new
stick and promptly got sttod up on his first attempt. Stevenson
took the opportunity and roared down the runway. He hit the bar -
HARD - popped up off the pegs about 6 inches. True to his luck the
crossbar came down right side up and back on the pegs where it
wobbled severely but held. Another 19' clearance for the Stanford
grad and he went bezerk. The helmet went flying and out came the
pony. Sweet. The Pony is becoming to Stevenson as the Worm was to
Mueller...

ESPN2 had a great bar-cam shot of the jump where you can really
see how bad Toby damaged that bar...

Stevenson took over the lead at that point.

Hartwig nearly followed with a make of his own. However his was
not as fortunate as Toby. Lotsa height but no luck. The second
round was nearly the same - Russ got ripped off the ground and
Hartwig missed. Buller had a decent third attempt but to no avail.
Hartwig already having sewed up second decided to pass.

And then there were two. The Budapest spots had already been
determined but who was going to walk away with the crown?

Well as it turned out 5.85 19'02.25" turned out to be the end for
both jumpers. Hartwig had another decent jump but had the bar
stayed he most definitely would've been called for a holder. Toby's
best attempt was his first.

And just like that it was all over. Great show fellas!

VaultnGus
"Will vault for food"

vaultngus@vaultworld.com
http://www.vaultworld.com/vaultngus/

[VaultnGus]

BTW NeoVault has posted our footage of Toby's winning jump

http://www.neovault.com/

[fong520]

hahah his dance was soo much better on espn too lol ahaha.. soo funny

[vaultin chris]

he was 9 on the top ten plays of the Day.

[Carolina Extreme]

VaultnGus, Thanks for the play by play posting. Without it we missed a great deal since ESPN elected to show only a few jumps again. Perhaps with Toby's celebration they'll say, "Hummm, these vaulters are pretty cool guys in an exciting event. Let's key on them in the next meet". We should be so lucky.

Great job Toby, Jeff, Russ and the rest! PR man Justin too!

[rainbowgirl28]

he was 9 on the top ten plays of the Day.

I saw that. The announcers didn't seem too impressed, but hey I think it's great publicity. Millions of people saw him jump who would never bother to watch the track and field meet.

[Skyin' Brian]

he was 9 on the top ten plays of the Day.

9??? what was 1 someone dunking a basketball again? how can that not be 1. well, that is just a vaulter opinion, and it is good that he got some coverage.