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CONTENTS y l u J FROM THE EDITOR
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2019 NATIONAL SENIOR GAMES
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KMR ATHLETICS: A CLUB OPEN TO ALL
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G-FORCE POLE VAULT CLUB
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ALTERATIONS TO THE IAAF OLYMPIC QUALIFYING STANDARDS
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FROM THE EDITOR July is here and the summer camp, street vaults, river vaults, and track meets are well underway. Time to refresh and get ready for the upcoming year and wind down from the season prior. A way to re-charge your batteries and reflect on the changes that you need to make or the enhancements that to an already well-oiled machine. Now is the time, don’t take our word for it, go out and see for yourself what the difference will make. Head over to our website and check out some of the camps listed on our, “Camp Directory”. Vaulter Magazine will take the next 12 months and highlight the Olympic Journey of the past and present for many of the athletes that will attempt to make it into the 2020 Olympics. Only three will compete for each gender and attempt to earn that sacred medal. Kreager Taber writes about the alterations to the IAAF Olympic Qualifying Standards and oh what a read it is. See for yourself and get the information that you don’t get anywhere else. On the cover, we have KMR Athletics coach Brian Riggs talking to Samantha about how he started a pole vaulting club, his family and the reasons for coaching the way that he does. “Coach Bob Jenkins and Coach Calvin Hudgins provided the motivation and recourses for us to get KMR Athlet-
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ics off the ground,” says Brian. A fun read and when you take a moment to do so, you will learn a few things that even we didn’t know. National Senior Games in Albuquerque will bring our, “Masters Vaulter of the Year”, to our pages once again. We tend to have a soft side for pole vault history and old timers that get up off the couch and pole vault. “Right off the bat, I met Flo Meiler, the oldest female pole vaulter in the world at age 85, who graciously posed for a photo with me, before going out and setting a world record, then bettering that new mark five more times.” John speaks from the heart and has a great time doing so. Good job! Mike Soule and his G-Force Pole Vault Club will be a guest article for this issue. Bill Peyton writes about Mike and his High School and Club achievements. There is passion in this story and the effort that Mike puts into his program and the athletes around him. Great read! August issue and September will both highlight two more influential coaches around the Nation and the sport of pole vault. Stay tuned and we will be back for the August issue before you know it.
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Julie Segroves age 12
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2019 NATIONAL SENIOR GAMES By John Clark When I started getting ready to warm up for the M60-64 vaulting competition at my first-ever National Senior Games in Albuquerque last month, I was so nervous that I put my knee brace on the wrong leg. I did manage to get my shoes tied OK, so all was not lost. It was a spectacular week in New Mexico – beautiful weather, great facilities, good food, good friends. Right off the bat, I met Flo Meiler, the oldest female pole vaulter in the world at age 85, who graciously posed for a photo with me, before going out and setting a world record, then bettering that new mark five more times. I got a lump in my throat as I paused on my way to the pole vault pit to watch 97-year-old Mary Kemp from Alabama run the 200 meters in a record-setting time of 2.09.73. I saw Masters world record holder and fellow Texan Don Isett record a new National Senior Games
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record at 2.5 meters (8-2 ½) and nearly snag an M80 world record at 2.76 m. Isett said he was a little disappointed not to reach the new mark, but he was happy with his performance overall. "I felt good about being able to try it, and I felt like I was pretty close (to clearing it)," Isett said. "I learned some things from my coach, Jeff (Brower), but I really didn’t get a chance to execute it. He told me that my pole was hitting the back of the box before I jumped, which kills your jump because you’re no longer able to jump up. Instead, it’s throwing you back. "I never even thought about that, but he noticed it right away, on the film." Jim Thompson, 65, of Tennessee, took the gold in M65-69 with an excellent jump of 3.35 meters, 1011 ¾. A vaulter at Purdue University from 1972-76, Thompson said he only recently started jumping again
