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CONTENTS h c r a M
FROM THE EDITOR
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CONTINUING THE BAYLOR VAULT LEGACY
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JOHN CLARK
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2018 IAAF POLE VAULT BIOMECHANICS REPORT
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FROM THE EDITOR It’s March, and many of you college-aged athletes have just finished off your indoor season! Time to regroup and get ready for the outdoor season that will soon be upon us. About the same for high school and at the Elite level we just finished off the USATF National Championships. On the cover, we have another article written by Stuart Kantor about the two high flying men’s pole vaulters at Baylor University. K.C. Lightfoot and Riley Richards. Both of which have had an amazing season already and plan to finish off the outdoor season with and an even bigger splash. “From Kendra Phelps to Annie Rhodes. From Todd Cooper to Bill Payne. Baylor pole vault has a long and stellar tradition of producing top-notch collegiate vaulters. This tradition has
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blossomed with the current crop of vaulters, most notably the 1-2 punch of freshman KC Lightfoot and sophomore Riley Richards. “ Sure to be worth the read and give you a whole new insight into the vault world known as Texas Pole Vault.
2018 IAAF Pole Vault Biomechanics Report is the discussion of the month for Kreager Taber. She is so into this cool Biomechanics stuff, and you will be able to notice this fact right away. “If all goes perfectly in a vault, modern pole vault poles can return approximately 95% of the energy initially stored in the pole. However, with every technical inefficiency, more energy is lost. Previous research has shown that most internationally competitive vaulters can create 1-5 J/kg of body weight of net energy gain during their jumps to combat energy that may be lost due
to inefficiency. “ Man, this is some truly worth reading information. Thank you!
John Clark that Master’s Vaulter out of Texas is writing about his pole vault journey and we love it! “News flash for ol’ John Henry – two vaulting practice sessions in one day is maybe not a great idea.” Sometimes you have to learn by doing, even when it comes down to an overexcited vaulter with a teenaged mind and a Master’s body. Good for you John, we love what you do! Next month we will have our first Hall of Fame issue of Vaulter Magazine. Stay Tuned. Doug Bouma Editor, Vaulter Magazine Vaulter Club Inc. editor@thevaultermag.com
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CONTINUING THE BAYLOR VAULT LEGACY By Stuart Kantor “... no dynasty continues unbroken. Someday, you and I will be mere legends. All that matters is whether we did what we could with the life that was given to us.” ― Krishna Udayasankar
From Kendra Phelps to Annie Rhodes. From Todd Cooper to Bill Payne.
Baylor pole vault has a long and stellar tradition of producing top-notch collegiate vaulters. This tradition has blossomed with the current crop of vaulters, most notably the 1-2 punch of freshman KC
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Lightfoot and sophomore Riley Richards.
Under the tutelage of Coach Brandon Richards, who himself sits tied for sixth on the Bears’ all-time outdoor performance list at 1800.50 and number five on the all-time indoor performance list at 17-10.50, this new sleuth of Bears possesses the potential to rearrange the
performance lists and leave an unparalleled legacy.
Lightfoot, the 2018 Missouri Boys Gatorade Track Athlete of the Year and twotime state champion, is the number two high school vaulter in United States history, trailing only Mondo. His 18-05 personal best is among twelve 18-foot clearances prior to joining Baylor. Richards,
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Riley Richards
a two-time state champion who graduated China Spring High School just twelve miles from the Baylor campus eastsoutheast down China Spring Road, is a third-generation pole vaulter destined to leave his own mark on the sport.
And at the helm of this burgeoning surplus of talent is Coach Brandon Richards, who says of the Lightfoot-
Richards combination, “I knew they both had the potential to do well. They were both nationally top-ranked vaulters coming out of high school, so they both had the experience and athletic ability to compete in Division I pole vault. Riley and KC have been great friends for years, and I knew they would work well together. In practice and meets, they definitely feed
off of each other. You put two great friends together who love to pole vault and compete and good things happen.” And in this case, they happen fast.
