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JUNE 2014 issue
contents
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FROM THE EDITOR
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Do you need an Independent Educational Consultant?
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Desiree Freier is Hungry for Breaking Records
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Davis High Works to Keep Pole Vaulting Alive and Well
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Extending Your Season
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Photo by George Rodriquez
Photo by Coach Jeffrey Agnello
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FROM THE EDITOR Devin King
During this time of year it is not always easy to focus. Students are in the midst of preparing or taking final projects or exams; most seniors are thinking about college. For many, it is time for a nice break, and keeping up with routines can be difficult. It is no different for athletes. For those struggling with keeping on top of their vaulting development, we have a wonderful piece written by Bubba Sparks that will help you get motivated to keep moving to that next level. Who couldn’t use that extra boost?
Also, maybe some of you out there need some help getting ready for college. It is not always easy figuring out which road to take, or where to attend school. If this speaks to your situation, please read Penny Hanson’s article about educational consultants. This may be just the thing needed to help you make your future plans. We know you will find this helpful. In addition to the usual wise advise, this month also brings us a feature on high school senior Desiree Freier. This petite vaulter is jumping so high at seventeen years old it will amaze you. This girl is breaking records everywhere and is not planning to stop. She is one hungry athlete. Her story and achievements will definitely motivate you as well. This month’s issue also treats us to a look at Davis High School in Utah. Coach Agnello and his team have been doing everything they can to keep pole vaulting alive in their area. It is no easy task, but the dedication and talent this team has is extraordinary. Please keep pushing through, whatever you are doing this summer. Don’t let the stress or business get you down. Our hope is that curling up with these stories will leave you rested, refreshed and motivated to get out there and keep going. Thanks again for your loyal reading. We appreciate all of you, and our new readers as well. See you in July! Editor Doug Bouma | editor@thevaultermag.com
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Do you need an Independent Educational Consultant? Finding the right school, college or program can be a rewarding process, but for some families the experience is challenging, overwhelming and at times frustrating. Few decisions have as great an impact on a student as their college choice. Families may find themselves at a loss to properly evaluate their options and make appropriate choices. Seeking the services of an independent educational consultant can be the wisest investment a family can make. An independent educational consultant can give families objective advice, access to reliable information, and the kind of individual attention necessary to make an informed decision.
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Independent educational consultants, often called college consultants, are in the business of helping families navigate high school and the college admissions process. Many educational consultants are retired schools counselors, but some are also business or financial advisors who have made the decision to focus on college admissions. Often the best way to find an independent educational consultant is through a referral. In my case, I am a retired high school counselor. I started an independent educational consulting business two years ago. The majority of my students are referrals from past clients, but I also work with families who contact me
directly. I am a member of the Independent Educational Consultants Association, meaning that I have a masters degree, a minimum of three years of admission counseling experience (I have 12), visit a minimum of six schools a year and have experience working with 100s of students in the college admissions process.
Educational consultants provide individualized attention to your student. Public school guidance counselors would like to assist students individually with the college process, but they have too many students to offer much in the way of individual attention. Additionally, school counselors have many more responsibilities than college counseling. They are responsible for scheduling as well as other social and emotional issues involving their students. Educational consultants can be a welcome resource for families who recognize that they need more individualized attention than a school counselor can provide. An educational
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• Ask how often a consultant gets out to visit schools and meet with admissions representatives. • Ask for references.
• Be wary of consultants who promise to “package” your student to guarantee admission. Students are admitted on their qualifications, not because of a slick package. • Get an explanation of all fees upfront. Consultants may charge a flat rate or an hourly rate. Be sure that you know how much you will pay and exactly what services you get for your fee.
A good educational consultant understands their role in the college admissions process. They will provide expertise as well as reduce anxiety for both students and parents. They believe that the student, not the parent or the consultant, is responsible for driving the process. Success is measured not by admissions, but by a successful college experience. A good consultant always has the student’s best interests as their sole focus. The decision to hire an Educational Consultant can be the most valuable investment a family will make for their student. I believe that there is a school to fit the unique needs of
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every student. A consultant will help your student identify that school and guide them down the path to college success.
If you have any questions about educational consulting,
please contact me at penny@ hansoncollegeaccess.com.
Penny Hanson Hanson College Consultants 720-883-6800 penny@hansoncollegeaccess.com
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Desiree Freier
is Hungry for Breaking Records
By: Michelle Walthall
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An up-and-coming, high-flying, teenage vaulter has been gaining some much-deserved attention. We are happy to feature her success, and shed some light on her achievements this month. “I vault with Texas Pole Vault at EliteSportz in Fort Worth, Texas and I have been jumping with this club since I was 10 years old and I’m 17 now,” says the stand-out
vaulter Desiree Freier. “I’m 5 foot flat, I weigh 123 pounds,” she adds. And Freier may be excelling at pole vaulting now, but she has not always been a vaulter. However, it grabbed hold of her quickly. She tells us, “I did cheerleading, ballet and volleyball when I was younger, but never quite pursued those sports like I did vaulting. I started vaulting at the age of 10
and my stepdad owned a pole vaulting facility (EliteSportz) and I just kind of caught on and became hooked with the sport.”
