LEXINGTON, Ky. – Toby Stevenson, an Olympic Silver Medalist who also has credentials as an NCAA Champion coach and competitor will join the University of Kentucky track and field staff for the 2014-15 season.
Stevenson will work with the Wildcats’ vertical jumpers and multi-events competitors.I am thrilled to be coaching at the University of Kentucky,” Stevenson said. “It’s exciting to join Coach Floréal and the rest of his staff on this journey of raising Kentucky track and field more and more into the limelight. UK is an amazing university academically and has an unsurpassed athletic reputation. I look forward to bringing the same skill, education, passion and determination it took to win my Olympic medal into my coaching. I also look forward to the challenge of helping the University of Kentucky track and field team win at the highest level.”

Stevenson, who previously worked under Floréal at Stanford from 2010 until 2012 – when the head coach took over at Kentucky – has coached an NCAA Champion and multiple All-Americans over the course of his career.

He most recently worked in athletics while living in Sweden.  more

Jefferson’s DeVivo set to continue track career at Slippery Rock  –When Jefferson’s Kaydee DeVivo first started pole vaulting as a freshman for the Falcons, she knew it was the event for her.
Coming off a competitive gymnastics career, the pole vault seemed like a natural transition and it proved to be a successful one.
DeVivo made it to the Division II regional track meet in the pole vault all four years of her career at Jefferson and now she will get to continue her track and field career at Slippery Rock University this fall.
“When I first joined track my freshman year I was just getting out of gymnastics, so they saw me as a gymnast and said ‘you’re going to vault,’ I didn’t really have a choice,” she recalled. “I didn’t have a big understanding of what to do. I got to work with all upperclassmen, there were no other girl vaulters so I worked with all upper classmen boys.
“I was the first girl to come into it and I loved it instantly. I knew I wanted to keep going with it and I continue to love it each year.”
DeVivo said she first got interested in Slippery Rock because her coach, Steve Locy, was an alumni and once she found out it had a strong exercise science program she realized it was the place for her.  more

Canada –University of Windsor Lancers track and field head coach Dennis Fairall boasts a recruiting class of 39 athletes for the upcoming season.“This recruiting class is very talented,” said Fairall, who gave credit to assistant coach and recruitment officer Jenn O’Brien for her work in bringing in the new talent. “We have allocated a great deal of scholarship money for these athletes. I am very excited to see what the Lancers can do this year.”Of the 39 athletes coming in, 15 of the new recruits are local products. The class also features WECSSAA senior boys’ pole vault record holder Devan Primeau

CHARLESTON, Illinois – Instead of football workouts, Chase Black is working on a farm this summer.His football career may have ended with a senior season at Charleston High School. Which is harder

– football or farm work – may depend on the day.But Black leaves no doubt when comparing this summer to those of the past when he always spent time training for his first love of pole vaulting. That career is still going and the Illinois Prep Top Times Indoor Class 2A state champion and IHSA Class 2A outdoor state runner-up has a workout schedule set by his future Southern Illinois Carbondale track and field vaulting coach Brian Porter.“It’s more scheduled and more basically telling me what to do,” Black said of the workouts. “It’s set in stone what you have to do instead of doing what I was doing.“It’s a lot of lifting and running. It’s a lot harder than I’ve done in the past.”But this is what Black wanted, a chance to continue his career in college.After finishing fourth in the Class 2A state finals as a sophomore and third as a junior, his opportunity to compete in the Missouri Valley Conference was helped when he attended an SIU camp in the winter at Carbondale.“Earlier in the winter I went to a pole vault camp,” Black said. “I hadn’t gotten recruited by the coach before. I got to know the coach. I met some of the kids there and it seemed like a good fit. I ended up taking the official visit there.”Porter, who coaches the Saluki vaulters and javelin throwers as an assistant to SIUC head coach and former Olympian Connie Price-Smith, apparently liked enough of what he saw from Black to offer him a spot on the teamHe has not changed his mind since the signing.  more