after a 40-year layoff. "I had my career being a veterinarian, and just didn’t have any outside activity other than work," he explained. "About four or five years ago, I thought, ‘You know, I’d like to get back into pole vaulting.’ So that’s what I did. "It was a lot of hard work trying to get here. Three days a week of working out at the gym, and then one day a week vaulting. I’m tired – it’s hot out here." Larry Bonnett, 70, won the M7074 vaulting competition with 2.6 meters, 8-6 ¼. The soft-spoken Texan said he wasn’t thrilled with his jumping, but happy with the outcome. "I’m not real satisfied with my form, but I’m pleased with the results," Bonnett said. "I feel good. I’m happy." Other National Senior Games men’s champions included: 50-54, David Gates, 52, Oregon, 3.35 m, 10-11 ¾; 55-59, Chet Clodfelter, 56,
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Indiana, 4.06 m, 13-3 ¾; 75-79, Joe Johnston, 76, Florida, 2.7 meters, 8-10 ¼; 85-89, William Jankovich, 86, Wisconsin, 1.7 meters, 5-7. In the women’s competition, gold medals went to: 50-54, Lynn Larson, 51, California, 1.8 m, 5-10 ¾; 55-59, Karen Rieger, 56, Indiana, 2.10 m, 6-10 ¾; 60-64, Tamara Lewis, 60, Arkansas, 1.6 m, 5-3; 65-69, Kay Glynn, 66, Iowa, 2.6 m, 8-6 ¼; 70-74, Jane Hemby, 70, Texas, 2.1 m, 6-10 ¾; 75-79, Catherine Radle, 76, Georgia, 1.5 m, 4-11; 80-84, Mary Lou Bradford, 83, Texas, 1 m, 3-3 ¼; 85-89, Florence Meiler, 85, Vermont, 1.55 m, 5-1. After watching the first two days of men’s vaulting, I had another day to wait for my competition to come up, followed by the women, so I decided to take a little drive up the Turquoise Trail, a National Scenic Byway through the mountains, from Albuquerque to Santa Fe. That afternoon, Cyndy Slovak-Barton, one of my vaulting buddies from Kris Allison’s Lone Star Pole Vaulting in New Braunfels arrived for the Games, and we got together with Jeff Brower for dinner at a small, local spot that serves some tremendous Mexican food. The next day, it was time for the big show. I had all morning to think about it, since the competition didn’t start until 1 o’clock, and whoever was staying in the room above mine started thump-thumping on the floor/ceiling about 6 a.m. My stomach was tied in tighter and tighter knots as the morning crawled by, and finally it was time to get ready and head on over to the stadium. With high-flyers like Don Curry,
Brad McFarling, Gary Hunter, and Jeff Brower in my age bracket, finishing anywhere near the top was out of the question, but I was hoping to set a new P.R., and maybe – just maybe – finish in the top 10. Those results would make this an overwhelming success for me. My first-ever official height came in April 2018 at the Texas Senior Games, six months after I took up pole vaulting under the tutelage of my friend, Bubba Sparks, shortly after my 60th birthday. I managed to clear 5-7 at that meet, then 7-6 at the Oklahoma Senior Games six months later, 7-8 at the Expo Explosion in Belton, Texas last December, then 7-9 at Reno in January. So now, I was looking for 8-feet, and maybe even 8-6. Everybody in 50-64 was jumping in the same flight, and the bar started at 1.85 meters, a little over six feet. Most of the guys sat out until at least 8 feet, so there were only a few of us jumping for a while. I was first up, and easily cleared that opening height. Don (an old
friend from high school who went on to win the M60-64 at 3.65 meters, 11-11 ¾) told me I was at least 18 inches over the bar. Next jump, same thing. I was feeling really good, and kept clearing bar after bar on the first attempt. After my fifth jump, I was coming off the pit and Cyndy came up to me, smiling: "Is that a P.R.?" I had no idea. I thought I was still jumping somewhere around, maybe, 7-6. Turned out that last bar was 8-0 ½, and yes, indeed, a new P.R. Finally. I’ve been trying to clear 8 feet since I narrowly missed it back in Reno. Unfortunately, when the bar went up again, I heard someone say 8-6, and that was that. Instead of focusing on the process, I started thinking about the results, and I missed three times – my first misses of the competition. So I did achieve both my goals – new P.R. and top 10 finish – but from now on, I think I’m going to try really hard not to pay attention when they announce bar heights.
John runway National Senior Games (2)
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KMR Athletics: A CLUB OPEN TO ALL By Sam Kaplan
Alina McDonald Many great pole vault coaches have been in the sport for as long as they can remember, holding impressive accolades from back when they jumped, giving advice they’ve proven works in their own vaults.
