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IVC vaulter has high hopes


Pence has 15-foot effort, state title in his sights


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Sunday, April 3, 2005


BY JANE MILLER


OF THE JOURNAL STAR
Illinois Valley Central junior Tyler Pence is aiming high this track and field season.

The pole vaulter already surpassed his personal best of 14-feet, 6-inches in the first week of the outdoor season and has lofty goals as the weeks progress.

"I want to get over at least 15 feet," said Pence, who cleared 14-10 against Richwoods on Tuesday. "And I want to win state."

Pence has qualified for state every year of his career. He finished sixth last season while still recovering from friction burns on his hand suffered during Mid-Illini Conference competition a few weeks before.

This year, he's back on track.

"He had an unbelievable winter," said IVC vaulting coach Bob Prout. "He's worked hard in the weight room and is in a lot better condition than he has been in the past. He's such a pleasure to work with."

Pence comes by his talent naturally. His father, Dennis, held the school record in the pole vault for 29 years until Tyler broke it last year.

"I started in sixth grade," Pence said. Though he admitted to being scared at first, "after the first two or three practices, I wasn't scared at all," he added.

The Pences have a pit in their yard where Tyler practices kick-ups in the summer.

"I think he has realized more and more his condition level and strength play into what he does," Prout said. "He's passionate about it, and that comes through in everything he does."

Though Pence has been knocking on the door of 15-0, he had been stuck at 14-6 all of last year. In the meet with Richwoods on Tuesday, the Knights' vaulters all went out at 10-0.

"He jumped 10-6 just to get a jump in," Prout said. Soon the bar was at 14-0 "and it was just there," Prout added. "And we really haven't had that much practice. I'm really excited about the possibilities this year."

Though the higher the bar, the slower the improvements, Prout and Pence both know they will come.

"He's gone up two to three feet each year, and we should be knocking on 15 or 16 by the end of the year," Prout said. "We really want to get 15-1 - that's kind of a goal that's sitting out there for us right now. He's had several jumps (not in competition) where he was over it, but everything happens slower and we have to have a little more patience. But we're going to get some practice time now to work on those things."

The Class A state pole vault record is 16-2, and that's definitely a mark Pence wants to reach, this year or next.

He has another goal in mind for this season as well.

Pence's brother, Jesse, is in seventh grade and is just starting his vaulting career. In fact, Prout said, Jesse started vaulting three weeks before the grade-school sectional meet last year and wound up taking second in the state at 10-3.

"It would really be cool if both of us got first in state," Pence said.

http://www.pjstar.com/stories/052505/KI ... .077.shtml

RON JOHNSON/Journal Star

IVC vaulter Tyler Pence sets a Honor Roll Meet record in the boys pole vault Tuesday. Pence cleared 15 feet, 2 inches. Ron Knaub of Morton had set the mark of 15-1 last year.


IVC pole vaulter soars with the greatest of ease


Kirk Wessler


SPORTS COLUMNIST




Wednesday, May 25, 2005




If he were riding a bicycle, the helmet and the spandex singlet might bother Tyler Pence. There is, after all, only so much potential dork factor a high school kid should have to take on.

"Or if I (stunk)," Pence said, "I don't think I would want to wear the helmet then."

Oh, but he doesn't (stink).

Lean, muscled and fast, the Illinois Valley Central junior is one sweet pole vaulter. Tuesday night at Peoria Stadium, Pence effortlessly broke the Journal Star Honor Roll Meet record by vaulting 15 feet, 2 inches. And this weekend, he will set his sights 13 inches higher as he attempts to win the Class A state championship in record fashion.

Pence, the only competitor in the HRM field to wear protective head gear, is all confidence.

"Since I'm pretty good," he said, "the helmet doesn't bother me at all."

And the form-fitting, one-piece uniform?

"If it helps make me better, I don't care what people think," Pence said. "If they make fun of me, I figure they're just jealous."

Jealousy is not the right word to describe the mood around the vault pit Tuesday.

Try awe.

Most of his rivals tend to start vaulting early in the competition, establishing a valid mark as a hedge against something going wrong later. Pence doesn't worry about going wrong. He has been known to pass all the way up to 14 feet before entering the fray. Then he makes this most difficult, demanding and dangerous event look as easy as stepping across a crack in the sidewalk.