We were interested in the details of Freier’s great accomplishment, as detailed by David Just of the Dallas Morning News’ Sports Day HS blog, of breaking “14’ four times during this outdoor season, first at the Desiree Freier
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Jesuit-Sheaner Relays in March, again at the Texas Relays, where she set her national record, and at the district and regional meets”, so we asked her. She says, “I was on a 14’ 155 with a flex of 19.7 and gripping 13’3’’,” in regard to the pole size used to jump that high. About the step she left from, she replies, “7L (14 steps) about 87’.” Freier didn’t stop at 14’ though, she set the “national indoor and outdoor pole vaulting records this year with vaults of 14-2 3/4 and 14-3 1/4, respectively,” according to Just. Also, DyeStat.com has a video, dated April 17th of this year, showing Freier even clearing 14’6” at the Texas UIL Area Meet at Coppel High School. This remarkable young lady just keeps going higher and higher. There doesn’t seem to be any stopping her. It seems she set a record in every meet this indoor season and is only left wanting more wins and records under her belt. Now a senior in high school at Justin Northwest, Freier has the bar set high for her jumping goals. “Its 14’9’’, but after that 15’1’’,” she says. We also found out that her PRs were 12’3’’ as a freshman (the best freshman jump in the nation), 13’0’’ as a sophomore and 13’9’’ (State record) as a junior.
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ningham to an 18’8” jump this year. Devin jumped 17’ at McNeese and started assisting about 4 years ago. Devin has coached Desiree day-to-day for the last two years. Devin was coached at McNeese by Ty Sevin and Jim Davis.” Freier’s training is rigorous. When asked if she works more on strength, speed, or technique, she puts it this way: “We do a little bit of everything.” To prepare the day before a meet, she says, “I do a ‘shake out’, which consists of
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my warm up, some pole walks and pole jogs.” And as a regular workout schedule, Freier adds that she works “5 days a week for 2 hours, and it varies from vaulting, sprint mechanics, core work outs and drills.”
There have also been some interesting adventures in Freier’s career. A trip to Ukraine for the World Youth Championships proved to be one of the most memorable for her. “It was a great experience going to Ukraine for two weeks,” she says. “I had to adjust to Desiree Freier
their foods, but the meet itself was good and competition was tough.” Freier also told Brandon Miles of MileSplit. com that, “My biggest takeaway [from Ukraine] is that, no matter what, you have to be mentally prepared; especially when you don’t have your normal coach and you are on a plane for hours. You just have to keep going forward and I did the best that I could.”
Future adventures are not far off either. Freier tells us that the University of Arkansas awaits her and, at the moment, she wants to be a Physician’s Assistant. According to Miles, Freier said this of her college decision: “Well I was choosing between UT or Arkansas and I absolutely loved both schools, but what made me pick Arkansas over UT is that I just felt more at home there and I love the vaulters there and Coach Compton. I just felt that it was a better fit for me than UT.” With her can-do attitude and determination, there is no doubt this young woman can achieve her goals. She leaves us with this sound advice to other young, female athletes: “It’s not hard to become the best at anything as long as you put your mind to it. Just like that good ol’ saying: ‘anything is possible’.”
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Desiree Freier
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Davis High Works to Keep Pole Vaulting Alive and Well By: Michelle Walthall In Kaysville, Utah, home of Davis High School, Coach Jeffrey Agnello and his pole vault team have worked hard to keep vaulting alive in their area. The Davis High team has a wonderful story. Here is how Coach Agnello tells it:
“I have been coaching at Davis High School since 2004. I was a former Davis High pole vaulter myself (9’6” my first year, 13’3” the following year, and 15’ my senior year placing second to Adam Ball). I jumped a little in college, qualifying for conference, but due to the return of stress fractures I ended my jumping career. I got involved coaching with my former coach Roger Buhrley. He allowed me to
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take over the pole vault as well as help in other areas needed for our team. Eventually Roger Buhrley left Davis High School and Corbin Talley took over the boys’ program. I have been fortunate enough to work with great coaches. We have one of the most successful programs in track and field in the state of Utah.”