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However, some of the best, most successful coaches in the game have never even taken off the ground. They are fantastic coaches because they gain their knowledge by becoming students of the
sport, and more importantly, they usually get their start in an effort to help someone they love. That is the case for Coach Brian Riggs of the KMR Athletics Track & Field Club, founder of South Carolina’s
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best USATF/AAU program. With a head coach who doesn’t have a track background himself, the club is open to any and all who want to give track and field a try, much like he did when he jumped into coaching pole vault. Like any good father, Brian Riggs has always supported his daughter in her endeavors. Although typically a star softball pitcher in the springtime, a gymnastics injury saw Kimberleigh having to sit out her freshman season in 2007. Determined not to be benched from sports altogether, when her school’s head track coach asked her to give pole vaulting a try, she jumped at the opportunity to try it, and Brian jumped at the opportunity to learn about it. After some confusing advice from coaches, Kimerleigh and Brian decided to work together, using their background knowledge in gymnastics mechanics to develop their own methods. Brian became his daughter’s official coach, and with his help, became the first high school girl in South Carolina history to jump 13 feet, and reached an ultimate personal best of 14’7” in college. With Kimberleigh off at college, Brian realized the technique he’d developed with his daughter could help many more high school athletes succeed, so in 2012 he formed KMR Athletics to coach not only pole vaulters, but all young track and field athletes. Part of the reason KMR is such an important resource to the local track community is the same reason it is such a success. “Coach Bob Jenkins and Coach Calvin Hudgins provided the motivation
Meet-group
and recourses for us to get KMR Athletics off the ground,” says Brian. The late Coach Jenkins was invaluable to South Carolina track and field and cross country, starting multiple high school programs, including the one at Northwestern, Kimberleigh’s high school. He also ran Kimberleigh’s club team, but upon his retirement, the club closed down in 2011. He worked closely with Brian to pass the club track torch to KMR to “take over the community’s track efforts.” Today, KMR’s depth as a club consists of nine coaches, two of whom work specifically with pole vaulters on their strength, speed, and technique. There are also two throws coaches, one distance coach, one high jump coach, one long and triple jumps coach, and one hurdles coach, so no matter what events an athlete competes in, KMR has got them covered. Multi event athletes never need to pick one practice over another, as none of the events overlap practice times.
Alina-coach-SAC-USATF
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Alina McDonald
“Each coach has a full time job teaching with Northwestern High School, so every coach manages their own events, athletes, and time schedule,” explains Brian. “Sometimes we rarely see each other at all, other than at meets.” It may seem unlikely that a former pro skateboarder and BMX racer would start a track and field club, but often times, Brian’s lack of personal experience in the sport makes his coaching perspective even better. Many of his athletes
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also have backgrounds in other sports, from gymnastics to soccer to basketball to football. Because Brian’s introduction to pole vault was through a gymnastics lens, he understands how to communicate with his athletes using their language. “ I talk to every individual in different terminology depending on their previous sporting events,” explains Brian. “I also try to build on the training they may get elsewhere, to build on their other training, not against it.” Very
clearly derivative of his gymnastics knowledge is Brian’s technical coaching style. Much like a gymnastics coach, Brian emphasizes body weight exercises over heavy lifting and drills the basics above all else. “I am super technical,” says Brian. “I believe in optimizing the effort to the most of our abilities before advancing. Bigger poles and longer runs do nothing if you cannot jump properly from short runs on smaller poles.” The club motto, the pun “Stay Positive, Get Negative,”
