Trials Articles

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http://www.nevadaappeal.com/apps/pbcs.d ... 6/-1/rss03

Mack uses UCS Spirit pole to win drama-packed men's pole vault

Dave Price
dprice@nevadaappeal.com
July 12, 2004

SACRAMENTO - Some good strategy, coupled with a couple of clutch jumps late helped Tim Mack win a drama-packed men's pole vault at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials on Sunday.

Mack was successful on a do-or-die clearance at 19-feet, 2 1/2 inches and then followed that up by making his first attempt at 19-4 1/2 to equal his personal record and clinch the gold on a 96-degree day at Sacramento State University's Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex.

"That was unbelievably exciting," Mack said. "Everybody came here to jump today. You could never turn your head and think, 'OK, I've got it easy now.' It was pretty much anybody's ball game. There were 10 people who could have easily been on that team."

Toby Stevenson - whose best of 19-8 1/2 this year ranks as the second best mark in American history - finished second on this day with a 19-2 1/4 clearance.

And yes, Mack won using a pole manufactured in Carson City by UCS Spirit.

"That was very exciting," said Steve Chappell, general manager for UCS Spirit. "There were so many lead changes, so many passes and so many made third-attempts, it was hard to follow."

Hard, yet exciting.

Interestingly enough, Lawrence Johnson was the only vaulter to clear 19 feet when he won gold at the 2000 Olympic Trials in Sacramento. This time, eight athletes were still in the hunt when the bar was raised to 19-2 1/4.

Mack appeared to be in trouble after Tye Harvey, Derek Miles and Stevenson cleared their first attempts at 19-0 1/4. Mack missed his first attempt, at which point he decided to pass to the next height.

"I was like fourth or fifth at the time, so it wasn't going to help me any to make that height," Mack said.

But the one miss followed by a pass left him with only two chances to clear 19-2 1/4. He missed the first, but then cleared his do-or-die attempt to stay alive.

The strategy paid off, even though Mack still trailed after Stevenson made his first try at 19-2 1/4.

But the tables were turned when the bar went to the next level. Mack cleared 19-4 1/4 on his first attempt, raising his arms overhead as he cleared the bar.

Mack finished his day by missing three attempts at an American record height of 19-9 3/4. His winning height was also a half-inch short below the Olympic Trials record of 19-4 3/4 set by Kory Tarpenning in 1988.

Derek Miles, 31, a hometown product, edged Tye Harvey for third-place and a berth on the U.S. Olympic team. They both cleared 19-0 1/4, but the No. 3 spot was awarded to Miles based on fewer misses.

"It's exciting, a dream come true," said Miles, who missed a trip to the Sydney Olympics when he lost a jump-off in 2000. "I know this stadium so well. I jumped here in high school (while at Bella Vista High). It was nice to be at home at my parents' house this week, staying in the room I grew up in."

Earlier, Harvey passed after two misses at 18-10 1/4 and cleared his one chance at 19 to keep his Olympic hopes alive. Nick Hysong, the 2000 Olympic gold medalist in Sydney, finished fifth at 18-10 1/4.

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http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/st ... 3371c.html

Men's pole vault final: Olympic berth caps Miles' homecoming
By Sam Amick -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Monday, July 12, 2004

When Derek Miles graduated from Bella Vista High School, he was 5-foot-9 and 135 pounds.
In the four years prior, even when he would steam down the runway with a pole and vault himself into the Fair Oaks sky, Miles wasn't much bigger.

He never made the state meet in the pole vault, never even jumped higher than 14 feet, 6 inches.

In 2000, after Miles, then 27, grew to 6-3 and 195 pounds and worked his way into the Olympic Trials at Sacramento State, he was the odd man out in the hometown heartbreak, losing a jump-off to Chad Harting for the final spot for Sydney.

Miles had reached many new heights. Sunday afternoon, he went even higher.

In front of a Hornet Stadium crowd of 22,107, including Miles' clan, the 31-year-old made his first Olympic team just in time to avoid a midlife crisis, finishing third behind Tim Mack (19-4¼) and Toby Stevenson (19-2¼).

Miles and his training partner, Sonora's Tye Harvey, cleared 19-¼, but Miles had only three failed attempts to Harvey's eight, securing his spot for Athens after Sydney wasn't meant to be.

"I'm no spring chicken," said Miles, who didn't hit the 18-foot mark until two years after he earned his master's degree from South Dakota. "Being able to hang out and relax at home with Mom and Dad, in the same room that I grew up in and (then qualify), it's hard to explain, but it's really exciting."

Mack was a surprise winner, taking the lead late after Stevenson had breezed through early to earn his first Olympic trip. Nick Hysong, the Olympic gold medalist in 2000, made the finals but finished fifth, clearing 18-10¼ before failing in three attempts at 19-2¼.

"The helmeted one," as Stevenson has become known for his protective gear, had just one miss in his first five heights. And for each make, Stevenson had a dance - a robot dance, cowboy-riding-the-horse groove, one-legged spinning move and a few more.

