Regina Sharp Article

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Sa ... 5855934844

Vaulter's Sharp without practice


BY VIC FULP

TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER


Jan 28, 2005


Four years ago Hopewell High School senior Regina Sharp took up the pole vault.


That's not exactly the easiest sport to pursue with the Blue Devils.


Hopewell doesn't have a pole vault area, so she is restricted to certain drills and some quick practice when the Blue Devils have an away meet.


That hasn't kept the 17-year-old from climbing to third in the area this season.


A member of the National Honor Society with a 3.75 grade-point average, Sharp is intelligent. So why did she pick a sport that it would be most difficult to improve in leaps and bounds?


"When I started track in the ninth grade I tried everything," Sharp said. "I tried the pole vault, high jump, triple jump, hurdles . . . just everything, because I wasn't sure what I would like best and would do best in."


Former Blue Devils coach Les West, who departed for Texas this year after 10 seasons in Hopewell, was the coach during Sharp's freshman year. Frank Cancino, a long-time West assistant, took over the post when West left.


"When Coach West talked to me my freshman year, he said he thought I would be good in the pole vault," Sharp said. "I was kind of nervous the first time I tried it, and that was in a meet since we didn't have a place to practice it. That first meet, I couldn't even clear 5 feet."


She is ranked third in the area in the pole vault (9-0), and she is tied for second in the high jump with a personal best of 5-4.


Sharp needs to elevate her high jump by just one inch to qualify for national competition.


"We have this slide box I can do drills on at practice, but the only time I ever get to vault is when we have an away meet," she said. "That just makes me more determined to work harder and do better."


Sharp attended a pair of pole-vault camps this past summer. The first was a three-day session in Henderson, N.C., and the second was for four days in Kutztown, Pa.


"They had about nine stations and three coaches at each station," Sharp said of the Kutztown camp. "They gave me some good hints on things to work on. They knew I didn't have the equipment back home.


"I try to get some warm-ups in during practice and during competition I can remember the things they told me. It all comes back to me."


Sharp comes from a gymnastics background, and that was one of the reasons West felt she could adjust to track quickly.


"I did gymnastics for about 6½ years, but when I got into track, I had a bigger passion for track," Sharp said.


Although Sharp isn't ranked, she has run a respectable 9.1 seconds in the 55-meter hurdles.


During the outdoor season, she pole vaults, does the high and triple jumps and runs the 100 and 300 hurdles. She also helps occasionally on relays.


Cancino says Sharp can find her niche in college track if she's given the opportunity to develop.


"I saw where 4-11 won one of the college high jumps at a meet, and she has done 5-4," Cancino said. "Some coaches I have talked to said they think she can go 11 or 12 feet in the pole vault once she gets somewhere she can practice all the time."


Grades won't be an obstacle when it comes to going to college. She is still weighing her options, but is considering five schools - Virginia Tech, University of Virginia, Longwood, James Madison and Bridgewater.

[VAVAULTER]

yes she is a great girl, i have watched her jump before and she has talent but no coach and obviously no coach. I coach at the Kutztown camp every year and i saw how well she did at camp. i am real supprised that she has not jumped higher then this. now what the article did not say is that she does got to kyle bishop's house some time to practice, he has a pitt in his back yard.
One thing i noticed about her is she has an amazing high take off. granted she is like 5-9 or 10 i think but she is explosive off the ground. but again the school has no poles no nothing. can anyone help her out now.