POLE VAULTING

KING’S AMBITION

Senior pole vaulter undeterred by hard work Mary Shoemaker • Staff Reporter

The sun is beating down. You and your teammates are joking on the side of the track, trying to relieve some anxiety. You wait for your name to be called. You step into the runway. This is the meet you have been training for all year: the state championship.

Senior Jackson King has been pole vaulting at Bishop Kenny since he was a freshman.

“It just looked really interesting,” King said. “My dad also used to pole vault in high school, so I guess that made me want to try.”

King’s favorite part about the sport is the connections he has made through practice and meets. “The community is really close knit,” King said. “Even though they are your competitors, everyone is still really supportive of one another.”

During the season, King practices three to five days a week at BK and Bolles with pole vaulters from other schools and clubs. During practice, he works on speed and jumping drills to help improve his record. “My record is 12’6”,” King said. “This year I really hope to get 14’ and to rank at the state meet.” King said that people should know that the sport is not as hard as it seems. When he started jumping, he was tasked with clearing a height of 7’. It took him three years to improve to the height of 12’6”.

“It just takes work.”

Pole vaulting is a sport designed to compare how high people can jump with the aid of a pole and has been around since the mid 1800s.

When someone begins pole vaulting, he or she is matched with a certain sized pole based on their height and weight. Each athlete starts by sprinting down a piece of track called a runway for about 40 yards. They then plant their pole in a metal box located at the end of the runway. Once their pole is planted, they jump off of the track, putting pressure on the pole through their arms and swinging their legs up to clear a bar resting on a pair of pegs. After they jump, they land on a thick mat behind the bar. If the bar is still up at the end of the jump, the jumper has cleared the height and will move on to attempt a higher jump. Each athlete is given three attempts to clear each height, but if the pole breaks during the competition, it is considered an equipment failure and is not counted in the three attempts. If they are not able to clear a height, they are finished competing.

Bishop Kenny has had a track team since the school opened in 1952 and pole vaulting was added to the program in the late 70’s. The team this season is made up of ten athletes; eight boys and two girls. POLE VAULTING 101