Rick Valcin, a 2012 graduate of Cowley College, is representing Saint Lucia at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland. Valcin is competing in the pole vault and 100-meter dash, and as part of the 4×100-meter relay team. While at Cowley, Valcin was an all-conference and all-region pole vaulter during the 2012 indoor season, and the conference and region pole vault champion during the 2012 outdoor season. Valcin went on to place fifth in the pole vault at the 2012 NJCAA Track and Field Outdoor Championships. He also represented Saint Lucia at the prestigious Pan American Games in 2011 in Guadalajara, Mexico. Cowley head track and field coach Mark Phillips is proud to see his former athlete earn the opportunity to compete at the Commonwealth Games, the third largest multi-sport event in the world, after the Olympic Games and the Asian Games. “It’s an amazing accomplishment considering where Rick came from,” Phillips said. “I knew he had the ability, but he did not have much of a background in the pole vault when he came to school here. “He was a great person to work with and his athletic ability combined with his work ethic have led him to where he is today.” This past season, while competing at the University of Dubuque in Iowa, Valcin won the 2014 NCAA D-III Pole Vault National Championship by clearing a school record 16 feet, 10.75 inches, the highest mark in Division III this year. He also won the 100-meter dash and pole vault at the Iowa Conference Championships. For his efforts, Valcin was named the University of Dubuque Male Student-Athlete of the Month for April and May. more

TEMPE, Ariz.—On July 28, 1996, Arizona State track and field ushered in a new era with the hiring of head coach Greg Kraft.

Since his hiring, the program has continued to evolve into one of the most well rounded in the nation with strength on the track, in the field, and in cross country. Kraft and his staff have worked diligently to reach their goals of championships and success in education.

From Jacquelyn Johnson’s first NCAA title in 2004, to Shelby Houlihan and Bryan McBride’s titles in 2014, Kraft’s athletes have amassed 32 individual NCAA titles, and four team crowns, which came in 2007 and 2008.

After taking over the program in 1996, the second-longest tenured coach in ASU track & field history (Baldy Castillo led the way for 26 seasons) has built a program that consistently attracts the top talent in the nation to Tempe that challenges for national titles, conference gold and high academic achievements. A four-time USTFCCCA National Coach of the Year and three-time Pac-12 Conference Coach of the Year, Kraft has become a highly decorated coach that continually works with some of the highest decorated student-athletes.

In recent years, the likes of seven-time NCAA champion Johnson (a Honda Award finalist) and six-time NCAA champion Ryan Whiting (a Bowerman Award finalist) have been a part of Kraft’s program, leading the way in competition and establishing a tradition that continues to grow. Since the 2004-05 academic year, the Sun Devils have won four NCAA titles, three Pac-10 crowns and placed in the Top 4 nationally 12 times, including twice in cross country.

In 2012, The ASU men’s team bounced back from not scoring a point at the 2011 NCAA Indoor Championships to scoring 31 at the 2012 NCAA Championships to take fourth overall, marking the fourth top-ten finish in the past five years for the Sun Devil and was the second trophy-earning finish in that time frame. Jordan Clarke (shot put) and Mason McHenry (800m) each won NCAA titles in their respective events, the first time each had done so during an indoor season and the first overall championship for McHenry while Kraft was tabbed the MPSF Conference Men’s Coach of the Year and earned USTFCCCA West Region Men’s Coach of the Year honors as well. Chris Benard – who trained directly under Kraft – was named the USTFCCCA West Region Field Athlete of the Year. The ASU men scored 131.5 points at the MPSF Championships and posted a 50-point margin of victory – both the highest tallies in the last decade of men’s MPSF competition.

Outdoors, the men’s team finished 16th at the NCAA Outdoor Championships with 18 points and second at the 2012 Pac-12 Championships with 116.50 points. Clarke won his third consecutive NCAA shot put title and defended his 2011 outdoor crown with a new personal best throw of 20.40m (66-111.25) and defeated his competition by over three feet and gave Arizona State its fourth consecutive NCAA shot put title (Ryan Whiting won in 2009 and 2010) and between Whiting and Clarke, the program has now won eight of the last 10 NCAA shot put competitions between the indoor and outdoor campaigns.

For the women in 2012, Anna Jelmini earned her second consecutive indoor All-America honor in the shot put with her fifth-place finish and a throw of 17.15m (56-03.25) and followed that with a second place finish in the discus at the outdoor championships. Under Kraft’s tutelage, Keia Pinnick finished fifth in the heptathlon and Christabel Nettey eighth in long jump while Constance Ezugha earned second-team All-America honors in the long jump.

