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Huskies Steal Show at Pole Vault Summit

Soma, Marshalek each top 13 feet.



Jan. 22, 2005



RENO, Nev. - Kate Soma cleared 13 feet, 5 inches, and Stevie Marshalek cleared 13-3 1/2 as Washington dominated action for the third day in a row at the 2005 NAPVA Pole Vault Summit in Reno, Nev.

Three Husky vaulters posted season-bests Saturday, capping a banner three-day run in which 2004 UW grad Brad Walker won the prestigious Men's Elite competition with a world-leading vault, and former Husky Brian Sternberg earned induction to the NAPVA Pole Vault Hall of Fame.

Soma's vault, a season best and the fourth-best by a collegiate woman this year, earned a top-10 finish in Friday night's Women's Elite competition, which saw America's top men's and women's vaulters compete on intersecting runways on the ballroom stage of the Reno Hilton. The Husky senior and NCAA runner-up was the only collegiate vaulter to place among the top-10 in the Women's Elite competition.

Marshalek ensured that Saturday would be a banner day for Washington with a career-best clearance of 13-3 1/2, second-best ever by a UW vaulter and among the top-10 collegiate marks in the 2005 season. Freshman Kelley DiVesta also made waves with a collegiate best vault of 12-0, while junior Ashley Wildhaber cleared 12-7, sophomore McKane Lee and junior Sam Roberts each topped 15-11, and junior Seth Perrins went 15-3.

All but Soma and Walker arrived in Reno late Friday after fog delayed flights into the city for more than 12 hours, turning a two-hour trip into a 14-hour ordeal.

"Those guys went through a lot to get here, but to their credit, they didn't let it affect them when they got out on the runway," said ninth-year UW vaults coach Pat Licari. "Given everything that went on down here this weekend, it was just a great time to be a Husky."

Spokane-native Walker stole the show from his former UW teammates, winning Friday's men's Elite competition and taking the 2005 world lead with a career-best clearance of 19 feet, 1 1/2 inches. The two-time NCAA indoor champion defeated a world-class field including 2004 Olympic silver medalist Toby Stevenson, American record holder Jeff Hartwig, and 2000 Olympic gold medalist Nick Hysong, each of whom were eliminated at 18-4 1/2.

Walker graduated from UW in June with a bachelor's degree in business administration, before placing sixth at the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials. The Spokane, Wash., native -- who continues to train with UW coaches at Dempsey Indoor in Seattle -- finished the 2004 season with the sixth-best mark in the world, a mark he has already improved in 2005.

"I had a lot of time on my hands after graduating to do things correctly, getting in early and sleeping well," he said after the Summit win. "I was coming in feeling ahead of where I have in previous years. With all these guys, all you can do is hope to jump as high as you can. Hopefully, I can only go up from here."

Walker was not the only former Husky to earn recognition at the Summit. All-American Matt Phillips won the Men's Open competition Saturday with a vault over 17-9, and Husky Hall of Famer Brian Sternberg earned induction to the NAPVA Pole Vault Hall of Fame at the annual Summit banquet Thursday. Sternberg won the 1963 NCAA pole vault title and set three world records in the event, before being paralyzed in a trampoline accident later that year.

http://www.registerguard.com/news/2005/ ... .0122.html

Regional Roundup: Skipper second in elite meet


RENO, Nev. - Oregon's Tommy Skipper cleared 18 feet, 4 1/2 inches to tie for second in an elite field at the Pole Vault Summit on Friday night.

Skipper tied with 2004 Olympic silver medalist Toby Stevenson, and nearly beat him, narrowly missing on three attempts at 18-8 1/4 .

"I thought I had it at 18-8," said Skipper, the only collegian in the field. "I just brushed it on the way down, and it didn't fall until I was almost on the mat. I can't complain because this was a good second meet."

Brad Walker, the 2004 NCAA indoor champion, cleared 19-1 to win the meet. 2000 Olympic gold medalist Nick Hysong and American record-holder Jeff Hartwig were also in the field.

