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CONTENTS pril
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8 FROM THE EDITOR
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SPRINTING: THE FOUNDATION OF A GREAT VAULT
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LEGENDS OF THE PAST DRIVE ACU INTO ITS DIVISION I CHAPTER
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CARBON POLES
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Cover photo by Mike Renner
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FROM THE EDITOR Here come April and the snow will soon be melting and the area all dried up for pole vault season. Track and field outdoor season to be exact! This month we have Abilene Christian University on the cover, and they have a large amount of history with their vaulting program. “A legend in the world of collegiate track, Coach Hood’s 2006 men’s team is said to be the greatest men’s collegiate track team of all time.” Check it out; it’s sure to capture your imagination and bring back some old memories from years past. Kreager Taber writes about the use of Carbon Fiber poles and the popularity of them with their strength and light weight nature. This article helps you understand the nature of the vaulting poles and the ability to jump bigger bars with new technology. “The carbon poles also decrease the “fear factor” that comes along
with moving up a pole or moving back a step, especially for girl vaulters who are sensitive to small changes in the pole weight.” So, check it out and see what she has to say, you won’t be disappointed.
Back to 2013 with this gem of an article from Samantha Slaubaugh about sprinting and the foundation of a good vault. “… until my first year in college, I never realized how important it was to have proper speed technique.” There you have it, an article you don’t want to miss. Next month is May, and we have our first Canadian Elite Vaulter on the cover. Exciting times for the pole vaulting community. Doug Bouma Editor, Vaulter Magazine Vaulter Club Inc. editor@thevaultermag.com
Vaulter Club Kids
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SPRINTING: the Foundation of a Great Vault By: Samantha Slaubaugh “How’d you start doing that?”
I’m guessing I’m not the only vaulter to receive this question. The pole vault is a rare event, which most people have never actually seen. (Surprising, right?!) So when they meet a vaulter, they are likely (and rightly) confused about anyone wanting to do this foreign activity of running full speed with a long stick towards a metal box and flinging a body into the air and (hopefully) landing on a matt. When I first started, that’s how I felt. As soon as my coach handed me a pole, I told him, “No, I can’t do this. I’ll spear myself.” All vaulters know this is very difficult (though I suppose not impossible). My coach
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laughed at me and assured me I would be safe. (Possibly a lofty promise.)My next question to my coach was,
“Why did you choose me to learn this?” His answer: “Because I saw you run that timed-40 meter dash. You’re fast.”
And trust me, he was right. My speed was (and is) my saving grace. Seven years ago, I had little natural athletic ability. After years of training, my natural athleticism has hardly increased at all. I can run straight, plant a pole, and swing my legs to flip my body upside down, but don’t ask me to do anything requiring a ball, a basket/goal, or any type of technical skill.
It has taken me years to improve slowly and painstakingly in the technical aspects of the pole vault. All the while, most of my success was due to my speed. However, until my first year in college, I never realized how important it was to have proper speed technique. Though I was fast, I had no upward angle at takeoff. Every coach (yes, even from my opponent’s schools) for four years of high school told me that I just run straight through takeoff. (I have issues running and jumping at the same time I guess – proof of my hardly-existent-athleticism.)
When I came to college, I remember a January practice, indoors, when finally something clicked. After four
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and a half years of vaulting, I finally understood why this university focused so much on sprint technique.
It is essential to the pole vault! Watch every Olympic or elite vaulter. Vaulters are some of the best sprinters. As a vaulter, our form has to be impeccable because we can’t use our arms fully. (Ask a sprinter to sprint with that really long awkward pole!) Plus, I realized when I was running with the right form, I was able to achieve (however small) of an upward angle of my hips at takeoff. And I discovered that any type of upward movement drastically increases the chances of clearing higher heights. (Hence, my 18 inch improvement in one year!) Now, after spending years helping with our university’s pole-vaulting camps for high school students, I realize they should go to sprint camps before ever attempting to work on vault technique. (Maybe a bit extreme…) But it is my experience, that all the technique in the world won’t help you if you cannot run effectively and correctly on the runway. The pole vault is an event that builds upon itself. The runway is the foundation of
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the vault. If sprint technique on the runway is good, then there is a chance for a good takeoff, which leads to a good swing, which leads to a good invert, then a good quarter turn, and then a final push-off (and a new PR!). If everything went as planned that is. However, even if nothing in the other parts of the vault goes as well as you hope, if there is solid sprinting happening on the runway, there will be more success. You will only jump as high as you run fast (and correctly so). Sprinting is the foundation of pole vaulting. So, spend time with sprint coaches, study proper running form, and practice! Some ideas for practice include:
• • • • • •
Standing sprint drills Walking sprint drills Actual sprinting Sprinting on a hill Sprinting with resistance Sprinting on the runway
*Practice all of these drills first without a pole or a stubby pole and then with either a stubby pole or actual pole.* If you have a strong foundation, the building can reach much higher.