Success was once again found during the 2011 season as Clarke added to the growing list of Sun Devil national champions as he captured the outdoor shot put title, keeping the event win in Tempe for the third year in a row. His program also continued to show improvement in the classroom as 25 individuals earned academic honors from the Pac-10 while Jamie Sandys (second team) and Ben Engelhardt (third team) were both named Academic All-Americans.

The 2010 season was no different as the talented Sun Devil men finished fourth at the NCAA Outdoor Championships on the strength of two titles won by Whiting and a runner-up finish in the 400m dash by Donald Sanford. Whiting, who finished three centimeters shy of equaling the collegiate record in the shot put, captured his fifth national crown in the event and added a discus title to his mantle after his three-peat indoors in the shot put. The men had three Top 8 finishers in the shot put and also earned All-America honors in the 4x400m relay. On the women’s side, Jasmine Chaney was one of only four women nationally to qualify to the NCAA meet in both hurdle events and eventually finished fifth overall in the 400m hurdles to earn All-America honors.

Academically, the men were well represented in 2010 again as Whiting was named the USTFCCCA Indoor and Outdoor Scholar-Athlete of the Year (field events) while the men’s team earned the USTFCCCA Outdoor Track & Field Scholar Team of the Year honor. Eight individual men and five women earned national academic honors from the Association as well.

In 2009, Whiting won a pair of national titles in the shot put, Jason Lewis captured the indoor weight throw and Sarah Stevens earned five All-America honors to help the women to a pair of Top 5 finishes as a team. All three also were selected ESPN The Magazine Academic All-Americans. While those three found success in the field events, Sun Devils like Charonda Williams, Jasmine Chaney and Brandon Bethke also were highly successful on the track to continue Kraft’s tradition of balance in the program across the board.

During his time in Tempe, the Sun Devils have won four national team titles, 32 individual national titles and earned 363 All-America honors, including 113 in individual track & field events, 84 in relays and 20 in cross country. On the conference level, Kraft’s Sun Devils have won three Pac-12 and three MPSF team titles (two women’s, one men’s) and collected 144 total conference crowns, including 81 individual Pac-12 titles and 16 relay wins outdoors while adding 69 MPSF individual titles and 11 in the relays.

Some of the more successful Sun Devils in program history have become multiple champions under Kraft, including men’s champions Aaron Aguayo, the only four-time steeplechase champion in conference history; Marcus Brunson (100m and 200m champion in the same season) and a pair of two-time long jump champions in Dwight Phillips and Matt Turner. On the women’s side, Tiffany Greer is the only three-time long jump champion; Charonda Williams is the only woman to sweep the 100m and 200m in back-to-back years; and distance stalwarts Lisa Aguilera (steeplechase) and Kelly MacDonald (5,000m) both won twice at the Pac-10 meet.

Away from Tempe, several of his athletes have traded in their maroon and gold and put on their nation’s colors in international competition. Some of those Team USA members include 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist Phillips (long jump) and 2008 Beijing Olympians Jacquelyn Johnson (heptathlon, USA), Trevell Quinley (long jump, USA) and Joel Phillip (400m, Grenada). Johnson and Quinley both were U.S. Trials Champions before heading to the Summer Games.

The academic side of the student-athlete also has found great success under Kraft. As a team, the his women have twice been named the USTFCCCA All-Academic Team of the Year for track & field while continually placing multiple individuals on several academic teams. Lewis was named the USTFCCCA Men’s Division Indoor Field Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2009, marking the fifth national honor the program has received. Sun Devils have been selected Academic All-Americans by CoSIDA a total of 21 times under Kraft while there have been 107 honors as part of the National All-Academic selections made by the USTFCCCA. In the Pac-12, hundreds individuals have earned first or second team honors in track & field while more than 70 have been selected to the same teams in cross country.

During the 2009 season, the Sun Devils again were successful on the national stage as both teams were fifth indoors while the women were third outdoors and the men eighth outdoors. Those finishes marked the 10th time the women have earned a trophy (Top 4 nationally) under Kraft since the 2005 cross country season, the eighth Top 10 finish in a row for the women and the fourth in a row for the men. With high team finishes come strong individual showings and that was certainly the case as three national titles were won, including Whiting in the indoor and outdoor shot put and Lewis in the indoor weight throw. In all, Lewis led the way for the men as a four-time All-American in 2009 (indoor shot put, indoor weight throw, outdoor discus, outdoor hammer) while Stevens (indoor shot put and weight and outdoor shot put, hammer and discus) and Williams (indoor 60m, 200m, 4x400m and outdoor 100m, 200m and 4x100m) led the way for the women.

