AUGUST 2017 ISSUE
WWW.VAULTERMAGAZINE.COM
2017 VAULTER MAGAZINE
1
VAULTER
MAGAZINE
Gill Athletics is the official equipment supplier of the NCAA Track & Field Championships.
2
VAULTER MAGAZINE 2017
AUGUST 2017 ISSUE
CONTENTS t s u ug A
WWW.VAULTERMAGAZINE.COM
6
FROM THE EDITOR
4
VAULTS OF THE DIAMOND LEAGUE
6
COACH MELEDY CULTIVATING CAPO HIGH SCHOOL’S LOVE FOR POLE VAULT
12
A TALE OF TWO QUILTS
22
10 16 24
Cover photo by Coach Tim Meledy
2017 VAULTER MAGAZINE
3
VAULTER
MAGAZINE
FROM THE EDITOR August is a month for Summer Camps, Training and many different types of vaulting events in the sun.
For our club and many others throughout the United States, we are traveling to Kansas for the 2017 USATF National Junior Olympics. This event takes place each year and offers the youth a chance to participate and qualify for a big summer track and field meet.
Next month we will showcase one of the best pole vaulting clubs in the United States. As we head back to school and college, we will look at three of the best clubs in the Nation. Stay tuned, and we press right into the fall season! Doug Bouma Editor, Vaulter Magazine - Vaulter Club Inc. editor@thevaultermag.com
This month we have Capo High School on the front cover with all of Coach Meledy and his Pole Vaulting Team. “Coach Tim Meledy has a lot of experience under his belt, and is not nearly finished spreading his expertise. He lived the evolution of pole vault, competing in high school with old-fashioned equipment, now only seen in the history books.” Jumping old school was the name of the game for this coach. His expertise and story are sure to entertain.
Did you know who the first Olympic Gold Medalist for the United States was? Soon you will, and an interesting read will follow with Steve Yockim this month. Steve takes you back into to time when the sport was young.
Kreager Taber brings her insight into the world of pole vaulting and the Diamond League. “Recently, the IAAF, or the International Association of Athletics Federations, has hosted Diamond League meets in Sweden, France, Switzerland, Italy, and the United States.”
4
VAULTER MAGAZINE 2017
Kids training hard on a Rain Filled Day
AUGUST 2017 ISSUE
WWW.VAULTERMAGAZINE.COM
2017 VAULTER MAGAZINE
5
VAULTER
MAGAZINE
VAULTS OF THE DIAMOND LEAGUE By Kreager Taber Summer track season brings street vaults in major cities, beach vaults, tan lines, tailwinds, and enough Diamond League competitions to keep any track and field fan entertained. Besides allowing fans to see their favorite Olympic and world championship athletes compete in a more relaxed setting, the meets provide preseason inspiration for high school and collegiate athletes during the hot summer months, when finding the motivation to train can be difficult. Recently, the IAAF, or the International Association of Athletics Federations, has hosted Diamond League meets in Sweden, France, Switzerland, Italy, and the United States. Both the men’s and women’s pole vault competitions have
6
VAULTER MAGAZINE 2017
been exciting, particularly for fans from the United States. Sam Kendricks, Katie Nageotte, Mary Saxer, and Sandi Morris have all had extremely strong performances so far in the Diamond League circuit, and Mondo Duplantis, competing for Sweden, has proven his strength as a competitor on the world stage.