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reflects Brian’s attitude at practice. “Screaming and yelling gets you nowhere in coaching pole vault, but I am super technical, so after each attempt it’s ‘discuss the positives, then focus on the negatives.’ Emphasize the good and then fix the bad.” Brian’s technical focus and constructive attitude have proven successful. “We have had many state champions and great vaulters, but I think our greatest achievements to date are winning USATF and AAU Nationals and setting the indoor and outdoor national records after only four short years of existence,” says Brian. The credit for these accolades goes to Alina McDonald, who, under the very training style that propelled Kimberleigh to the top, has reached a PR of 15’3” holding 13 feet, setting the AAU outdoor and USATF indoor and outdoor national records along the way. “We are working harder and harder every day to increase grip, run length, pole length and strength,” says Brian of Alina. “The future is certainly bright.” Coaching many multi sport athletes has taught Brian that no matter where his students come from, no matter what their background, they have the potential to be great vaulters. “Our only requirements are a clean bill of health, followed by joining USATF and AAU,” says Brian. “We do not turn away anyone from trying pole vault, regardless of speed, size, etc. Everyone may not be a future Olympian, but you’ll never find out if you don’t try.” Brian doesn’t make potential vaulters wait until high school to give the event a go, so many KMR athletes have an advantage by the
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time they get to high school and start competing against first time jumpers. Brian trains all of his vaulters in the Petrov style, with variations tailored specifically to each jumper. “My style is simple,” explains Brian. “Big top arm, high jump at take off, long, sweeping, straight, trail leg, swing until that trail leg contacts the pole, get the drive knee up an in the armpit, ‘climb, climb, climb, climb,’ and finally get off the bottom arm while driving through the top arm. The top end and turn will happen on their own if those seven steps are done properly.” After all, Brian is a technical coach, so it’s no surprise he emphasizes that training a solid beginning of the jump will lead to big things up top. Brian believes everyone who comes out to vault has the potential to succeed, and he definitely provides them with the proper facility to do so. “We have one of the fastest runway systems on earth, as attested by many elites in the southeastern US.” KMR vaulters can expect access to a 150 foot portable Mondo SuperX runway, a full inventory of USC poles, and a 1900 pole vault pit for vaulting, along with a 400 meter track, weight room, gymnastic facility at Rock Hill Gymnastics, and a pool for swimming and pool vaulting at Rock Hill Aquatic Center. “We operate year round, before and after the South Carolina high school track season,” says Brian. Because many of the KMR coaches are also high school coaches, the club really picks up in the off season, allowing athletes to train and compete when many of their competi-
tors may not be. Along with high schoolers, KMR athletes include pre high school kids, college kids, and masters athletes, and with vaulters coming from as far away as North Carolina, the club stays busy 365 days a year. KMR athletes of all ages compete in USATF
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Jalon Mickle sanctioned meets from Georgia to Virginia, but the most fun competitions are the ones at home. “We host 8 to 10 PV only meets per year, and participate in other local events with UCS and other area track clubs as well,” says Brian. “We are adding high jump and
throws this year, and we’re excited to see where the future takes us!” Meets aren’t the only events KMR hosts. The club, often separated by differing practice schedules, always makes sure to male time for team bonding. “We go to a local pizza place every Thursday,” says Brian.
“We bowl, a lot, and we support other local athletes and events.” After all, KMR Athletics was founded when a father was inspired to help his daughter and help his community, so treating the team like family and welcoming new members with open arms is KMR’s specialty.
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G-FORCE POLE VAULT CLUB Mike Soule, Assistant Coach Forest Lake High School – Pole Vault
Mike Soule has coached at Forest Lake High School as their pole vault coach for 4 seasons, and maybe more significantly as the owner and coach of G-Force Pole Vault Club for 13 years. During that time, he has had many pole vaulters gain scholarships or go on to pole vault in college. Who are some recent vaulters who will earn scholarships to compete in college? As the pole vault coach at Forest Lake High School as well as heading up G-Force Pole vault Club I have had the great fortune to work with some wonderful kids. Alec Varani, the athlete that got me back to the high school ranks, is now finishing up his junior year at UW Stout University in Menomonie Wisconsin.
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Mike Soule Taylor (Brett) Johnson, Tyler Colling and now Jenna Parent all have gone on to pole vault at University of North Dakota. 2019 Graduate and state qualifier Sofia Dodge has committed to Concordia University, St.