As of this article’s writing (February 7, 2019), Lightfoot sits in sixth place (18-03.25) and Richards in tenth (17-
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09.25) among all DI vaulters (by height), second and third in the Big 12 behind the pair from Kansas, Zach Bradford and Hussain Al Hizam, both at 18-04.75. The success doesn’t faze Lightfoot, however, who states, “I expected to get better, for sure. I didn’t know exactly how it was all going to work out, but I knew some form of success would come soon.” Lightfoot now sits at number two on the alltime Baylor indoor performance list, trailing only Bill Payne’s 18-04.75. Yet there’s work to be done to attain the lofty aspiration of “the number one pole vaulter in Baylor history … Currently we are just working on my top end the most. Still trying to learn how to stay close to the pole to get a better push off, for higher bars.” At the Texas Tech Classic on January 24, 2019, Riley Richards set his personal best (17-09.25) and felt a sense of relief: “The last two years there have been a lot of ups and downs. I had not PR’d since high school. My mom and sister had driven six hours to watch me, and I was feeling under the weather, so in the moment when it finally happened, I felt a huge sense of accomplishment that reminded me why I love pole vaulting so much, and it
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exemplifies to never give up.” And a new PR means cake. “His mother started a fun tradition back in junior high,” Coach Richards explains. “Every time Riley got a PR, his mother would make him a ‘PR Cake,’ any flavor he wanted. When he does vault 18-05 (5.61m) and takes the family title from me, I am sure he will get another special ‘PR Cake’ from mom and a great big tearful hug from me!”
The family tree also includes the legendary twotime Olympic gold medalist Bob Richards, Riley’s grandfather, who “once told me that if you put in 10,000 hours of hard work, it will get you anything you want, and you can do anything.” For Riley, the goal is simple: “I want to establish Baylor as one of the best pole vaulting schools in the country while having lots of fun doing it. And, if we
Coach Brandon Richards and Son Riley Richards, with K.C. Lightfoot in the back.
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could become the best college duo along the way that would be pretty cool.”
While KC works his 6-2 frame to blend with the pole, Riley’s “approach has changed since the beginning of the year. I’m [working to] keep pressure on the pole in the middle of my swing. The next thing I really need to work on is the way I come off the ground at take-off. My ap-
proach has really improved, but with the new approach in conjunction with the improved take-off and top-hand pressure on the pole, that will allow me to push pole sizes and reach higher heights.” Both KC and Riley, like all great athletes, see beyond the horizon to the epitome of their respective sport; in this case, the Olympic Trials and perhaps even the Olympic K.C. Lightfoot
Games. “An invite would be a good chance to help and kick start a pro career,” KC says, “and it would give me my first chance at making an Olympic team.” He admits the world standard of 5.71m comes first. As for Riley, it was the London games that flamed the fire: “I truly cannot explain the feeling I felt inside of me when I saw Lavillenie pass to the Olympic record on his third attempt and clear it successfully. To me, that is when I truly fell in love with the Olympics and the sport of pole vaulting, and it was in that moment that I set my goal of going to the Olympic Games someday.”
The vault well is not only deep on the Men’s side, for sophomore Tuesdi Tidwell, at 13-05.25, sits tied for fifth place (by height) in the Big 12, and the addition of Mackenzie Hayward of Flower Mound Marcus (14-0 PR) and Riley Floerke of Gregory Portland (13-09 PR) next season will elevate the Women’s program to national prominence. “I feel tremendously blessed to have the opportunity to work with such incredibly talented athletes,” says Coach Richards. “It will be a young group of vaulters with a lot of potential. The extra depth will create a competitive atmosphere in train-
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K.C. Lightfoot
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ing, and they will all feed off each other and get better. We have a long way to go to become a powerhouse. The pole vault is very hot right now with many other strong vault programs, but it is nice to see Baylor pole vault get stronger and compete with them. It will be fun watching them all develop together.”
Before Lightfoot committed and signed with Baylor, Washington State made a hard push. Richards, on the other hand, considered Kentucky, Virginia Tech, and Texas Tech. Ultimately the draw to stay close to home and be coached by his father was too strong, a sentiment with which Coach Richards couldn’t agree more: “We have always had the best Father/ Son relationship and a great Athlete/Coach relationship. The Athlete/Coach relationship gets tough sometimes just like any. We try to go by one simple rule. On the track or at practice, I am Coach. Off the track or after practice, I am Dad. The two do mix together at times. When I need to convey something to him I know he doesn’t want to hear, coming from dad, I just remind him that ‘Right now, I’m Coach.’ However, when he
does well and PR’s the Dad side always seems to win me over. I am very blessed to be able to witness and experience all the special moments and all the struggles as Dad and as Coach. We are having a blast!”