In a recent Diamond League competition hosted in Lausanne, Switzerland, Mondo Duplantis showcased his ability to hold his own with Olympians and world leaders. In the men’s competition, Sam Kendricks took the championship title with a jump of 5.93 meters, which was tied by Pawel Wojciechowski of Poland. The two athletes now share the meet record, and
Wojciechowski claimed the Polish record for his jump. Renaud Lavillenie took third with 5.87 meters, and fourth through seventh places were all taken with jumps of 5.73 meters. Kurtis Marschall of Australia, Kévin Ménaldo of France, Piotr Lisek of Poland, and Mondo Duplantis of Sweden took fourth through seventh, respectively, with their marks. Competing in his first Diamond League meet in Europe and second Diamond League meet ever, Duplantis placed ahead of seasoned professionals such as Shawn Barber and Valentin Lavillenie. Earlier this summer, he competed in his first Diamond League competition, the Prefontaine Classic held in Eugene, Oregon. He placed fourth with a jump of 5.71
AUGUST 2017 ISSUE
WWW.VAULTERMAGAZINE.COM Kylie Hutson and Mary Saxer 2016
meters. In that competition, Sam Kendricks won with 5.86 meters, Renaud Lavillenie took second with a jump of 5.81 meters and one miss prior to his final height, and Piotr Lisek took third with a 5.81-meter jump and two misses before his 5.81-meter jump. Mondo took fourth place and had no misses leading up to his final height. The high school student now has a personal best of 5.90 meters, equivalent to 19’4.25” feet, which he cleared at Texas Relays earlier this year. Duplantis’s consistency with his vaults has been shown by his 5.71 and 5.73 meter jumps, and his confidence on the runway in stadium and professional settings seems to exceed his age.
A women’s pole vault competition was included in the Müller Anniversary Games in Great Britain only a few days after the Lausanne meet. Katerina Stefanidi of Greece took the win with 4.81 meters. Coming in second with 4.73 meters was Nicole Büchler of Switzerland, and third and fourth were taken by Michaela Meijer of Sweden and Sandi Morris of the United States. Both women cleared marks of 4.65 meters. Fifth through seventh places were taken by Yarisley Silva of Cuba, Holly
2017 VAULTER MAGAZINE
7
VAULTER
MAGAZINE
Bradshaw of Great Britain, and Katie Nageotte of the United States, all of whom jumped 4.55 meters. However, their different numbers of misses determined their final places. Eighth place was earned by Mary Saxer of the United States with a jump of 4.30 meters. Katie Nageotte went on to continue competing in Europe and achieved two new personal bests, clearing one at 4.72 meters in Sweden and one at 4.73 meters in Germany, within just a few days of one another. In terms of overall rankings for Diamond League athletes, competitors are ranked based on points accumulated from previous competitions. The winner of each event earns 8 points to count towards the final, while all following positions earn progressively fewer points. Sam Kendricks leads the pack with 32 points, with Renaud Lavillenie and Shawn Barber following close behind with 27 and 22 points, respectively. Pawel Wojciechowski is ranked forth with 21 points, followed by Piotr Lisek with 15 points. Kevin Ménaldo, Mondo Duplantis, Konstadínos Filippídis, Thiago Braz Da Silva, Jan Kudlicka, and Kurtis Marshall round out the top ten places, with the last three tying for tenth. For the women’s championship
8
VAULTER MAGAZINE 2017
rankings, Yarisley Silva leads the field with 29 points and is followed by Katerina Stefanidi with 24 points. Lisa Ryzih is third with 18 points, and Nicole Büchler and Anzhelika Sidorova are tied for fourth with 17 points. Sandi Morris is fifth with 15 points, and Angelica Bengtsson, Holly Bradshaw, Michaela Meijer, and Eliza McCartney finish off the women’s top ten list. The top finishers in the Diamond League rankings will go on to compete in the Diamond League final competitions later in the summer. The IAAF Diamond League meets provide a welcome dose of track and field entertainment over the summer while high school and collegiate athletes are recovering from long seasons and gearing up for future competitions. Watching professional and Olympic athletes compete is the best motivation to train and perfect technique during the hot summer months. There is even a Fantasy Diamond League for fans to bet on the final results for each meet and the summer finals. The IAAF will soon be holding meets in Monaco, Great Britain, Switzerland, and Brussels, the last being on September first. The meet highlights are posted on the IAAF website after each competition, as well as
interviews, full result listings, photos, current standings, and Diamond League news. The upcoming meets in Monaco, London, and Lausanne will all bring changes in overall
AUGUST 2017 ISSUE
WWW.VAULTERMAGAZINE.COM
Sam Kendricks Jumps at Diamond League
standings and the possibility for many different individuals to qualify for the final. For pole vault fans in the United States, it will be especially exciting to cheer on Sandi Morris and Sam
Kendricks as they accumulate points to try to earn their spots in the final competition. Until the last few competitions in Switzerland and Brussels, the excitement will continue to
build as the athletes compete for their spots in the last Diamond League competitions of the summer track season.
