Ryland no longer fears clearing 19-foot mark

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Vaulter Ryland no longer fears clearing 19-foot mark

By Bob Tompkins
btompkins@thetowntalk.com
(318) 487-6349
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World-class pole vaulter Daniel Ryland, in Alexandria to get treatment for a lower arm injury, said Thursday his worries about clearing the 19-foot barrier are gone.

The former Buckeye High School and Arkansas State star failed to clear 19 feet during a two-week European season that ended last month, but he owns the sixth highest jump in the world this year at 19-2 1/4 and was one of the top three vaulters overall through nine European meets in August.

He set a meet record of 18-9 at his first meet in Schlanders, Italy. He won two meets, was runner-up three times, third once and fourth three times.

"It took me 53 hours of travel time to get there," said Ryland, who left from Jonesboro, Ark., where he lives and trains. The last leg of the trip from hell was a four-hour cab ride from Munich, Germany to Schlanders.

"I arrived about 10 p.m., and the meet was the next night at 7," said Ryland. "I slept some during layovers, but not a lot, so I ended up sleeping 'til 4 the next afternoon."

He said he woke up, dressed and went to the meet, broke the meet record and nearly cleared 19-3.

He followed that with his worst effort of the European string, 17-8 at Norderney, Germany, for a fourth-place finish, but answered with an 18-9 vault in a Grand Prix I meet in Linz, Austria. Against competition that featured the last two Olympic champions and the world champ, Ryland finished second only to three-time German national champ Tim Lobinger.

Ryland represented the United States in an eight-nation competition in Paris, finishing third at 18-1 and contributing to a third-place finish for the USA.

His biggest disappointment was clearing 18-1 in a meet at Roverto, Italy under perfect conditions.

"It's rare to have perfect conditions in Europe," he said. "It's usually cold or raining or you've got a head wind or a cross wind. But this one, the weather was warm and we ad a nice tail wind. He cleared 19 feet in warm-ups, so after clearing 18-1 on his first try, he passed to 18-9 but "came down on the bar three times" at that height.

Nonetheless, he has had three meet vaults over 19 feet this year, all in the U.S., and said he cleared 19 or higher in seven straight workouts. His 19-2 1/4 personal best came in a July meet at Jonesboro.

"I'm not afraid of 19 feet anymore," he said.

Ryland said he injured some muscles and tendons his left wrist and lower left arm in a practice vault recently in Jonesboro, and Dr. Roy Strickland of Alexandria was treating him after hours with deep massage techniques. He said he noticed significant improvement after just one session.