For Lightfoot, who knew he was doing something right “in [his] first practice, because my coach kept telling me to skip steps,” and for Richards, who cleared 14-06 as an eighth grader, their athletic prowess appears to the fans as poetry, both graceful and elegant, a form of elevated diction comparable to the arc of a successful clearance. So what continues the drive for greatness? Littering both the Baylor indoor and outdoor performance lists with their accomplishments? Competing in the Olympic Trials? The Olympics?
and that I needed to try my best in everything that I do both on the track and in the classroom. I am a completely different person, just like she is.” The best a future can do is pay homage to its past, and Baylor’s pole vaulting future not only enjoys that bridge to its tradition on a daily basis, but it also revels in the knowledge that it’s creating an amazing legacy of its own. As Coach Richards tells his crew, “You become what you go for” – advice he learned and echoes from his father.
For Riley, his mom’s conquest of breast cancer changed everything: “It is hard to say my mom getting breast cancer was a good thing, because it absolutely was not, but it really opened my eyes as to how precious life is. Heading into my freshman year of college, I realized my mom was always right,
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JOHN CLARK News flash for ol’ John Henry – two vaulting practice sessions in one day is maybe not a great idea.
My good friend, Kris Allison of New Braunfels, Texas, was kind and generous enough to transport my poles to and from Reno back in January, but that left them sitting inside his practice facility two hours away from where I live, north of Austin.
Not a problem. The first chance I got, I headed down there at the crack of dawn on a Sunday to not only pick ‘em up, but also to get in a workout with my fellow Masters vaulting buddies, who I hadn’t seen since the Expo Explosion in Belton last December, and hadn’t practiced with for longer than that. When I got there, none of the gang – Cyndy, Jane, Jorge, Frank – had arrived
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yet, so I let myself in, turned on the lights, cranked up some music, and started looking around. Couldn’t find my poles anywhere – until I stepped on them. Kris being Kris, of course, had positioned them carefully for me in plain sight, neatly arranged on the ground in front of the right side of the main practice pit. I probably walked around them several times before finally finding them with my foot.
So then, I got busy warming up – arguably the toughest part of the workout. Easy jogs up and down, hop-skips, some static stretching for the adductors and hamstrings, leg swings to loosen up the hips, more easy sprints on the runway, some low hurdles, a half-dozen walking heavy pole drops, some jogging plant drills, short sprint-andjumps to extend and slap a high bar, a few more runway sprints.
Larry and Don
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OK, the left-side groin is still just a little tender after that horrific tear or whatever it was that left the inside of my thigh from knee to torso a nice, deep shade of purple, and basically sidelined me for a good eight weeks late last year, but I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. The others had arrived by now, and we went through our usual paces, with lowgrip, short-run warm-up
jumps, gradually increasing our runs and our intensity, coaching each other, offering words of encouragement, cheering, laughing, having a good time, like always.
After a while, it was time for me to pack it in, and make the trip back up Interstate 35 to the house. Hugs and handshakes all around, then I strapped my three poles to the nifty window racks on my car, cranked ‘er up and took off.
Any other time, I’d get home around 1:30, grab some lunch, have a nice shower, kick back on the couch and relax for the rest of the day. Maybe head into my little office and do some writing or painting or something. Vaulting practice is tough on these old bones – and muscles – and by the time you finish a session, then sit in a car for a couple hours on the highway, that’s pretty much it for the day.
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This time, though, I had another practice scheduled for 4 o’clock over at Jack Chapman’s, which is only about 15-20 minutes from where I live. When I told Jack I’d be there Sunday afternoon, I wasn’t thinking about the fact that I’d already also planned on the morning session that same day. I needed to retrieve my poles, so didn’t want to cancel that trip, and I’d bailed on Jack several times recently, and didn’t want to cancel on him again. So, it was time to try two workouts in one day. Not two workouts in the same week – which I’ve been advised against – but two workouts in the same day.