2017 VAULTER MAGAZINE
9
VAULTER
MAGAZINE Savannah Devine
10
VAULTER MAGAZINE 2017
AUGUST 2017 ISSUE
WWW.VAULTERMAGAZINE.COM Joseph E Keeton
2017 VAULTER MAGAZINE
11
VAULTER
MAGAZINE
COACH MELEDY CULTIVATING CAPO HIGH SCHOOL’S LOVE FOR POLE VAULT By: Samantha Kaplan Instagram @eat_sleep_pv_repeat
Senior Sean Phu going for a PR
12
VAULTER MAGAZINE 2017
Every year, high school pole vault grows in popularity, with a new batch of young daredevils eager to try the highflying sport. Unfortunately, most high schools lack a comprehensive program and an educated coach, many programs supervised by an assistant coach or teacher merely to meet safety regulations. Young vaulters who lack a knowledgeable coach often develop poor habits and form and are not
able to thrive. However, on a rare occasion, there comes across a high school coach with both competitive experience himself and the credibility of an elite coach. A coach who, instead of choosing the prestige of coaching college athletes, dedicates his time and effort to the development of fundamentals and fostering a love of the sport that is required to allow new vaulters to grow. Pole vaulters who attend
AUGUST 2017 ISSUE
WWW.VAULTERMAGAZINE.COM
Senior Sean Phu
Capistrano Valley High School in Mission Viejo, California are lucky enough to have such a coach.
Coach Tim Meledy has a lot of experience under his belt, and is not nearly finished spreading his expertise. He lived the evolution of pole vault, competing in high school with old-fashioned equipment, now only seen in the history books. “We started with saw
dust pits,” says Coach Meledy, “then foam in a net, then the pits like today.” The saw dust pit wasn’t even the worst way to land. “We jumped with three sided medal cross bars. If you missed and landed on the bar it would bend. You would have to try to bend it back to continue vaulting.” Coach Meledy was a dedicated high school vaulter, creating a makeshift pit in his very own backyard as to always have a place to train.
The equipment he worked with at home was even roughand-ready than what he had at school. “We would get some old pole in the garage used for construction and get the sofa cushions as a landing pad,” says Coach Meledy. “We made a box of wood and made wood up rights to hole the cross bar. We got pretty good at jumping in our back yard even though the runway curved to make it to the pit.”
2017 VAULTER MAGAZINE
13
14
VAULTER MAGAZINE 2017
V AULTERMAGAZINE.COM
VAULTER
august 2017. issue 64 $14.00 high school edition
your source for pole vaulting information
VAULTER
High School Edition
MAGAZINE
2017 VAULTER MAGAZINE
AUG 2017 issue
Coach Yenu, Allison Fitzgerald, Sydney Cheng, Katelyn Dennis, Jessica Simpson, Hannah Nguyen, Jessica Deutsch, Coach Tim Meledy. Keri Lindstrom, Samantha Garcia, Samantha Jameson. David Ilano, Sean Phu, David Hostetter, Trevor Speetzen, Chase Cook, Erhan Phu, Spencer Han.
WWW.VAULTERMAGAZINE.COM
AUGUST 2017 ISSUE
15
$14.00 AUG 2017
VAULTER
MAGAZINE
Clearly, Tim Meledy did whatever it took to train and progress as a high school vaulter, despite not having top of the line gear or a decent coach. So when he decided to pursue coaching, it was important to him that his athletes have his same motivation, along with a facility and a serious program with educated coaches. Tim Meledy became Coach Meledy for the first time when he began Sean Hostetter senior
16
VAULTER MAGAZINE 2017
coaching his brother in their backyard set up, becoming the high school coach soon after. “In the late 1960’s I coached my brother to a school record in 1974. It stood for almost 30 years.” In the 1980’s, Coach Meledy was officially received his teaching credentials and a Master’s degree from CSULA, presenting his thesis on pole vault to Olympic silver medalist Ron Morris. After receiving his degree, Coach Meledy coached
9th Jessica Simpson,9th Samantha Jameson,10th Hannah Nguyen,10th Katelyn Dennis,10thAllison Fitzgerald,10th Jessica Deutsch.