"Tommy looked great at every jump," Oregon pole vault coach Mark Vanderville said. "He was over 18-8 and barely nicked it. He's really jumping well for how early it is in the season and for not using a full approach."

Former Duck Becky Holliday no-heighted at her opening height of 13-10 in the women's event, won by 2000 gold medalist Stacy Dragila.

http://www.iaaf.org/news/Kind=2/newsId=28278.html

Dragila and Walker victorious at USATF Pole Vault Summit
Saturday 22 January 2005


Reno, USA – It was a new beginning of sorts for women’s and men’s winners Stacy Dragila and Brad Walker at the USA Track & Field Pole Vault Summit meet at the Reno Hilton on Friday 21 January.


Dragila, the 2000 Olympic champion, won the competition for the eighth time in her first competition since failing to advance to the Olympic final in Athens. The American record holder and former World record holder won with a clearance of 4.55m to win comfortably over Canadian Dana Buller and Lindsay Taylor, who finished second and third at 4.25m.








Brad Walker after winning the 2005 Pole Vault Summit meet
(Kirby Lee)

Walker’s triumph kicked off his first full season on the professional circuit after completing his collegiate eligibility at the University of Washington. Walker, 23, won with a career-best 5.83m to defeat a field that included 2004 Olympic silver medallist Toby Stevenson, 2000 Olympic champion Nick Hysong, American record holder Jeff Hartwig and two-time defending Summit champion Derek Miles. Stevenson and Oregon sophomore Tommy Skipper, the 2004 NCAA outdoor champion, tied for second at 5.60m, in the competition held on a hotel theatre stage with men’s and women’s competition conducted simultaneously on intersecting runways.


No retirement plans for Dragila



Dragila, 33, plans to compete at least two more seasons. Much of the decision was based upon her performance in Athens where she failed to advance to the final from the qualifying round. Dragila confirmed she would have considered a “farewellâ€Â

http://www.fresnobee.com/columnists/bra ... 7405c.html

Fraley at the fore of vaulting revolution

By John Branch / The Fresno Bee
(Updated Sunday, January 23, 2005, 6:05 AM)

RENO, Nev. -- It sounds like a discriminatory swipe, but it's really just a sign of these high-flying times.

"No Poles on Escalators."

On either end of the pole-less -- if not Pole-less -- moving stairs at the Reno Hilton, roving gangs of fit young people wear shirts and jackets touting every college you can imagine, and every high school you can't.

A gold-medal hero stands next to a bank of slot machines, reluctant to pull out his prize for fear of attracting a happy mob.

A giant ballroom is jammed with girls holding really long sticks. A theater is filled with hundreds of people, from pre-teen to post-retirement, getting a lesson from the best coach in the world -- through an interpreter. About 2,300 people -- athletes, coaches and parents -- have descended from every state and enough countries to form a pole vaulting United Nations.

This is what the winning side of a revolution looks like.

"There [is] power in numbers," says Tim Mack, a smile on his face, an Olympic gold medal from Athens in his pocket. "There is nothing like this in the world."

And Bob Fraley stands in the middle of it all.

The Fresno State track coach and the director of pole vault development for USA Track and Field, Fraley hosted the first Pole Vault Summit in Fresno in 1989. It was held at a motel across the street from Fresno State. There were 22 people there.

Maybe it's coincidence. Probably it's not. Either way, the rebirth of pole vaulting in the United States shares a time line with the growth of the Pole Vault Summit.

The United States dominated the event for generations. American men won gold medals at every Olympics from 1896 to 1968.

Americans went 32 years before winning another. There were no U.S. pole vaulting medals of any color in 1988, 1992 and 1996.

Pole vaulting was grounded further by falling participation numbers, increased concerns over safety and an utter lack of buzz.

But the summit plugged away. Fraley moved it to Reno in 1991. It ballooned each year, outgrowing one venue, then another, until landing at the Hilton in 2001.

"Our strategy was simply this: To defend the event, to create a stalemate, and to go on the offensive," says Fraley, a history major in college. "This is basic strategy for revolutionaries."

Fraley's team is winning.

