http://www.journalnet.com/articles/2005 ... orts03.txt
Alumni vaulter stars at Mountain State Games
By Brady Slater - Journal Sports Editor
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POCATELLO - Paul Litchfield might be done competing for Idaho State, but the 24-year-old is still big man on campus when it comes to track and field.
There was Litchfield at the corner of the pole vaulting pit, cajoling fellow vaulters throughout Saturday's competitions at the Mountain State Games.
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'I could watch pole vaulting all day,"he said.
And he did, one day after jumping higher than any vaulter in Holt Arena history.
Litchfield's 18-foot, 4 1/2-inch vault might have set him apart, but it also served to bring the already-gregarious competitor closer to everyone around him.
'It made me want to do better,"said Idaho State freshman Levi Keller of watching Litchfield's assault on the vault. "I no heighted yesterday, but he made me want to go out and follow suit."
Keller did, vaulting a personal best 14-6 during the heptathlon competition, in which he finished fifth, despite it being the first time he'd tackled the challenging multi-event.
Endurance, of the mental variety, is something Litchfield struggled with over the past two years. He opened the 2003 season with an 18-0 1/2 vault at the Reno Pole Vault Summit. The mark tied his predecessor and good friend Steve Demming for the best in school history, but in the 24 months that followed, Litchfield failed to reach the 18-foot mark again.
Until Friday.
'I wanted to start crying,"he said. "I've worked so hard without seeing results. It was really frustrating, even just talking about it now. I hit a serious plateau."
After breaching 18-0 1/2 Friday, Litchfield turned and walked straight back down the runway, an exercise aimed at putting a levy between the competition and his emotions.
He set the bar at 18-4 1/2 and cleared it with room to spare. Suddenly, the emotions overflowed.
Once he came back down to earth, he tried and barely missed three shots at 18-9.
The record mark of 18-4 1/2 is among the 10 best in the country this season and figures to earn him a spot in the USA Indoor Track and Field Championships later this month in Boston. Twice in his career, Litchfield's been the last man out of a major event, missing the 2004 Olympic Trials with the 25th best mark out of 24, and the 2003 outdoor championships as the 19th man among 18 competitors.
'Now I've got to figure out how I'm going to buy a plane ticket to Boston,"he said, sounding like it was the least of his worries.
How did Litchfield overcome his grueling plateau, one that he said was the result meticulous fretting over the sport's intricate mechanics?
'Pole vaulting is like an extreme sport to me, like snowboarding,"he said. "It's fun. Once I remembered that, it made a big difference in the way I'm practicing and jumping. This is like a playground for me."
For young bucks like Keller, Litchfield's approach is something they're wise to practice.
'I was having fun out there,"Keller said of the seven-event heptathlon. "I'm going to have to do that more often."
Oh, and Steve Demming, expect a phone call from Litchfield sometime today. He's dying to tell you something.