The 2007 and 2008 seasons were perhaps the most `golden’ times in Kraft’s tenure so far as his women won three national titles and the men one, including a sweep of both crowns at the 2008 indoor meet. In 2008, Johnson won the sixth and seventh national titles of her career, including her third indoor pentathlon with a collegiate record score and her fourth outdoor heptathlon title, while Kyle Alcorn captured a pair of titles, including the indoor 3,000m run and the outdoor 3,000m steeplechase. Whiting also set the collegiate indoor shot put mark while winning his first national crown. The women also nearly swept the team titles for a second year in a row, falling just short of LSU in the outdoor meet to snap a three-title streak (2007 indoor, 2007 outdoor, 2008 indoor). The women also added their third-consecutive Pac-10 title and an MPSF crown.

The 2007 season was certainly one for the record books as well as four women combined to win five individual national titles to carry the Sun Devils to both the 2007 NCAA Indoor and 2007 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, the first national crowns in program history for the women. Kraft’s women coupled that success with a pair of conference titles, winning the indoor MPSF and outdoor Pac-10 Championships, while also winning the NCAA West Region for the first time. The women’s Pac-10 title was their second in a row and it was almost a sweep as the men fell three points shy of their first crown since 1981.

Individually, Johnson defended her national titles in the indoor pentathlon and outdoor heptathlon while the shot put was swept by Sun Devils with Stevens and Pressley winning the indoor and outdoor crowns, respectively. Kubishta won the outdoor pole vault, giving ASU it’s first title in the event since 1994, when Olympic champion Hysong took gold. All-told, 10 different women combined to secure 18 All-America honors in 2007, including three by senior Amy Hastings, who tied Maicel Malone for the most all-time in ASU history with 10 (Stevens later broke that record with 15 in her career). That record has since been broke by Stevens, who ended her career in 2009 with 15 total honors. The men also turned in solid performances throughout the year, including Aguayo, who captured the 3,000m steeplechase at the Pac-10 Championships, becoming only the 11th athlete in Pac-10 history to win the same event four times. The third-place finisher at the national meet, Aguayo was one of five men that earned All-America honors in 2007, including Turner, the 2007 Pac-10 champion, in the indoor long jump and Whiting, a redshirt freshman, in the indoor and outdoor shot put.

BY THE NUMBERS

Team Titles: 4

Individual NCAA Titles: 32

All-America Honors: 363 (113 individual, 84 relay, 20 cross country)

Pac-12 Titles: 3

MPSF Titles: 3

Pac-12 Individual Titles: 144 (81 individual, 16 relay)

MPSF Individual Titles: 80 (69 individual, 11 relay)

Coach Kraft’s NCAA Champions
Indoor Track & Field
2013
Jordan Clarke (Shot Put)

2012
Jordan Clarke (Shot Put)
Mason McHenry (800m)

2010
Ryan Whiting (Shot Put)

2009
Jason Lewis (Weight Throw)
Ryan Whiting (Shot Put) 

2008
Jacquelyn Johnson (Pentathlon)
Kyle Alcorn (3000m Run)
Ryan Whiting (Shot Put)

2007
Jacquelyn Johnson (Pentathlon)
Sarah Stevens (Shot Put) 

2006
Amy Hastings (5000m Run)
Jacquelyn Johnson (Pentathlon)

Outdoor Track & Field
2014
Shelby Houlihan (1500m Run)
Bryan McBride (High Jump)

2013
Chelsea Cassulo (Hammer Throw)
Anna Jelmini (Discus)

2012
Jordan Clarke (Shot Put)

2011
Jordan Clarke (Shot Put)

2010
Ryan Whiting (Shot Put and Discus)

2009
Ryan Whiting (Shot Put)

2008
Kyle Alcorn (3000m Steeplechase)
Jacquelyn Johnson (Heptathlon)
Jessica Pressley (Shot Put)
Sarah Stevens (Discus)

2007
Jacquelyn Johnson (Heptathlon)
April Kubishta (Pole Vault)
Jessica Pressley (Shot Put)

2006
Victoria Jackson (10,000m Run)
Jacquelyn Johnson (Heptathlon)

2004
Jacquelyn Johnson (Heptathlon)

Pauley Pavilion and Drake Stadium are filling up with water.  A water main burst with a massive torrent of water close to UCLA’s campus, and the campus is rapidly flooding, including all the major athletic venues.