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Kortney Ross
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LEGENDS OF THE PAST DRIVE ACU INTO ITS DIVISION I CHAPTER By: Samantha Kaplain
In the world of collegiate pole vault, every school has its accolades and star jumpers. But perhaps no college track program is more synonymous with ‘pole vault’ than Abilene Christian University. The history of ACU pole vault is full of glorious highs as well as some difficult lows, but this journey has helped shape the ACU program into the creator of champions that it is known as today. Abilene Christian University is located in Abilene, Texas, which means after a hardcore indoor season, the Wildcats enjoy beautiful conditions for outdoor training and compe-
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tition. ACU’s coaching staff consists of head coach Lance Bingham, and a specialized event coach for each event. The pole vault however, being the elaborate event it is, requires all hands on deck. In his 12th year as a collegiate coach and forth at ACU, Coach Cory Aguilar leads the way as head vault coach, with assistance from his wife Angie, and Coach Bingham and his son, Cody Bingham, all of whom are ex-perienced vaulters and pole vault coaches. Coach Bingham is a recent hire, and a great ad-dition to the cultivation of the vault program at ACU. Howev-er, ACU’s true claim to coach-
ing fame is former head coach Don Hood.
A legend in the world of collegiate track, Coach Don D. Hood’s 2006 men’s team is said to be the greatest men’s collegiate track team of all time. During his eleven years as head coach, the Wildcats won eight NCAA Division II titles and an NAIA title. Nine of his athletes went on to become Olympians, with twelve qualifying for Olym-pic trials. Hood specialized in coaching the women pole vaulters in the early years of the event. He coached five All American female vaulters, in-cluding Jane McNeill, the first
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ever NCAA DII female pole vault champion. He went on to coach three more national champions, including Angie Aguilar who won both indoor and outdoor. Clearly Coach Hood has created quite the history for ACU pole vault, and the current staff’s number one goal is to continue his legacy in the very different, but promising future to come.
Mackenzie West
Recently, Abilene Christian University entered the lengthy process of transitioning from NCAA Division II athletics to Division I. But it is now the final year of transition which means ACU vaulters can look forward to trading in the DII Lone Star conference for the DI Southland Conference, and preparing for next year when ACU is cleared to compete Division I at the national level. A transition from DII to DI requires a team of athletes that show they can compete and be successful at a higher level, a task past ACU vaulters have set as a program reputation, and current Wildcat jumpers continue to live up to. With all of the NCAA champions and Olympians that have come out of ACU, Coach Aguilar believes the magnitude of the endless accomplishments of the Wildcat vaulters
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throughout history would best be portrayed through a list:
• 3 Olympians: Billy Pemelton (1964), Billy Olson (World’s No. 1 in 1982 and 11 world indoor records, 1988 Games), Tim Bright (1988, 1992) • 9 U.S. Olympic Trial Qualifiers: Pemelton, Olson, Bright, Brad Pursley, Dale Jenkins, Steve Thaxton, Bobby Williams, Cam Miller, Meredith Garner • 5 Indoor National Champions: Cam Miller, Mike Edwards, Jane McNeil, Meredith Garner, Angie Aguilar • 9 Outdoor National Champions: Brad Pursley, Dale Jenkins (x3), Steve Thaxton, Mike Edwards, Jason Pearce, Jane McNeil, Meredith
Garner, Katie Eckley, Angie Aguilar (first NCAA D2 female vaulter to win the indoor and outdoor individual national championship in the same year.) • 3 NAIA National Outdoor National Champions: Paul Faulkner, Billy Olson (x4), Brad Pursley • 2 NAIA National Indoor National Champions: Billy Olson (x4), Brad Pursley • 24 Individual men’s All-Americans: Cory Aguilar, Brent Allen, Cory Altenberg, Brian Batts, Tim Bright, Aaron Cantrell, Charles Childre, Kyle Dennis, Mike Edwards, Landon Ehlers, Kriss Grimes, Tobie Hatfield, Roy Hix, Mike Ledsome, Dale Jenkins, Cam Miller, Sam Patton, Jason Pearce, Brad Pursley, Stephen Toler, Steve Thaxton, Michael Thornton, Stephen Toler, Bobby Williams
Don Hood in the 1980's. From Left to right - Tim Bright, Billy Olson, Brad Pursley, Dale Jenkins, Bobby Williams
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Jaden Dement
• 8 Individual women’s All-Americans: Angie Aguilar, Jessica Blair, Elizabeth Buyse, Katie Eckley, Meredith Garner, Val Gorter, Jane McNeil and Callie Young • 10 National Collegiate Honor Roll: Billy Pemelton, Billy Olson, Frank Estes, Brad Pursley, Dale Jenkins, Cam Miller, Steve Thaxton, Mike Edwards, Jason Pearce, Meredith Garner • 23 Lone Star Conference Champions (Men): Olson (x4), Pursley, Jenkins (x3), Miller (x3), Mike Edwards (x2), Jason Pearce, Kris Jenkins, Cory Aguilar (x4), Kyle Dennis, Stephen Toler (x2), Landon Ehlers • 11 Lone Star Conference Champions (Women): Jane McNeil, Meredith Garner (x3), Val Gorter (x2), Angie Aguilar (x3), Callie Young (x2) • 1 Southland Conference Champion: Kenzie Walker Mascorro (2016 indoors)
Records Once and Still Held
• World – 18-10 indoor PV, Billy Olson, on Feb. 27, 1982 in Kansas City, Mo • Lone Star Conference Outdoor – 18’10.25” (5.75), Brad Pursley, Abilene Christian, Abilene, March 29, 1983. • Lone Star Conference Outdoor Championship – 18’8” (5.69), Dale Jenkins, Abilene Christian, Abilene, April 27, 1985. • Lone Star Conference Outdoor – 13’3.5” (4.05), Angie Aguilar, Abilene Christian, Abilene, May 18, 2006; El Paso, March 31, 2007; Des Moines, April 27, 2007. • Lone Star Conference Outdoor Championship – 13’1.75” (4.01), Val Gorter, Abilene Christian, Kingsville, May 8, 2004.