American Nick Hysong won gold in 2000, and Lawrence Johnson won silver. Stacy Dragila won the first gold medal available to women that same year. Last summer, Mack won gold and Toby Stevenson won silver in Athens.

While the rest of American track and field struggles for participants and fans, pole vault has emerged as its spunkiest growth event.

"This event deserves credit," Fraley says. "Because it has certainly addressed all the things that were holding us back."

This isn't a winter version of the Old Town Clovis street vault, which draws a few dozen vaulters and neighbors toting lawn chairs.

The Pole Vault Summit is for insiders. It attracts people from across the country, and the world, for a couple of days of self-love.

This is a BYOP party. Everyone brings his or her own pole. A ballroom is devoted to "pole storage" -- a pole "vault" of sorts.

People bustle about carrying poles over their shoulders, careful not to turn too quickly. When they stop to chat, they hold the poles upright, threatening light fixtures and sometimes poking dents in the ceiling tiles.

Those without clothes advertising their schools wear shirts touting a meet they've attended or a vaulting club they're in. Some wear blue T-shirts reading, "Vertical Assault." One girl wears one that simply says, "I (heart) PV."

They stop at a Nike booth displaying a new shoe designed specifically for pole vault. "PV Light" shoes go on sale in February. They'll retail for about $120.

"It's amazing what this does for the energy of the sport," says Derek Miles, a seventh-place finisher at last summer's Olympics.

The event is a mix of surprising spectacles and sober instruction. Fraley's homespun charms play well here, gluing the thing together.

In the classic Hilton Theater -- all U-shaped booths, red velour drapes and dim lighting, a place where Harry Connick Jr. will perform in a few weeks -- Fraley serves as a straight-faced bear of an emcee.

After Mack matter-of-factly describes to about 1,000 people how he kept his emotions in check while winning the gold medal in Athens, Fraley takes the mike and says: "He sounds like a farmer telling you how to irrigate."

Mack is one of a dozen speakers educating and entertaining the revolving participants, from high-school girls to elite-level men, from world-class coaches to wide-eyed parents.

Upstairs, Ukrainian coach Vitali Petrov, coach of world-record holder Sergei Bubka, uses an interpreter to break down "The Free Take-off" for a rapt audience.

Downstairs, parents of young pole vaulters attend a lecture titled "From Beginner to Bubka."

One high-ceilinged ballroom holds six runways, vault bars and padded pits. Another room has five more. Athletes of different ages, sexes and abilities, holding poles up to three times their height, line up to get free instruction.

Like walking into a Star Trek convention and thinking, "There are this many Trekkies in the world?" you can't help but be struck by the volume of vaulters.

"It's pretty incredible," Mack says. "There are so many more people than you ever imagined."

They crowd the theater Friday night for the invitational vault. Most of the top dozen American men and women compete, using two runways that cross in an X. On Saturday, everyone else gets a chance. Competitions are held in 65 categories.

Today, everything will be packed up and hauled away. The signs at the top of the escalators will come down. Fraley will load the van and drive back to Fresno. Everyone else will take their poles and go home.

And the revolution will spread.

The columnist can be reached at jbranch@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6217.

http://www.collegesports.com/sports/c-x ... 05aac.html

Redshirt junior Tamara Diles cleared the second-best collegiate height during with her 13-feet, 7 ¼ inches (4.15m) vault Saturday at the 2005 National Pole Vault Summit in Reno.

Senior Paul Nicoletti cleared 16-6 3/4 (5.05m) to finish in the middle of competitors Saturday at the 2005 National Pole Vault Summit at Reno.

http://www.helenair.com/articles/2005/0 ... 905_03.txt

Vault clinic a remarkable spectacle


By Curt Synness - 02/9/05


Recently, yours truly witnessed one of the most remarkable athletic spectacles I've ever seen - ranking right up there with the time I watched a George Foreman workout in 1973 when I was stationed in Hawaii in the Navy, and when I watched a live Steelers' game at Seahawks Stadium last year.