Paul. Former G-Force club athletes that have gone on to college careers are Centennial High School’s Andrea Gessner and Lydia DeBuhr . Andrea who jumps for University of Wisconsin Eau Claire and Lydia at
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Northwestern College, St. Paul. Roseville High School’s Allison Weiker is pole vaulting at UW Eau Claire and Mark Mc Pherson is vaulting at Minnesota State Mankato. You also have an excellent staff of your former vaulters working in the G-Force Club. Who are they? There’s an old saying that goes “those that can’t do, teach”. In my case it’s more like, “those that can’t do very well, coach”. My personal best since coming back to this is 9’ 6”. Now at 67 I’m more like a 7’ to 7’6” vaulter. Initially I jumped into this event focusing entirely on being able to jump myself. Little did I know how much I really learned to love coaching. It all began that first year in my back yard with 5 boys coming over to my house to jump once or twice a week. 4 of the 5 went on to vault in college. The 5th would have vaulted in college but he went to Bemidji State for his major and they discontinued their Track and Field program. Two of those boys are now coaches for G-Force Pole Vault Club. Proof that what goes around comes back around. G-Force has grown from the small 5 participant program to what it is today. Last year we filled 64 spots during our summer and fall sessions. We run 4 sessions a week during the summer months and 3 sessions a week during our fall. Summer sessions are limited to 10 athletes. We provide 2 coaches per session to keep the coach to athlete ratio 1 to 5. We have a great coaching staff featuring; Marty Proops, USATF Masters all American in the pole vault. Mike Hrudka,
Jenna Parent current UND pole vaulter Masters pole vaulter, USATF level 1 certified coach and current pole vault coach at Spring Lake Park High School. Tyler Colling, Former G-Force athlete and college pole vaulter at University of North Dakota. AJ Walsh-Brenizer, Former G-Force athlete, college decathlete at University of River Falls, and now pole vault coach at Univer-
sity of Wisconsin River Falls. Kyle O’Connor post collegiate vaulter and current pole vault coach at Roseville high school. What are your earliest sports memories? I was raised in Wisconsin and moved from Luck Wisconsin to Hudson before my 4th grade year. Like most kids of the 50’s and 60’s
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we would play our sports coinciding with high school sports seasons. Football in the fall, basketball in the winter and baseball in the spring and summer. That was how it was until I saw a high school kid pole vaulting. Since then track and field and the pole vault became a spring sport for me. I was 7 years old when I first witnessed the event and couldn’t wait to get home and grab a conduit pole out of my Dad’s garage along with a couple of peach crates to hold a crossbar and a bamboo fishing pole for the crossbar and try to jump over the crossbar with that conduit pole. From that day on, Pole-vaulting became a very important sport for me and many of my friends. We would put all sorts of things together to make it possible for us to jump over a bar with the aid of a stick. Most consistent piece of equipment for me and many other backyard pole vaulters was the 2” x 2” x 8 foot upright with nails every
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Mike Soule with girls
Sofia Dodge scholarship signing
2 inches that we used for crossbar standards. From then until I graduated, I had my own pole vault set up either at a nearby vacant lot or in my parents’ yard.
a lot about track and field. If I find something that I think will be helpful I’ll pass it along”. It was Coach Ewing that suggested that I do pole runs to increase approach speed and posture. Something that to this day I insist my vaulters do a lot of. I went to state in 1969 but I didn’t make state my senior year in 1970. I finished 1 ½” behind the 2nd place vaulter at sections that year. I did set a school record that stood for 4 or 5 years and lifetime best of 12’ 7 ½” at those sections. So, I guess it wasn’t a total loss. It still hurt not making it to state.
How did your high school career go? That’s how things went pretty much through high school. Football in the fall and pole vaulting in the spring. I tried wrestling and basketball for winter sports but wasn’t very good at either. So, I limited my focus to training in the winter preparing for track in the spring. As most older pole vaulters will tell you there wasn’t a lot of coaching back in those days. Basically, our training guide was a 1958 World Book encyclopedia with pictures of Bob Richards jumping at the 1952 Olympics. I remember my coach, long time head track coach at Hudson High School John Ewing, saying to me the first day we met,” I don’t know much about pole vaulting, but I read
You did not pole vault in college because you played football at Arkansas, but you got back into vaulting as a master’s athlete. How did that happen? So ended my pole vault career in May of 1970. Or so I thought. Fast forward to 2004 at age 53 and me watching the 2004 Olympics. I saw Tim Mack and Toby Stevenson
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school ranks and put a club together in my own backyard similar to what I had as a kid. I called the club GForce Pole Vault Club. (There is a story about the background of the name, but I won’t go there now). But you eventually decided to coach during the school year and during the off season. Why? I have found after doing both high school and club coaching that there is a big difference between the two. During the high school year, the focus is on the overall jump. In a club session we focus on one link in that chain I spoke of earlier and have the time to work on that link until it’s mastered or done to the best of the ability of the athlete. Mike Soule himself PV 1
