2010 Grand Haven Beach Vault

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.grandhavenbeachvault.com/

2010 Beach Vault:
July 16-17th

[Litebrite63]

I was there yesterday, had a great time!

[skyshark177]

http://www.mlive.com/sports/grand-rapid ... _mark.html
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USA Track and Field champ Mark Hollis, Holland's Kylie Hutson top field at Grand Haven Beach Vault
Published: Saturday, July 17, 2010, 8:30 PM
Jeff Chaney | The Grand Rapids Press
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Enlarge The Grand Rapids Press Kylie Hutson, this year's NCAA Division I indoor and outdoor pole vault champion, clears the bar at 14 feet in the Elite Women's Division at the Grand Haven Beach Vault on Saturday. (Paul L. Newby II | The Grand Rapids Press)

Grand Haven Beach Vault gallery (15 photos)

GRAND HAVEN -- Temperatures were up and records fell at the Grand Haven Beach Vault this weekend.

One year after cold and windy weather put a damper on the pole vaulting competition at Grand Haven City Beach, more than 320 competitors were greeted by temperatures that reached almost 90 degrees and pleasant winds Friday and Saturday.


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In the Elite Men’s Division, USA Track and Field national champion Mark Hollis won with an event-record leap of 18 feet, 7 inches Saturday.

In the Elite Women’s Division, Holland’s Kylie Hutson, a four-time NCAA Division I pole vault champion at Indiana State, broke her own record of 14-3 with a jump of 14-6.

Hollis and Hutson each won $500 for their championships.

“I just got back from Europe on Wednesday, so I was a little zapped and working on adrenaline,” said the 25-year-old Hollis, who lives in Elkhart, Ind. “But I couldn’t miss this.

"I missed last year’s because of my own wedding, but I couldn’t miss again.
Grand Rapids is a great area for this, and (promoters Dave Emeott and Kevin Patterson) put on a great event."

For Hollis, it was his second Beach Vault title. Hutson won her third consecutive championship (not including last year’s no-show) and, like Hollis, loves jumping on the beach only yards from Lake Michigan.

“The atmosphere was great,” the 22-year-old Hutson said. “You are on the beach and it is so relaxing jumping by the water. I’ve gotten better every year here. I didn’t come here with a goal in mind, I just wanted to come here and have some fun, and I did that.”

Prize money was awarded to the top three places in the elite divisions. Taking second and winning $250 was Louisville’s Chip Huese on the men’s side and Mary Saxer in the women’s field.

Jake Winder of Naperville, Ill., and Jenny Soceka of Madison,Wis., won $125 for their third-place finishes.

John Large, who is the pole vaulting coach at Belding High School, won the event’s oldest bracket, the Men’s 60-64 Division, with a jump of 11 feet.

Large’s vault was a personal best at the event but short of his best jump of 11-93/4, which he cleared to win the Indiana Masters Indoor Championships in March.

“I took 42 years off from the sport and this is my third anniversary getting back in,” said Large, who vaulted at Greenville before graduating in 1966.

“People ask me what my goal is coming in and I just say I don’t want to get hurt. But people don’t understand when you get started in this sport, it is addicting as hell.”

That is why the Beach Vault continues to grow. This year’s field of almost 320 competitors was the largest ever, and about 4,000 spectators attended the two-day event.

“This is the biggest ever, by far,” Patterson said. “This year, the weather helped. When it is 88 and sunny, people want to come to the beach.”

Mary Stoll of Jonesboro, Ark., who won the Women’s 25-29 Division with a jump of 11-6, loved vaulting by the beach, but also had other reasons to make the trip to Grand Haven.

“My boyfriend (Sam Pribyl) was in the elite division,” Stoll said. “I was an 800 runner (from Augustana College in South Dakota), but when I moved to Arkansas to be with my boyfriend, Earl Bell, who we train with, he asked me to start doing it. I’ve only been pole vaulting for a year.”

A complete list of winners and results is available at grandhavenbeachvault.com.

[varska]

Great time, as always!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RZUZz647_g

[SkyHigh]

What's the word on 2011? I would like to find some events for my son and I to travel to throughout the summer so that he can see what it is like to compete at the next level. Unfortunately he already needs ankle support after a couple of basketball injuries, but there is no doubt in my mind the kid has a very bright future.

[indestructo]

http://www.grandhavenbeachvault.com/

July 15-16