Coach Brian Finney

[Bubba PV]

I met Brian at Landover for indoors. What a nice guy!! Looks like he enjoys helping out the kids too. Bubba

http://www.the-daily-record.com/news/ar ... FORM=ZZNR2

Area sports briefs: Coach Finney hits beach to compete
Email To A Friend
Printer Friendly
Comments
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

about 6 hours ago

Brian Finney, the girls track coach at Triway High School, pole vaults on the shores of Lake Michigan earlier this month. Finney won his age group (25-29) with a jump of 14-0 at the Grand Haven Beach Vault.
By CHRISTY JOHNSON

Daily Record Sports Writer

After helping high school athletes learn how to pole vault all spring, Triway girls track coach Brian Finney was ready to be on the other side of the bar this summer.

But the venue was not your typical pole vault pit.

Finney competed on the shore of Lake Michigan at the Grand Haven Beach Vault, in Grand Haven, Mich., July 16 and 17.

It is the second time in three years Finney has traveled north for the lake-side competition.

Event organizers created the vaulting area by excavating parts of the shore flat in order to place platform runways leading up to two separate pits.

"The runways were raised off the ground, so it was a little bit bouncy," Finney said. "We were basically running on wood with a roll out track surface on top."

Lake-front winds were also another element many vaulters were not used to, but because of how the pits were organized, they could utilize them as tailwinds.

The unique conditions didn't slow down Finney, who was a pole vaulter at Malone University before becoming a Titan track coach. He took first place in his the 25-29 age group with a vault of 14-feet, which was also the best jump in the Masters Division, age 25 and up.

"There was actually another guy who cleared 14 in the 30-35 division, but I didn't have any misses up until the last height," Finney said.

To prepare for the event, Finney practiced a few times at his alma mater earlier in the summer, and said he also has drills here and there whenever he can.

"I can't put in full practices very consistently, but I like to try and get two or three before a competition to get my timing down," Finney said. "After being a high school and college athlete, and coaching the event, the fundamentals and basics come back pretty quickly. It is just the actual timing that I have to get back with practices."

This past weekend, Finney competed in a decathlon at Malone and got to try his hand at several of the events, including the 100-meter dash, 110 high hurdles, the long jump and discus, that he was in during his college career.

"I think it is kind of neat for the high school athletes to see that their coach is still out there competing," Finney said. "That he is not just saying 'back in the day I used to do this.'"

[jumpmanmike]

I was the other guy who jumped 14 ft. hehe. What a nice article for Brian. He was alot of fun to jump with. Hopefully we get to jump together some more.