AUGUST 2017 ISSUE
WWW.VAULTERMAGAZINE.COM
2017 VAULTER MAGAZINE
17
VAULTER
MAGAZINE
Coach Yenu,senior Sean Hostetter,freshmen Trevor Speetzen ,Junior Chase Cook,Freshmen David Ilano,Senior Sean Phu,Freshmen Spencer Han,Junior Ethan PHu, Coach Tim Meledy.
at several local high schools, Santa Monica College, Cal Tech College, and Biola College. “A lot of my vaulters have made it into the top 10 jumpers in their school’s history. Several of my high schoolers went on to CIF champions and a few took 1st place. In the college ranks, several went on to NCAA’s and became All-American.” Coach Meledy has been coaching pole vault for over
18
VAULTER MAGAZINE 2017
30 years, coaching a vaulter to a school record at most of the schools he’s worked with. But these days, Capo High School pole vault is his main focus. With the help of Yenka Siriwardena, assistant coach of three years and a former Capo vaulter coached by Meledy himself, the growing program continues to thrive. “We have had success in the last few years so the word is out,” says Coach Meledy. “The vaulters
are excited and inviting there class mates to come out.” Although he is thrilled about the success of his program and enthusiasm his vaulters have for their craft, Coach Meledy still expresses concern for high school pole vault as a whole. “Unfortunately, a lot of schools have trouble finding a coach, and if they cannot find a coach and there equipment is old, they’d rather drop their vaulting program altogether.”
AUGUST 2017 ISSUE
WWW.VAULTERMAGAZINE.COM
2017 VAULTER MAGAZINE
19
VAULTER
MAGAZINE
This problem is due, in part, to the fact that coaches who aren’t invested in the sport leave after a few years with the team, and the coaches that do stay, often don’t foster a love for the vault. This causes athletes to just cycle through the program rather than creating a community around it. A talented athlete may come in as a freshman, do well for himself throughout his career, and then just be done with the
program after his senior year. But when a vault program is a community, the same athlete would share his knowledge and technique with a less skilled vaulter, increasing team success as a whole.
To combat a lack of vault community, vaulters should look for a club team, learn from club coaches and teammates, and bring that information and camaraderie back to their
Keri Lindstrom. Junior 2nd place league finals
20
VAULTER MAGAZINE 2017
high schools. Upperclassmen and graduated alumni should consider dedicating some time to anyone interested in taking up pole vault. Create a team dynamic centered around sharing expertise and ideas. When an environment is filled with love and passion for something, those feeling spread like wildfire and keep the community growing.
AUGUST 2017 ISSUE
WWW.VAULTERMAGAZINE.COM
2017 VAULTER MAGAZINE
21
VAULTER
MAGAZINE
A TALE OF T
22
VAULTER MAGAZINE 2017
AUGUST 2017 ISSUE
WWW.VAULTERMAGAZINE.COM
TWO QUILTS A Short Story by Steve Yockim
William Hoyt Far Right, Boston Athletic Association member of the 1896 US Olympic Team
October 1896, a warm day in the ancient Panathenaic stadium, situated between the twin pine-covered hills of Ardettos and Agra in downtown Athens, sat a lone figure. On a bench near the entrance of the white marbled stadium, Welles Hoyt prepared to compete in the first modern Olympic Games. He began the methodical steps, cultured over time, forcing his mind to focus on the task of jumping higher than any man. He checked his wooden pole carefully, looking for ever present and dangerous cracks. A splintered pole had scarred him dearly, and in this venue, there was no margin for error. Applying new tape to the grip, he turned to the pole tip and checked the tip of the pole. Satisfied, he turned to watch
the vault in progress. The three Greek vaulters had started at 2.40 meters and easily cleared the height, landing on the unyielding grass field with little or no emotion. The bar was raised to 2.50m, Damaskos and Theodoropoulos cleared easily, but Xydas failed to make the height. Hoyt and his teammate, Albert Tyler, waited fretfully, anxious to enter the competition, but deciding to wait until the bar was higher. At 2.70m, their fourth height of the day, both Greeks went out, leaving the field open for the American vaulters. Both cleared their opening height, 2.80m with little difficulty. Relaxed and focused now, both vaulters continued clearing heights. Tied, the bar was raised to 3.30m; Tyler took the first attempt and failed.
