Costa to Cal Poly

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http://www.fresnobee.com/sports/story/8 ... 2586c.html

Pole vaulter Costa will transfer to Cal Poly

By Andy Boogaard
The Fresno Bee


(Updated Thursday, July 22, 2004, 7:03 AM)


Kira Costa set the national high school record in the pole vault (13 feet, 81/2 inches) as a Memorial High senior in June 2003 at the Golden West Invitational in Sacramento. The Lemoore native chose Cal out of high school but is transferring to Cal Poly.
Darrell Wong / The Fresno Bee

Fresno felt like home, but so did San Luis Obispo. And Cal Poly has won the Kira Costa transfer sweepstakes.


"It was kind of an overall lifestyle decision, and I knew I would be comfortable there," said the reigning national high school record-holder in the pole vault who originally signed with Cal out of Memorial High in 2003.

Lemoore native Costa established the national prep standard at 13 feet, 81/2 inches in June 2003 at the Golden West Invitational in Sacramento.

UCLA sophomore Chelsea Johnson captured last month's NCAA title at 14-11/4. Hence Cal Poly's women, returning several top members from a team that finished ranked 16th, would appear to be an instant top-10 contender next spring with Costa's addition.

Twelve-year Mustangs coach Terry Crawford tried not to get ahead of herself.

"I'm excited," she said. "Kira's a proven vaulter with really good credentials, but I don't want to put any great expectations on her. Anytime someone transfers, they're making another transition that has unique circumstances. So we want her just to blend in and enjoy the experience. Then, her talent should come out."

Costa competed only in the winter indoor season for Pac-10 affiliate Cal before removing herself from the team while remaining on the Berkeley campus for academics only in the spring.

She then explored options for a university that she hoped would better fit her interests in business marketing.

She said her final four also included Oregon, UC-Davis and Fresno State. And the Bulldogs' attraction, she said, was natural, given the program's national prominence in the pole vault and her lifelong association with coach Bob Fraley, who also mentored her father, David Costa, at Lemoore High. "It makes it hard [to say no] when you know someone that long," Kira Costa said. "Coach Fraley and Fresno State track and field have had a tremendous impact on my career and life as a whole.

"I knew, to Coach Fraley, his wife and everybody there, I was more than a number and a record book."

In the end, however, Cal Poly's pull was too powerful.

Besides also boasting a rich, if not short, history in the women's pole vault -- the Mustangs produced the NCAA's first two national champions in the event in 1998-99 -- the coastal university proved to be a Costa magnet.

Her parents, David and Sheryl, met there while earning engineering degrees. And their daughter already has moved into the same student off-campus housing complex they once occupied.

"We didn't decide; it was her call all the way," Sheryl Costa said. "But, of course, we're happy."

In addition, San Luis Obispo has been the family's home away from home, a common destination for their vacations.

For all those reasons, Costa's decision to attend the Big West Conference school was predictable, said Fraley, a leading national authority in the pole vault.

"I honestly thought she'd originally go to Cal Poly [out of high school]," he said. "She's always been oriented toward Cal Poly. If we were there for meets [over the years], she was often on the sideline."

As one of the most versatile track and field athletes in Central Section history, Costa's impact at Cal Poly could extend far beyond the pole vault.

She's a former Amateur Athletic Union age-group national record-holder in the pentathlon and, as a senior at Memorial, also won the section 100-meter low hurdles championship in addition to a second straight pole vault title.

At Cal Poly, Costa will team with senior-to-be Kelly Dahl of Kingsburg. Dahl won the section's 2001 pole vault crown.

The reporter can be reached at aboogaard@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6336