Needless to say, by the time I got over to Jack’s place and started trying to loosen up, my legs felt like I was wearing 20-pound ankle weights. I thought I’d never get things working right, but I kept at it, and finally joined some of the youngsters on the runway, taking short jumps, working on mechanics. Everything felt OK, and I was glad to get in the extra work on my new efforts to get better extension on my
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take-off, keeping the pole away from my body, driving it forward, and bringing my hips to my hands. I was getting fairly good at all of that, then kind of regressed a little during my injury rehab, when decent practice was impossible. The next day, Monday, I didn’t feel too bad. Went to the gym in the evening. Had a nice workout, including legs. Apparently dodged a bullet, and escaped that doublesession unscathed. On Tuesday … whoa. I was sore and tired from head to toe. Just sore, though, and not injured. Hallelujah. But I don’t think I’ll be trying two-a-days again any time soon. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I mentioned last month that I had the opportunity in Reno to spend some time with Masters champion vaulter Don Isett, who lives a few hours from me up in north Texas. Isett, 79 years old with a birthday coming up in May, was attending his 10th National Pole Vault Summit,
with his good friend and fellow Texan, Larry Bonnett, a strong-as-an-ox 69-yearold Masters vaulter.
Both guys said that although they were disappointed in their performance this year (both jumped 8-6), they thoroughly enjoyed the weekend, which included not only pole vaulting, but also a few trips to the casino. “Pole vaulters are never satisfied with their performance,” Isett said, “and I’m a pole vaulter, so … but I had a great time. I just love it. I enjoy vaulting, and I can still do it, so I just hang in there. I’ll do it as long as I can do it.”
Isett was a pole vaulter in high school, and ran the quarter-mile and mile relay under famed coach Clyde Littlefield at the University of Texas. Like so many others, his track career eventually came to an end, until he discovered Masters track and field. “I got back into it when I was 66,” Isett explained. “I’ve always done something (athletic), and I used to run at a track at Richardson High School. I met a bunch of guys
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there who were also running, and they told me about Masters track. I thought that would be fun, and I decided I’d like to try it again. “I entered a track meet, and I’ve been hooked ever since.”
Preventing injuries and recovering from them are the toughest part of vaulting,
Isett says, and he’s not exactly sure about any secret for his success. “I don’t know. Lucky, I guess. Genetics, maybe.
“Find a mentor, a coach, who will help you – recognize your faults and help you correct them. Then, just keep doing it.
“One of the biggest problems Masters pole vaulters have is finding a place to practice. I’ve been very fortunate to find Buzz Andrews and Chad Andrews. They keep an operation going year-round. It’s in Lucas, Texas. I’ve been with them probably 10 years.”
Cyndy jumping
John Clark is a freelance writer and author in central Texas who started learning to pole vault at the age of 60. For more information on him and his work, go to: https://www.johnhenryiii.com.
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Jorge jumping
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Velocity Sport USA formally Kanstet USA Roll-Out Runways with VSS-1 IAAF Surface
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The same VSS-1 Sport Surface used in Portland World Indoor Champs 2016 and the European Indoor Champs Serbia 2017, Available in the USA, now your School or Camp can Experience VSS-1 Pole Vault / Long Jump/Triple Jump runways. Available in 42” and 48” 50’ rolls List prices are $20.00 a linear ft. VSS-1 runways enhance your athletes’ running dynamics for practice and competitions with less fatigue, less Hammys, and reduced Shin Splints.
VSS-1 surface invented and formulated by Valeri Bukreyev 2-time Estonian Pole Vault Olympian 92 /96 and engineer of Kanstet Powered Portable Indoor Banked Tracks
VSS-1 IAAF Certificate
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2018 IAAF POLE VAULT
BIOMECHANICS REPORT By Kreager Taber
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The IAAF, or the International Association of Athletics Federations, is primarily known as the governing body for international track and field. However, the group has recently reaffirmed their commitment to research and furthering the sport of track and field with the release of the first ever indoor track and field biomechanics research study. The project, conducted with assistance from Leeds Beckett University, focused on the biomechanics of 13 events: the men’s and women’s 60m dash, men’s and women’s 60m hurdles, men’s high jump, men’s and women’s pole vault, men’s and women’s long and triple jump, and men’s and women’s shot put. All events were completed during the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham and recorded with 28 high speed cameras, and 161 athletes in total were analyzed during the study. While the report gave insight into successful sprint mechanics, jump technique, and other variables that could be indirectly helpful for vaulters, the pole vault analysis provides valuable insight into the run-up and take-off phases of the vault.