“The pole vault was dying in the state of Utah.” We have five classifications and it was pulled from 1A, 3A, and 4A. In 2011 I was both a head junior high girls’ track coach at North Layton Junior High School and still helping Corbin Talley with pole vaulters after my practice. In Utah they called it co-ed pole vault, but the points went to the
boys’ team as well as I’ve never known a girl to qualify in 5A. I began to get in touch with Utah High School Athletic Association on how I need to go about getting the girls’ pole vault added to the State. Over the course of the years, and quite a roller coaster ride, I knew if I pushed this hard it would risk getting the vault removed from the state of Utah. I also realized it was going to completely go away anyway if I did nothing. With the support of Davis Head Coach Corbin Talley I wrote a proposal. I submitted it to the State. I was fully aware that what I did could get it banned in Utah. I later found out, once I submitted the proposal, 2A has gotten rid of the pole vault as well. The only
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Back to front-Courtney Eames, Isaac Schraedel, Jacob Woodland, Luke Shaner, Harrison Haslam, Paige Erickson, Baylee Reynolds, Sarah Calder, Ashley Sullenger
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and even Trace Arbon. Every now and then we get lucky and I can get Mark Calvin to come out and help. He was a former Davis Pole vaulter as well and he almost made it to the Olympic Trials. He will come down once or twice a year to help.”
Pole Vaulting in the Kaysville area is setting the bar high. “First, we are fortunate enough to have pole vault pits and equipment where other schools do not in the 5A classification,” Coach Agnello says. “It seems that we tend to have a stronger program in the 5A
classification. There are other schools out there with good programs as well. Bingham High is another school with a good program. It seems like we try to get all of the areas of the pole vault by building a giant platform and other schools trying to mimic it. We built it
Coach Jeffrey Agnello, Isaac Schraedel, Kyle Porter, Justin Godfrey, Luke Shaner, Dillon Lee, Ben Fielden, Taylor Southwick, Ben Shaner, Harrison Haslam, Evyn Conrad, Jacob Woodland, Matt Calvin, Brigham Valentine, Logan Baird, Andrew Tyndall
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bigger this year so you can run your last three steps off the platform.”
“The biggest difference between our school and others is the great turn out that we get,” he continues. “Pole vault is growing pretty big at our school. We have a lot of jumpers. It makes it difficult to have effective practices, but this is also one of the reasons we do well. Our athletes push each other. We currently have 11 boys over 10’. We have the some of the best jumpers in the State; for instance Andrew Tyndall, who is currently jumping 14’11.5” (Currently ranked first in the entire State). Matt Calvin is a 13’1” pole vaulter who is about top 6 in the state as well. Our girls’ [team] is growing. Paige Erickson, a first year pole vaulter, is jumping 9’4.5” and is ranked 2nd in the 5A classification; as well as Liz Jones who is around 8’5”, which is in the top 8 spots as well. These athletes feed off of each other to do well and push each other. I really have a great group of vaulters. We have around 30 pole vaulters.” When it comes to equipment, Coach Agnello says, “I am a big fan of UCS Spirit. It is simple for the athletes to understand where the bend is and they tend to last a lot
Jumping Brigham Valentine, Pushing pole is Isaac Schraedel
longer compared to the other brands. We use platforms. Sometimes I’ll take the athletes and we will go do underwater pole vault. We have not this year, though, due to the time.”
And when it comes to camps, he tells us, “Last year was the first time I had any vaulters jump in the summer. I allowed them to jump for free. This year I am having a little fee attached, but we do five practices and end it off with a meet at the end.” Like any good coach would, he also had a lot of bragging to do about his vaulters. Coach Agnello gave us a very detailed look at his team:
“Andrew Tyndall is the best jumper I have ever worked
with. I pulled Andrew out of class his sophomore year and told him he should come out and pole vault. We ended up going and pole vaulting at a facility in 2012 and Andrew came out for the first time. He did hours of nothing but drills. He was so determine to master the drills. He never stepped foot on the pole vault pit until his last indoor meet where he ended up no-heighting 9’. Andrew’s outdoor season was rather interesting. He jumped 9’ straight-poling. We began to teach him how to bend where he really struggled trying to get control of the pole. It wasn’t until his very last meet where he finally was able to get it all together and cleared 11’9”- becoming the Sophomore Region Champion.”