"I just planned out what celebrations I was going to do so it would relax me," said Stevenson, the world leader this season who set a personal best of 19-8¼ at the Modesto Relays on May 8. "Today was a day I knew there would be a ton of guys jumping really high."

Stevenson won the crowd over, but Mack would take the event. On his winning jump, Mack's chest grazed the bar. Already lying on the pad below, Mack watched as it danced for nearly three seconds before settling.

Mack then made three attempts to unseat Jeff Hartwig as the American record holder, missing at 19-9 3/4. It was a fitting end, coming two days after Hartwig failed to clear his opening height for the second straight Trials.

"I know I'm going to go in (to the Olympics) the same way I came into this competition, knowing that it's pretty much anyone's ballgame," said Mack, who placed eighth at the 2000 Trials. "There were 10 people that could have easily been on this team."


Men's pole vault
World record: 20-1 3/4 (Sergey Bubka, Ukraine, 1994); American record: 19-9 1/4 (Jeff Hartwig, 2000); Meet record: 19-4 3/4 (Kory Tarpenningr, 2000); World leader: 19-8 1/4 (Toby Stevenson, USA); Olympic "A" standard: 18-6 1/2; Olympic "B" standard: 18-2 1/2.

Olympic qualifiers: Timothy Mack, Nike, 19-4 1/4; Toby Stevenson, Nike, 19-2 1/4; Derek Miles, Nike, 19-1/4.

Failed to qualify: Tye Harvey, New Balance, 19-1/4; Nicholas Hysong, Nike, 18-10 1/4; Brad Walker, Nike, 18-10 1/4; Jim Davis, unattached, 18-10 1/4; Russ Buller, Asics, 18-8 1/4; Jacob Pauli, Nike, 18-1/2; Keenan King, Sky Athletics, 18-1/2; Justin Norberg, Shore Athlet, 18-1/2; Daniel Ryland, Bell Athletics, 17-8 1/2; Robert McLean, unattached, NH.

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http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_fullstory.asp?id=20717

Local Athlete will pole vault in the Olympics
POSTED: Monday, July 12, 2004 1:33:43 PM
UPDATED: Monday, July 12, 2004 1:34:12 PM
CLEVELAND -- A local pole-vaulter is on his way to the Olympics in Athens.

Tim Mack cleared a height of 19-feet four and a quarter inches to win a spot on the Olympic team.

Mack was born in Cleveland and was a 1991 graduate of Saint Ignatius high school.

He says he will do well in Athens.

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http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/ol ... cknot.html

You can't keep pole vaulter down

By Steve Brand
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
July 12, 2004

SACRAMENTO – Toby Stevenson, the Terrell Owens of track and field, could be a nervous wreck in Athens.

The American record holder in the pole vault loves to celebrate after each clearance, using his interplay with the crowd as a natural Valium to relieve stress.

After finishing second in yesterday's U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials at 19 feet, 2¼ inches to qualify for his first Olympics, he said he wouldn't change anything even though Americans have been asked to be less demonstrative.

"I've done this in Europe before and the crowds loved it," said Stevenson, who is based at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista. "I don't want (the U.S. Olympic Committee) to see it as showboating. I'll be respectful. I do it to relieve stress, to have fun."

Each celebration is different. Stevenson is Tarzan one time, a western gunslinger another. Some of his celebrations have names, some don't.

Stevenson, who set the American record at 19-9¾ in May, acknowledges that the celebrations aren't impromptu.

"Sure, I practice them," he said. "The other guys asked if I practice in front of the mirror, and I admitted I did."

Stevenson started his routines yesterday when he went over 18 feet, ½ inch on his first try and had the crowd at the Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex following all five of his clearances to see what was next.

He said he has been fighting nerves for two weeks, so he celebrated as he worked his way on to the Olympic team.

"A ton of guys were ready to jump high and it wasn't until I cleared 19-2¼ that I felt I was in the driver's seat," Stevenson said. "The anticipation was just killing me. I really wasn't thinking about heights, but now we can. I think the world record is possible."

The world record is 20-2, set by Sergey Bubka 10 years ago. No one else has even cleared 20 feet, so is Stevenson suffering from high-altitude sickness from too many 19-foot clearances?

"I give him due respect, but I jumped in a meet in Russia and he said he's looking for us to break his record," Stevenson said. "I think people can jump higher."

Timothy Mack scaled 19-4¼ to win the pole vault yesterday.

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http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdee ... 136024.htm

Posted on Mon, Jul. 12, 2004

USD alum earns spot on Olympic team

Associated Press


SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Derek Miles, a 1996 University of South Dakota graduate, earned a spot on the U.S. Olympic track team Sunday.

Miles, 31, finished third in the pole vault at the Olympic Trials in Sacramento, Calif. He cleared 19 feet, one quarter inch.