He stares down the runway, rocks back, lifts his pole and sprints. He plants high, tucks his heels and shoots into the air, pushing the pole away as he curls over the bar.

Pence is so compact, so fast, so smooth. When he takes off down the runway, you expect him to clear the bar. No second-guessing. Well, almost none.

His pole snapped on him once. Sounded like a gunshot, he said. "That messed with my head a little bit." The scariest times are when he fails to plant the pole squarely in the hole. Then, instead of sailing straight over the bar, he flies left or right and finds himself tangling with the standards, while trying to land in the safety of the pads and covering up to avoid getting speared by the falling crossbar.

That doesn't happen too often, though.

"He's just so consistent," IVC vaulting coach Bob Prout said, noting Pence has now cleared 15 feet in six consecutive meets. "He has a God-given ability that allows him to do things other people can't. He's strong, he's fast and he's focused."

So it was with great confidence in his young charge that Prout bounded up to vault officials Tuesday, seconds after Pence had won the meet by clearing 14-9 with more than a foot to spare, and said, "We want 15-2."

No messing around. The record was 15-1, set last year by Ron Knaub of Metamora, and Pence was going for it. Barely had word of Pence's attempt at the record been passed to the public address for announcement to the crowd in the grandstand than he flew over the bar with a shout for joy.

Seconds later, Prout was back. "Put it all the way up," he said. "High as it can go."

The bar was set at 15-10.

"That is soooooooo high," a long-jumper on the neighboring runway marveled.

A mite too high on this night, as things turned out. Pence missed all three chances, "but I was close on a couple," he said.

Close enough to smell that Class A state record. Close enough, perhaps, to muse that the overall state record of 17-0 1/2, set by Daren McDonaugh of Class AA Edwardsville in 1992, could be within his reach next year.

If Pence succeeds, his helmet will become positively fashionable. Maybe downright cool.

Within limits.

"My dad wants me to wear a helmet when I ride a bicycle, too," Pence said. "So I don't ride. I walk."

http://www.pjstar.com/stories/042906/HI ... .080.shtml

The meet also featured a Journal Star-area best 15-6 effort from IVC senior Tyler Pence in the pole vault.

http://www.pjstar.com/stories/050506/HI ... .067.shtml

IVC senior comfortable with his pole position

Friday, May 5, 2006

By Jane Miller And Stan morris
OF THE JOURNAL STAR

This has been a trying season for Illinois Valley Central pole vaulter Tyler Pence.
A bout with pneumonia in January set the senior back weeks during the indoor season, and he recently has been diagnosed with a fungal infection in his left lung which has caused fatigue and shortness of breath.

"I don't feel 100 percent," he said. "Lots of times I feel out of breath but it's not horrible. Some days are worse than others."

Because of those problems, Pence has had trouble getting up to his usual heights during the outdoor season, but finally seems to be back on track.

He hit 15 feet, 6 inches, his personal best, at Metamora last weekend and is shooting for the area record of 16 feet, set by Jake Pauli of Farmington in 1997, at the Mid-Illini Conference meet on Thursday.

"I had the bar at 16-1 at Metamora and cleared it by about eight inches," Pence said, "but I kept falling down on top of it."

Pence's goal for the season is to get between 16-6 and 17-0. The state record is 17-0 1/2 and the Class A state meet record is 16-2.

Pence was the favorite last year but didn't make the finals after failing to clear 13-0 in the prelims Friday morning. He called it the worst experience of his life.

"It was like I froze up - like I couldn't remember how to vault," he said. "I didn't know what to do."

He's confident that won't happen this year, planning to get to bed early and get plenty of rest.

The Class A prelims are in the afternoon this year, which also should help.

"I'll be more awake and ready to go," he said.

http://www.pjstar.com/stories/051306/SP ... .080.shtml

Chillicothe eighth-grader Jesse Pence added a second pole vault title to his collection.

Pence, the 7AA champ last year, cleared 10 feet, 6 inches as his brother, IVC pole vault standout Tyler Pence, coached him.

"I'd like to beat (Tyler's) records in high school," said the younger Pence brother.