go 1 – 2 in the pole vault at those Olympics. I thought that it might be fun to try pole vaulting again. I had no idea where to start except for the internet. I punched in “senior pole vaulting”. What appeared in the search findings was a website for a masters / senior pole vaulter (and now one of my best friends) named Doug (Bubba) Sparks who lived in Houston Texas. He provided me with all the information I needed to come back to a sport that I was so passionate about many years before. One of the things that he suggested was that the best way to find a place to jump is to find a high school to coach at. I spent two years as a volunteer coach at Mounds View High School in Arden Hills, MN. Those two years convinced me that the
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high school season is just not long enough to do a proper job of teaching the pole vault. Why did you come to realize that the high school season is too short to learn the pole vault? I realized that there are just too many links in the chain of events, which is the pole vault, for it to be mastered in the short high school season. It is said that a pole vaulter is a combination of a sprinter, a jumper and a gymnast. All three functions take place in a matter of 6 to 7 seconds. That time frame begins at the top of the runway and lasts until the athlete is on his or her back in the pit. When I realized that there isn’t enough time to learn all those things is when I decided to leave the high
How did you happen to start coaching at Forest Lake High School during their regular seasons? In the early days of G-Force Pole Vault Club, USATF would sanction home based units which G-Force was. Several years ago they stopped insuring home based units and that is when we formed a partnership with Forest Lake Community Education Department. For many years Forest Lake Ranger Coach Paul Kendrick had asked me to come coach at the high school. I declined because it would interfere with my club coaching. Four years ago, one of my club athletes was entering his senior year at Forest Lake. I contacted Coach Kendrick and told him I would coach this athlete for his senior year and then that would be it. Oops, guess not. I am not only coaching the boys but the girls there as well.
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Why do you love pole vault coaching as much as you do? One of the things that I really enjoy about being a pole vaulter and coach is that those of us that do it belong to a very close-knit community. Even though as competitors we want to win every contest we enter, we also support and root on those we compete against. I have no problem helping a kid from a different school if his or her coach is not there, or they don’t have one to begin with. The “community” attitude is prevalent in the master’s pole vault rank. It’s one of the best things about competing at the master’s level. What does G-Force Pole Vault Club emphasize? Our summer sessions at GForce focus on the technical aspects of the pole vault. That is accomplished through lots of drill work and repetition. Those sessions are usually two plus hours long. During the fall the sessions are shorter, an hour and a half, but there are also less athletes. We limit those sessions to 8. The idea is in the summer we learn the vault and in the fall we do what we learned in the summer. Hopefully, things learned in the summer will transfer to implementation in the fall and on to the following spring when the athlete once again competes for his or her high school or college. How do you keep this activity safe? Someone not familiar with the
Mike Soule and G-Force Pole Vault Club perhaps
event would think that it’s dangerous and risky. There is a certain amount of risk in this event but no more than any other sport if there is good coaching behind it. There are more injuries in football, and hockey than there are in pole vaulting. The difference is that an injury in the pole vault can and sometimes has been a catastrophic injury bringing it to the forefront. Most, if not all pole vault injuries are the result of an athlete trying to perform above his or her physical capabilities and/ or on equipment that is not right for them. This once again falls back on
an untrained coach who allows that to happen. Safety is the main focus around this event. Especially in the high school ranks. I have close to 100 pole vault poles that belong to me for club use because of that reason. For us involved, it’s so important that safety is the focus so that we can keep the event on the high school track and field program. One of my goals is to have Minnesota pole vaulting to be included in the same sentence with Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
Copyright 2019 by Bill Peyton, All Rights reserved.
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Alterations to the IAAF
Olympic Qualifying Standards By Kreager Taber Organizers of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics have already begun to promise that the event will “transform the world”. From July 24th to August 9th, Japan’s capital city will be hosting its second Olympic Games spearheaded by three fundamental principles to ensure the Games’ impact on history: “striving for your personal best (achieving your personal best); accepting one another (unity in diversity); and passing on a legacy for the future (connecting to tomorrow)”. The Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games has also outlined their ticket prices for the events and are offering millions of tickets at affordable prices to ensure a wide variety of people will be able to afford the Games. According to their outline, half of tickets that will be sold cost JPY 8,000 or less, which is the equivalent of approximately $74.