MESA, AZ – While it is almost common knowledge among Mesa athletic fans that two MCC teams won national championships during the 2013-14 year what may have slipped unnoticed was an individual national title in track and field. That is our No. 11 achievement for 2013-14.

Mesa had the great fortune of hosting the NJCAA Track and Field national championship this past spring and MCC’s own Jacob Flores (So., Tempe, AZ/Seton Catholic H.S.) won first place in the pole vaulting competition.Flores’ jump of 15-11 on his first attempt proved to be enough to capture the top spot.   After passing at the opening height, he cleared the bar four straight times as heights were increased. Flores then was unable to clear at 16-2 3/4 and watched intently as his top competitor, Bo Hadddock of Paradise Valley also missed. Haddock, however, had missed twice at lower heights. When Haddock hit the bar on his final try Flores leaped in the air, celebrating his title.

This makes the second straight national championship in the pole vault for the T-Birds, last year being won by Pau Tonnesen. In 2010, Robbie Haynie also won the pole vault title for the T-Birds.

GLASGOW, Scotland–Reigning Pac-12 pole vault champion and hometown hero Jax Thoirs of the University of Washington finished fourth in the men’s pole vault competition at the Commonwealth Games at Hampden Park Stadium. Representing Scotland, Thoirs cleared 17-10 1/2 (5.45m), the same height as bronze medalist Shawn Barber of Canada, the reigning NCAA indoor pole vault champ from Akron.  Thoirs ended up fourth based on needing one more attempt to clear 17-10 1/2. Steve Lewis of England won the pole vault competition with a jump of 18-2 1/2 (5.55m) to move up from his second place finish four years ago in Delhi, India.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The famed hardwood court at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion will be replaced because of damage caused when 20 million gallons of water cascaded onto campus from a broken water main, the school announced Friday.In addition, the university began removing hundreds of cars that were swamped in underground parking structures.Athletic Director Dan Guerrero said in a statement that the entire floor at Pauley will be replaced by the end of October, and no regular season basketball games would be affected.No details were provided on the cost of replacing the floor.Pauley Pavilion underwent a $136 million upgrade just two years ago.New flooring also will be installed at the Hall of Fame at the J.D. Morgan Center and at a court in the John Wooden Center that is used for women’s volleyball games, Guerrero said.The announcement came as the university continued to clean up the mucky mess that occurred Tuesday when a century-old pipe broke on nearby Sunset Boulevard.The amount of water released represented about 4 percent of the total used by the entire city on an average day and occurred in the midst of an epic state drought.Elsewhere on campus, a parade of tow trucks removed about 400 vehicles that were submerged in the deluge, UCLA spokesman Tod Tamberg said. The process could take several days because workers were still pumping out water and digging through muck and debris.About 270 cars not damaged by water were removed earlier, and made available to owners.UCLA officials said six facilities were damaged in the flooding. Two — the Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center and the Drake Track and Field Stadium — were reopened Thursday, Tamberg said.At the site of the broken main, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power crews cut away 66 feet of the damaged steel pipe. The ruptured section will be sent to DWP corrosion experts for analysis.The Y-shaped junction will be replaced with a T-shaped connector for three pipes that will have extra steel plating to protect the joint. Crews were preparing two, 36-inch-diameter butterfly valves, each weighing two tons, as part of the repairs, a DWP statement said.The repairs were expected to continue through Friday or early Saturday, with work then beginning to repair a gaping hole in the heavily traveled street.

The Paradise Valley Community College Pumas are excited to announce the hiring of Brian Batliner as their new track & field co-head coach. Batliner will join Dave Barney in leading the Pumas during the 2015 track season. In addition to his track duties, Batliner will also assist the athletic department with its student-athlete academic success programs and initiatives on a year-round basis.