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As ACU vaulters delve further into life as Division I athletes, more records are sure to emerge as the Wildcats soar higher than ever before. Today, vaulters looking to jump for the newly reclassified Division I school must be “highly motivated, self disciplined and will bring a positive influence.” “Our end goal is to have athletes who can be
Kenzie Mascorro
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competitive at the conference and national level,” says Coach Aguilar. There is no height requirement, as long as the incoming vaulter has potential to grow. Fall training for the Wildcats begins in September. “Our goal during the fall is to become better athletes, get faster, stronger, improve body awareness, as well as spend a lot of time making technical improvements.” Summer is
for conditioning making sure not to lose what was gained throughout the year, but also to take a mental and physical break from jumping.
Much to the Wildcats’ delight, ACU is equipped with a brand new track facility, fit with a double-sided vault runway right in front of the stands for all the fans to see. During the winter, The Fieldhouse Abilene hosts a pit with a raised runway for indoor practice. This is also where ACU’s fitness facilities and equipment reside for both general and vaultspecific training. A special treat that only the most focused and driven vault teams get, ACU vaulters take a trip the Reno Pole Vault Summit each year to watch, compete with, and learn from some of the best vaulters and coaches in the world.
Abilene Christian University has a rich history in pole vault success. Dating back to the inception of women’s pole vault, ACU has always been on top of the game. With influence from legendary coaches and athletes from the past, the new faces of ACU pole vault, coaches and athletes alike, strive to reach even greater heights in ACU’s bright future as a Division I powerhouse.
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ACU Tim Bright
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CARBON POLES By: Kreager Taber Carbon poles have quickly risen in popularity due to their lightweight nature, as well as their quick energy return during the inversion and top phases of the vault. Their smaller diameter and their lighter weight, when compared to other leading pole types, make them perfect for girl vaulters, especially those with powerful takeoffs and a quick swing.
Carbon poles are typically lighter and more stiff than fiberglass poles, allowing them to give the vaulter a stronger push off of the end of the pole during the inversion. The light weight allows the vaulter to run faster and gain more energy while running down the runway, and also allows for greater room for error during the takeoff. The carbon poles also decrease the “fear factor�
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that comes along with moving up a pole or moving back a step, especially for girl vaulters who are sensitive to small changes in the pole weight. If she feels like she has more power from the run, taking off on a larger pole is less of a mental block. Furthermore, the carbon poles are especially useful for experienced girl vaulters who have no trouble swinging quickly. Carbon poles can make it more difficult to complete the swing due to their stiffness and quick recoil, but the benefits offered by the lighter weight may just outweigh the disadvantages.
For girl vaulters, it can be difficult to feel like you are literally carrying a tree trunk while running down the runway. Add the fear of taking off to the stress of focusing on the steps, the takeoff, and the
swing all at once, and it is easy to see how beneficial a lighter pole would be to simplify things. The fear of planting such a large pole makes it difficult to focus on the timing of the takeoff, creating unnecessary problems in the last few steps if the vaulter second guesses herself. Lighter poles would make her feel more powerful and allow her to run more quickly, which would then generate greater horizontal acceleration to later be translated into vertical height. According to reviews of carbon poles, it seems as if vaulters have a hard time getting fully stacked up during the swing due to the stiffness of the pole. However, more advanced vaulters, especially those with quick swings, could use this property to their advantage. The vaulter would be able to run faster due to the
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Devin King on a Carbon pole
lighter weight of the pole, and since the lighter pole would be easier to maneuver during the takeoff, some of the difficulties of the swing could be cancelled out by the extra forces generated in the beginning of the vault. Even if the extra force generated is minimal, the confidence of having a lighter pole would help the jump.
Of course, this is not universal for all girl vaulters, nor is it a specific problem for just female vaulters. Male vaulters could also benefit from the confidence found on the runway due to the lighter pole. However, for females specifically, carbon poles could be a valuable tool to achieve a more powerful top end, while simultaneously preserving the ease of the takeoff and the pace of the run.
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