And if you've ever seen someone pole vault 19-feet…live…you know what I'm talking about. Never before had I appreciated the skill involved in the sport until I watched those world-class athletes soaring to heights that would've sent them over the roof of a house!

It took place last month at the 2005 National Pole Vault Summit at the Hilton Hotel in Reno, Nev. I made the trip with longtime Helena High pole vault coach Doug Le Brun and five of his Helena High vaulters; Ryan Guazzo, Ryan Hagener, Shane Willems, Kay Dee Heiple and Caitlin Guazzo.

Also in attendance at the Summit was Capital High coach Todd Foster and several of his charges, including Bobby Biskupiak, Tyler Brown, Chris Crawford, Brenna Kerins, Betsy Taylor and Aimee Ryan.

My first memorable experience occurred at a Sub Sandwich Shop in the Hilton (after the owner asked my roommate, George Harper, if anyone had ever confused him with John Wooden before), when 2000 Olympic gold medallist Stacy Dragila walked in and yelled at Le Brun, "Hey, I didn't see you sitting there," and then gave the old coach a big hug.





The director of the Summit, Bob Fraley, said that there were "2,500 people attending the Summit, 1,600 of whom are competitors, ranging in ages from 7 to 84 years old." There were 63 competitions held (all indoors) in six categories: beginners, high school, college, open, masters and the elite. Prior to the events, the athletes received instructions, drills and lectures from the most elite pole vaulting authorities in the world, including 2004 Olympic gold and silver medalists Tim Mack and Toby Stevenson.

The Elite vaulters contest took place on the stage of the Hilton Theater, with two ramps leading to the pits, criss-crossing to form an X. With the males on one ramp and the females on the other, they alternated jumps - first a man would go, then a women, and so on. The men's was won by Brad Walker, who went 19-1½, while Stevenson tied for second. Dragila claimed the women's event at 14-11, which is about one foot below her lifetime best.

This reporter got a chance to speak with Mack, Stevenson and Dragila. What impressed me the most about these great champions was how approachable and down to earth they are - in spite of the lofty altitudes they attain with a fiberglass pole in their hands. While I was talking to Mack, a tall, gangly teenager approached for an autograph. As Tim was signing the shy youth's program, he volunteered, "Well, aren't you going to ask me what I had for breakfast?" Mack then gave a summary of his personal diet, followed by a short pep talk on the teenager's potential through lifting weights. "You've got the right makeup to build yourself up, your frame is just right to handle the extra muscle," he encouraged.

I'm sure the youth walked away with a new self confidence and an inspired vision of his future, and I couldn't help but wonder if maybe Mack saw a little of himself in the young stringbean (the Olympic champ is 6-foot-2 and a sinewy 175-pounds, after years of weight lifting).

Mack, who is recovering from a calf injury and did not compete in Reno, said that he still has some more goals to accomplish. "There's the American record, the world record and another Olympics. Sergey Bubka went over 19-feet 44 times in his career, which is the kind of feat that Toby and I would like to achieve."

Dragila, who did not place in the last Olympics due to an Achilles injury, said that she did a lot of soul searching after the Olympics and decided that at 33, she still had a lot to offer the sport. "I decided that I wasn't ready to quit yet," Dragila told me as we spoke behind the announcer's booth. "I would like to get the world record back, but mainly I just want to stay healthy, have fun competing and then re-evaluate my situation in two years." Dragila, at 5-6 and 138 pounds, said that part of her intense training includes doing three sets of six reps of pull-ups with a 40-pound weight around her waist.

What's encouraging for young vaulters everywhere is the fact that Tim Mack's best height in high school was only 13-6, and Dragila did not even start pole vaulting until she was 23 years of age.

As for the local athletes involved in the competitions, Ryan Guazzo won the high school boy's #8 competition when he flew over 14-feet. In the boy's #9 category, three hometown vaulters all made the top height of 13-2, with Ryan Hagenor winning, followed by runnerup Bobby Biskupiak and Shane Willems placing fourth. Brenna Kerins placed third (8-4) in the prep girl's #12 competition, while Betsy Taylor took fifth (8-0) in the girl's #11 competition