Batliner comes to PV from Johnson County CC in Overland Park, KS. He was with the Cavaliers for six seasons serving as an assistant coach for both cross country and track & field. His track & field coaching focus while at JCCC included long jump, triple jump, high jump, pole vault, and multi-events.

Prior to joining the JCCC coaching staff Batliner was a student-athlete at University of Missouri Kansas City, Western State College and JCCC. He was a runner for the JCCC cross country and track teams from 2003-05. He was a five-time All-American, five-time All-Region VI performer, seven-time All-Kansas Jayhawk Conference performer, and two-time conference indoor champion in the mile. From JCCC Batliner transferred to WSC. He spent three semesters at WSC as a redshirt member of the squad. He enrolled at UMKC in fall 2007 and joined the Kangaroos track & field squad where he was one of the team’s leading runners among the distance corps.

Batliner earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at UMKC in 2008. In 2010, he earned a Level 1 coaching certificate from USATF. He is currently completing an MS in health, physical education and recreation from Emporia State University

College pole vault looks a lot like high school pole vault! Here are some of the drills that we do that high schoolers can do as well. Hope it helps in some way.

Please pray for Pole Vault Coach Adam Driver who is in the ICU at Saint Francis Medical Center in Grand Island, NE. Cards and letters can be sent to him at 2620 W Faidley Ave, Grand Island, NE 68803. He is recovering from spinal surgery following an accident at his job site.  Adam is entering his third season as an assistant coach.  In addition to Adam’s three years at Hastings College, he has already had success coaching at the high school level.  He recently coached a high school state champion pole-vaulter as well as an All-American Heptathlon athlete.  These are only two highlights of the many other high school state medalist Driver has coached.  Adam is a Hastings College Alum who participated in track and field.  While at Hastings College, Adam was a national qualifier in the pole vault earning a ninth place national finish with a vault of 16 feet.

Caption:College Track & Field: Millrose Games: USC Bob Seagren during pole vault competiton at Madison Square Garden. New York, NY 1/26/1967 CREDIT: Neil Leifer (Photo by Neil Leifer /Sports Illustrated/Getty Images) (Set Number: X12172 )

The University of Mississippi has long been known to fans of its sports teams and to students by the nickname “Ole Miss.” But a new announcement from the school’s leadership indicates that they will try and phase out use of the nickname because some fear it calls to mind the state’s history of racism. “UM’s longstanding nickname is beloved by the vast majority of its students and alumni,” reads an official statement from the school that was released Friday, according to the National Review. “But a few, especially some university faculty, are uncomfortable with it. Some don’t want it used at all and some simply don’t want it used within the academic context,” the statement reads. – See more at: http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/university-mississippi-use-ole-miss-nickname-less-frequently-future#sthash.niANfcac.dpuf

Longview, Texas –Lindsey Sechrist had an impressive career as a pole vaulter at Spring Hill High School. In four years, she qualified for the state tournament three times. The only time she didn’t make it to Austin was as a sophomore when an ankle injury sidelined her. Sechrist returned from the injury as a junior and made it back to state. She got hurt midway through the state meet and recorded a seventh-place finish. As a senior, Sechrist went to state in her final opportunity and reached the podium with a height of 11-06 to place third in Class 3A. With her high school career complete, Sechrist will now take her talents to the college level. She will attend Indiana Tech University in Fort Wayne, Indiana. “They called me one day, and I looked through everything, and I was interested,” she said. “I went up there, and every building is only about two years old. It’s a small campus, and when you stand in the middle of campus, it feels like a small town. But it’s a 250,000 population city, so it’s the best of both worlds.” Sechrist chose Indiana Tech over Texas A&M-Commerce and Illinois State. more

Carolina Carmichael finally broke through in April. A sophomore pole vaulter at Memphis University and a former IHSA state champion while at Lake Forest High School, Carmichael was competing in a meet at Auburn. For years, she had been fixated on one height. She’d tried countless times in practice and succeeded. But in meets, she’d failed to clear the bar. “I never made it to 13 feet. As soon as the bar went up, I would change something (in my routine),” Carmichael said. “I tried making excuses, but it was all in my head.” At the Auburn meet, she easily cleared 12-foot-7 on her first jump. The bar was raised to 12-10. She leaped over it. Next would be 13-1. “This is where I usually have a bad block,” Carmichael said. But the familiar feeling of tension that before had overwhelmed her body was replaced by tranquility. Her mind free of anxiety, she sprinted down the runway and leaped over the bar. She had done it. She had eclipsed 13 feet. “Two and a half years of frustrating times, and at that moment, it clicked,” Carmichael said. “I was screaming.” For Carmichael, clearing 13 feet represented more than a personal record. She conquered what can typically be the heaviest burden for an otherwise high-performing athlete: mental inhibition. And as the rest of Carmichael’s season proved, once that hurdle is scaled, the next one often becomes easier. more