If all goes perfectly in a vault, modern pole vault poles are able to return approximately 95% of the energy initially stored in the pole. However, with every technical inefficiency, more energy is lost. Previous research has shown that most internationally competitive vaulters are able to create 1-5 J/kg of bodyweight of net energy gain during their jumps to combat energy that may be lost due to inefficiency. Counterintuitively, not every successful vaulter has a net gain of energy during the jump: faster vaulters are not able to be as mechanistically efficient as slower vaulters once the vault has begun. These findings were also sound for both men and women, but researchers have now noted differences between men’s and women’s vault-
ing styles due to women jumping on shorter and softer poles. In the women’s pole vault competition, twelve jumpers competed, including Sandi Morris, who took gold with 4.95 meters and Anzhelika Sidorova who got silver with 4.90 meters. Researchers placed cameras in five different positions to film the vaults and calibrated them prior to competition to ensure successful data analysis. Using each vaulters’ most technically sound and successful jump, they calculated the vaulters’ mean runway velocities during the last six steps of their approaches, the distance from the vaulters’ 3rd last step to the pit, and the total number of steps the vaulters took. Interestingly, Katie Nageotte had the fastest mean runway velocity with 8.33 meters per second, while Morris was just behind her with 8.30 meters per second. Morris also was the farthest away from the pit on her 3rd last step. The researchers also calculated the vaulters’ velocities at their 2nd last and last step. While Morris slowed down on her 2nd last step, Sidorova sped up. While the data did show some clear patterns that correlated with performance, other variables studied did not seem to have strong relationship to the height the athlete jumped. In the analysis of the women’s vault compe-
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tition, the researchers concluded that approach velocity was the most crucial variable to ensure success, and the four fastest athletes were all top five finishers. Intuitively, those who lost the least velocity between the runway, pole plant, and takeoff were also found to be more likely to jump higher. This could be done by taking off outside, allowing the vaulter to jump with a narrower handgrip and complete a stronger swing. For example, Sidorova took off 15 cm outside of what was expected from her hand grip, permitting her to perform a free takeoff, complete an extremely powerful swing, and convert the most horizontal energy into vertical height.
In the men’s vault competition, Renaud Lavillenie took gold with 5.90 meters
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and Sam Kendricks took silver based on countback. The men’s results mirrored the women’s in that a strong relationship between runway velocity and height was seen. For example, although Lavillenie was not the fastest athlete on the runway, he maintained his velocity through the takeoff rather than losing velocity during the pole plant. The most successful male vaulters also accelerated into their last step, but the researchers noted that it is unclear if this behavior is typical of the athletes outside of the competition. Interestingly, the free takeoff technique was not noted to be a successful model for the men, even though it was described as practical in the women’s vault. However, the payoff of attempted free takeoffs in the form of a more powerful swing was compared to the
“tuck and shoot” technique for efficiency. There was also more variability seen in the men’s takeoff mechanics, and researchers did not describe an “ideal” takeoff due to the varying individual jumping styles. Comparing the men’s and women’s analyses, the women’s takeoff phase seems to lose less kinetic energy. The researchers noted that women’s pole vault is still a quickly developing sport and that the future may prove brightest for tall, fast, athletes with gymnastics backgrounds. This study was meant to follow up on a pilot biomechanics project using data collected during the 2017 World Championships in London. To analyze the more than 650 video files captured during the competition, a team of 25 individuals including students, academics, and techni-
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cal staff was employed. In addition to the in-depth analysis of the pole vault approach and takeoff, this project was also the first to capture the starts for the 60m dash in three dimensions, the first to highlight the importance of the first 10m of the 60m with scientific data, and furthered research of men’s high jump by breaking the event into 31 biomechanical variables. According to Dr. Athanassios Bissas, the Head of Biomechanics at the Carnegie School
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of Sport at Leeds Beckett University and lead researcher of the project, data from this initial project has been downloaded in 204 countries and over 12,700 times. Dr. Bissas believes the findings of this newer research will excite the track and field community in the same fashion. The findings of both studies are available to download on the IAAF website, and the citations for both publications are included below.
References Hanley, B., Gravestock, H. J., Bissas, A. and Merlino, S. (2019). Biomechanical Report for the IAAF World Indoor Championships 2018: Pole Vault Men. Birmingham, UK: International Association of Athletics Federations. Hanley, B., Gravestock, H. J., Bissas, A. and Merlino, S. (2019). Biomechanical Report for the IAAF World Indoor Championships 2018: Pole Vault Women. Birmingham, UK: International Association of Athletics Federations.
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