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Top- Coach Jeffrey Agnello, Isaac Schraedel, Kyle Porter, Justin Godfrey, Luke Shaner, Jacob Woodland, Ben Fielden, Andrew Tyndall, Ben Shaner, Dillon Lee, Harrison Haslam, Evyn Conrad, Matt Calvin, Brigham Valentine, Taylor Southwick, Logan Baird Bottom-Kristen Funk, Sarah Calder, Eliza Debry, Paige Erickson, Ashley Sullenger, Liz Jones, Gentry Keaton, Leslie Aagard, Ashley Lawson, Courtney Eames, Claire Sorensen, Baylee Reynolds
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Left to right-Coach Jeffrey Agnello, Kristin Funk, Sarah Calder, Eliza Debry, Paig Erickson, Ashley Sullenger, Liz Jones, Gentry Keaton, Leslie Aagard, Ashley Lawson, Courtney Eames, Claire Sorensen, Baylee Reynolds
Although she is a junior, this is her first year pole vaulting. Due to the new pole Chris Chappell has helped our school get, she is one of the top jumpers and learning to really control the bend now. Paige will be competing in Region and State coming up.” Erickson is also the highest PR female for Coach Agnello at the moment.
“Liz Jones has played around with the pole vault a few times. It wasn’t until her teammate Paige Erickson passed her up where she began to take it serious. Liz also has a lot of cheerleading background that helps her vault well. Liz walked up to the pole vault last year and played around with it a couple of times. She never took it serious because girls couldn’t go to State last year. Now that it is in the State, Liz has started to take it serious. Liz has had her season best so far at the BYU Invitational last week. She will be competing in Region and State coming up.”
Davis High has seen its share of excitement this year, and it doesn’t look to end anytime soon. According to Coach Agnello, “We have top vaulters in both boys’ and girls’. We are hoping our team can pull off a Region championship for both the guys’ and the girls’ teams. Our team will also be battling for a State championship as well. The boys’ and girls’ track team are coming back from a three-time State championship. This year will be difficult; we will need to have some amazing performances. Herriman, Riverton, and Syracuse will make it hard for us. We will go out and do the best we can.”
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“On the pole vault side of it,” he continues, “we would love to see Matt Calvin and Andrew Tyndall take top spots at Region. Syracuse is doing well though. In the girls’ pole vault it will be a battle between Syracuse and Davis again. We are hoping to pull off a win, but Syracuse girls are much closer so, again, it will be a nail bitter. Going into State is always fun; you never know what will happen. Last year Andrew didn’t do so well; mainly because I told him to come in at a higher height. We will play it safer and hopefully pull off top spots
again.” If any team can make these dreams happen, it seems this one can. Following up with the Davis High School pole vault team.
They have had some great performances at Region and State. Andrew Tyndall has met his long-term goal of becoming a Region Champion and State Champion. Matt Calvin pulled a season best jump of 13’9” at Sophomore Region and won. Matt also, took 2nd to Andrew Tyndall at the Region Championship followed by a 5th place
at the State Championship.
Paige Erickson pulled off the Region Champion. Paige approached State ranked 2nd in the state trying to pull off the upset she set a new PR at 10’. Paige came a little short of being a champion, but had an amazing PR and took 2nd in the State Championship meet. Liz Jones, Gentry Keaton, and Ashley Lawson all ended up qualifying for state with Paige. Liz ended up placing 4th in the state. Gentry ended up placing 8th. Ashley didn’t have the meet she hoped for at State, but she has some real character. When things didn’t end up going her way she stayed and helped her teammates keeping them pumped up and helping them with their jumps at the state championship. The best thing about this group is all of the girls who went to state will be returning next year. I am a lucky coach to have such great athletes.
Coach Jeffrey Agnello
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Extending Your Season By: Bubba Sparks
Whether you have qualified to advance to further competitions or your standard school season is over, you have the same goal; to get a PR or two or three before you call it a year. The problem, as discussed in last month’s issue, is that now you’re too settled in on runs, grips and poles to feel like you can really get to the next level. Here you might be able to learn a few lessons that we masters vaulters use; recycle.
Because our bodies can’t bounce back like they used to, we train for meets like a fighter trains for a big fight. We set the date 4-6 weeks out and we ramp up to a place where we can be at our highest level on the target date. What we have
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found is that during this 2-4-68 week ramp up, is that by revisiting our fundamentals, and stepping down our strength and speed, that we actually are able to improve each time we pass through the cycle.
Think about it; three letters in the word “Routine” are “Rut”. Your body and mind become so ingrained in the same day to day and week to week that you cease to improve. How many of us about this time of year find it hard to get on a pole that might have been easier the month before? This is why you need to shake it up. Technically I find that coming back up through my smaller poles while trying to get the
most out of each level, brings a new sharpness to technique. This sharpness along with the recycled running and lifting allow the mind and body to refresh. The result is that most of the time you will find yourself in a much better position to PR than if you just kept with your routine.
As far as poles and technique, I try to start small and always force myself to try and extend up the pole longer. When I get hip height twice I move the bar up regardless of if I made it. If you can get a little pole to LIFT you then the same technique on a bigger pole will LAUNCH you. Ramping your running speed back up with the focus on relaxed and
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