Mount Marty College signed three area athletes for its pole vaulting program, and all three placed in their respective state meets.Emily Boyle from Creighton, Nebraska, and Adam Haigh from Bloomfield, Nebraska, as well as Christina Herrboldt from Menno, will join the Lancers starting this fall.The recruiting process was pretty painless for the athletes, they said.“The recruiting process started with my high school coach mentioning to me that a Mount Marty coach was interested in me for pole vault, so I filled out a questionnaire and Coach (Randy) Fischer contacted me that same day. Everything from there went very smooth,” Herrboldt said.“I felt the recruiting process went very smoothly. I talked to Coach Fisher a few times and it sounded like a great program,” Boyle said.Because Mount Marty is a smaller school, these small town kids felt it was a better fit for them, Herrboldt said.“I won’t be known as just a number, I’ll be known as an actual person in my classes,” she said.Joining a program looking to make waves in pole vault was an attractive quality, Haigh said.“I knew I wanted a smaller school and Mount Marty took interest in me,” he said. “I choose Mount Marty because they are looking to build their pole vaulting program and I think I can help them.”“Mount Marty is a place where I can excel in education along with athletics,” Boyle said.The athletes aren’t too worried about the transition from high school athletics to college.“I think it will be just fine,” Haigh said. “I love pole vaulting and will handle the work load to the best of my abilities.”“There will be a lot more really tough competition in college, but I am excited to begin a new season,” Boyle said.These athletes have set the bar high with their goals.“I want to clear 12 feet by the time I graduate, and also to maybe even qualify for nationals,” said Boyle, who holds her high school’s record of 10 feet. more

San Diego, California – The San Diego State track and field team released its 2014 recruiting class, head coach Shelia Burrell announced today. The 14-member class will feature athletes across seven disciplines, including six sprinters, three distance runners, two pole vaulters, two jumpers, a hurdler, a jumper and a mid-distance runner. Bonnie Draxler is a great addition to our program. She is one of the top high school pole vaulters in the country and she will be someone who can pole vault and add depth in the sprints for us during the season. I’m excited about our sprint class this year because each of them are talented young women who can come together for a couple great relays.” Bonnie Draxler (Wrightstown, Wis./Wrightstown HS) joins SDSU’s rich tradition in the pole vault after dominating the prep ranks at Wrightsville High School in Wrightsville, Wis. Draxler, who was named an All-America selection by Track & Field News and was picked as the No. 1 pole vaulter in the nation in 2013, recently finished 11th at the 2014 IAAF World Junior Championships with a mark of 13 feet, 5 ¼ inches (4.10 meters) after taking second at the USATF Junior Championships in 13-11.25 (4.25m). The 13-11.25 would rank as the fourth-best mark in school history. Draxler, who also was second in the 2013 USATF Junior Championships and has a seventh-place finish at the 2013 Pan American Junior Championships to her credit, finished her high school career with 13 Wisconsin state titles, including six in the pole vault (2011-14 outdoor, 2011 & 2014 indoor), four in the outdoor 400 (2011-14), where she owns a PR of 56.16, two in the 100 (2013-14) and one in the indoor 55 (2014). Draxler also helped the Tigers capture the 2011 state championship. Courtney Jackson (Ramona, Calif./Ramona HS) is the other pole vaulter in this year’s class and is a local product out of Ramona High School in Ramona, Calif. Jackson’s best indoor mark is 10-03.00 (3.12m), while her outdoor best is 11-07.00 (3.53m). Jackson, who competed at each of the past two California state championships, won the CIF San Diego Division II pole vault in 2014 after taking second in the DI meet in 2013. Additionally, she’s a two-time Valley League pole vault champion. An all-league selection in the pole vault, Jackson also was a magna cum laude graduate.  more