2017 VAULTER MAGAZINE
23
VAULTER
MAGAZINE
Hoyt, sensing the opportunity, steadied himself, calling up the inner strength developed by years of thankless practice sessions, ran down the grass field, jabbed the pole into the ground and cleared 3.30m, a new world record. Both men, exhausted from the ordeal, failed to clear another height. At 21 years of age, William Welles Hoyt was the first Olympic Gold medalist in the Pole Vault.
That same day, on the plains of western South Dakota, a gnarled old woman sat in an austere government built cabin, adding firewood to the potbellied stove. An early season blizzard raged outside the door, causing her ears to shiver with the sound of cold. Her blind eyes could no longer see the wintery scene, but her inner eye could plainly discern the storms wrath. Sitting on the bed next to her, was the quilt, just completed, with the help of her granddaughter. The Star pattern was relatively new, but gaining in popularity among Native American quilters. Pretty Owl, gazed at the pattern, lost in her thoughts, moving in and out of the dream world and the present,
24
VAULTER MAGAZINE 2017
thinking about the path that brought her here. Her husband, Makhpiyaluta, known as Red Cloud, was a fierce warrior and chief, sometimes ruthless with his enemies. But the six years since the Wounded Knee Massacre, which he had tried to avert, cost him respect with the members of the tribe. Having seen the folly of war, they had settled into reservation life. Red Cloud was absent often, lobbying the government, while Pretty Owl tried to make a home for her children and grandchildren. The quilt had taken several days to complete, but the vivid colors made it dazzle in the glow of the light coming from the stove. Quilting was not new to her people, but the scarcity of animal hides, brought about by the restrictions that reservations life placed on the tribes, had the unforeseeable benefit of increasing quilt making. She gathered up the folds of the quilt in her calloused hands, reflecting on the pleasant hours her granddaughter and she had spent together. Although no one knows the origin of the first Star quilt, the tradition that it represents, that of honor and respect for individuals
who made a difference in one’s life, may very well have started here.
That same day, over 100 years later, Sarah’s eyes were blank, staring into the void of thought, contemplating the tradition and meaning of the quilt that she clutched next to her breast. She remembered with happiness the nights Grandmother and she toiled over the stitches, fingers raw from sewing, yet blissfully ignorant of the pain, basking in the warmth of the task. She remembered with a smile the absolute look of joy in Coach’s eye when she presented him with the quilt. Yet now, the smile gave way to anger. Given back to her, she repeated the words Coach spoke when he returned the quilt, “I am returning this to you because I have cried enough. A hardness remains in my soul that will never yield. Perhaps your tears mingled with mine will give solace. It’s meaning is lost to me, someday you may choose to return it”. Sarah’s emotions drifted from anger to sadness. It hadn’t always been this way; yet now, years later, it still tore at her when she touched the quilt. Pole Vaulting had been
AUGUST 2017 ISSUE
WWW.VAULTERMAGAZINE.COM
her life, consuming her with unbridled passion and guiding every aspect of her existence. A new event for women, it rocketed to stardom in the track and field arena, her meteoric rise a flash amongst the stationary sky. Now, only darkness. She fell asleep, crying into the quilt, doubting the two traditions which bound her could ever break the self-inflicted banishment.
William Hoyt, Boston Athletic Association member of the 1896 US Olympic Team
2017 VAULTER MAGAZINE
25
VAULTER
MAGAZINE Taylor Amann
26
VAULTER MAGAZINE 2017
AUGUST 2017 ISSUE
WWW.VAULTERMAGAZINE.COM Emily Gale
2017 VAULTER MAGAZINE
27
VAULTER
MAGAZINE
Sean YoungVAULTER MAGAZINE 2017 28