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Katie
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The IAAF has already announced the Olympic qualification period will run from July 1st 2019 to June 29th 2020, and thus, athletes have begun to declare their ambitions to compete. Notably, Mondo Duplantis recently announced that he will be forgo his final three years of NCAA eligibility at Louisiana State University in order to pursue a professional pole vault career with the Swedish National Team. He has since signed with Puma, but took time to clarify that he loved competing as a Tiger, describing his time at LSU as a “dream come true” and “the best decision I’ve ever made in my life”. Duplantis has already qualified to compete in the 2020 Olympics. For Team USA, the same vaulters that have stood out all year have begun to make strong contentions for Olympic Qualifications. Sam Kendricks had an incredible 20182019 indoor season with five meet wins and a season best of 5.93 meters, or 19’5.5”, and was also the world leader for the vast majority of the season. In the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, he became the first American to make the podium in the men’s pole vault since the duo of Tim Mack and Toby Stevenson in 2004. He has also started his spring season on a strong note, taking second at Drake Relays in May with a jump of 5.80 meters, or 19’0.25”. He has since jumped 5.91 meters twice, in Hengelo and Oslo, and won four out of the five meets he has competed in so far. Chris Nilsen is currently ranked first in the country with his jump of 5.95 meters,
Sandi
or 19’6.25”, which he cleared at this year’s NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships to beat Mondo Duplantis. The mark was the second in a series of personal
bests that earned him the championship title. Andrew Irwin has also established himself as a force to be reckoned with going into qualification season with a season best of
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Cale
5.88 meters, or 19’3.50”, cleared in February. During Outdoor season, he has jumped 5.80 meters twice and took third at Drake Relays behind Nilsen and Kendricks. Unsurprisingly, Team USA’s current top three women are Jenn Suhr, Katie Nageotte, and Sandi
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VAULTER MAGAZINE 2019
Morris. Suhr jumped a mark of 4.91 meters, or 16’1.25”, in March, while Katie Nageotte jumped 4.86 meters, or 15’11.25”, in January. Nageotte has carried the momentum of her incredible indoor season into outdoor, and recently jumped a new outdoor personal
best of 4.81 meters, or 15’9”, while competing in Prague. Sandi Morris rounds out the current top three for Team USA with her mark of 4.76 meters, or 15’7.25”. Suhr and Morris both represented Team USA in the 2016 Olympic Games, and Morris took home second place behind Katerina Stefanidi of Greece. The International Associations of Athletic Federations, or IAAF, recently announced a novel qualification system that utilizes two tiers: athletes can either qualify with a particular height, or by their world ranking. Many athletes have taken to social media to express their disdain for the new standards, pointing out that the approved IAAF Olympic Standard times and heights are national records in some countries. The IAAF Council named 5.80 meters as the men’s pole vault entry standard, and the women’s as 4.70 meters. Just to put this into context, of the three men that represented Team USA in the 2016 Olympics, only Sam Kendricks jumped higher than 5.80 meters in the 2016 Olympic Trials. Cale Simmons and Logan Cunningham both secured Olympic bids with jumps of 5.65 meters and 5.60 meters, respectively. To make the entry standards even more complicated, the new IAAF rankings will not only be based on height during the qualification period: additional points will be added to athletes’ rankings depending on the status of the meet. Before these amendments, athletes needed to vault a qualifying height in order for the chance to compete at the Olympic Team Trials, and then
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Jenn Suhr
the top three finishers would secure an Olympic bid. These qualifying heights were 4.40 meters for the women and 5.65 meters for the men. Spectators report that by implementing stricter standards, the IAAF is attempting to bring Track and Field more into the public eye and make it a more lucrative sport before the Games. If more athletes compete at big championship and high profile meets in order to accumulate points, the level of competition will potentially draw larger crowds. Runner’s World Magazine has also reported that they believe the new standards are meant to ensure that all qualifications are valid. It is important to note that while the standards have become much more stringent for pole vault entries, other events have been hit much harder, causing uproar in the distance and mid-distance communities. While many pole vaulters from the United States have begun their seasons on a strong note with potential for Olympic qualifications, it will be interesting to see how the alterations to the IAAF qualification standards will affect athletes’ chances. The beginning of the 2019 outdoor season has already been highlighted with strong competition and many personal bests, and the season will only become more exciting as vaulters begin to set their sights on the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
2019 VAULTER MAGAZINE
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