Miles said he'd had some sleepless nights leading up to the competition.

"Whenever someone finds out that you are a professional track athlete, the first thing they ask you is if you have been to the Olympics," Miles said in a telephone interview. "I carried around a bit of a weight with that."

Tim Mack won the pole vault. Mack, Miles and second-place finisher Toby Stevenson comprise the pole vault squad.

After the competition, Miles said he kept asking people to check the results to make sure he had earned third place. He actually tied with another competitor but captured third place because he had fewer misses.

Miles just barely missed setting a personal best at 19-2.

"I felt really great on that attempt, but I just tapped the bar on the way up," Miles said. "I was a little disappointed with that. I could have made that bar."

Miles has had an injured hamstring, and he said it wasn't until he was warming up for Friday's preliminary round that he could run down the runway pain-free.

The qualifying round for the pole vault is Aug. 25 in Athens.

Miles was an alternate on the 2000 U.S. Olympic pole vault team. He will be in a pole vault competition next week in Paris.

Miles is USD's second Olympian, but the first in 84 years. The first, Gene Vidal, competed in the 1920 Olympics in Belgium.

"All the hard work paid off," Miles said. "I remember sitting on the pits in the (DakotaDome) and dreaming about hitting 19 feet and hoping to make the Olympic team and then to do it, it's an awesome feeling."

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http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercuryn ... 667.htm?1c

Posted on Mon, Jul. 12, 2004

Stevenson wins Olympic berth

By Elliott Almond

Mercury News


SACRAMENTO - Toby Stevenson went from novelty act to Olympian at the U.S. Olympic trials for track and field Sunday.

The ``Helmet Guy'' had the right moves -- in the air and the pit -- to finish second to Tim Mack in the pole vault and earn a trip to Athens.

Once known for wearing a makeshift roller blade/hockey helmet, the former Stanford vaulter now is one of the Olympic favorites.

``This legitimizes my jumping career,'' he said.

One of only two Americans to clear 6 meters, or 19 feet, 8 1/4 inches, Stevenson shone in a hotly contested event. Mack won with a leap of 19-4 1/4; Stevenson cleared 19-2 1/4. Derek Miles took the third spot on the Olympic team. Defending Olympic champion Nick Hysong was fifth and failed to make the team.

Stevenson, from Odessa, Texas, has re-energized the pole vault with his sideline antics after clearing the bar. A Gen-X, extreme-sport kind of guy, he has become a crowd favorite.

His compatriots asked recently about his celebrations: ``Do you practice those moves in the mirror?''

He didn't say.

But he was so amped up about the trials that he decided to emote Sunday to relax.

``The anticipation was killing me,'' Stevenson said.

As the world leader this year, Stevenson has emerged as one of America's great vaulters.

No matter what he does, though, people want to talk about the helmet. Sunday, he had to explain to reporters what kind of helmet he wore -- and why.

He wears it for safety after promising his mother he would while in high school.

``He's a wild and crazy guy,'' his Stanford coach, Casey Roche, said recently. ``He's not the guy you'd expect to wear a helmet.''

Said Stevenson: ``It is part of my uniform. I was trying to prove wearing a helmet doesn't hinder my performance.''

Few would doubt him these days.

Stevenson seemed to have control Sunday by clearing 19-2 1/4 on his first try at the height. Mack cleared the height on his third and final try. He then made 19-4 1/4 on his first attempt, but Stevenson missed. The Stanford vaulter passed to 19-6 1/4 but failed in two close tries.

Hysong was the second big-name casualty in the event. U.S.-record holder Jeff Hartwig failed to advance out of Friday's qualifying round.

Hysong, though, didn't seem to mind.

``In some ways I am relieved,'' he said. ``There was a lot of pressure on me.''

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http://www.kplctv.com/Global/story.asp? ... v=0n4JOh3o

Local Athlete Fails to Make Olympics

July 12, 2004
Reported by Dan Bubany

McNeese Track and Field Coach Russ Buller has failed to qualify for his first-ever U.S. Olympic team in the pole vault.

In 93 degree heat at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Sacramento Sunday, Buller watched four men clear the 19-foot mark. Buller came up just short in his bid to make the team finishing in eighth place at 18-8.25 inches. Only three of the 12 finalists make it on Team USA.

When 7Sports spoke to Buller, he said he's happy he jumped well. "At least I showed up," he said.

It would have taken Buller's best, a new personal best of 19-2.25 to be exact, for him to make the team. Buller predicts his mark of 18-8.25 would have earned him a top-ten finish at the Olympic Games in Athens.

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http://www.jonesborosun.com/story.asp?ID=5723

Miles seizes spot on U.S. Olympic team

By Seth Holmun
Sun sports writer
In the Olympic Trials of 2000, Derek Miles finished tied for the magical third spot but placed second in a three-way jumpoff and just missed out on the final slot on the U.S. Olympic pole vault team.
This time he stuck his mark and landed on the squad.
Miles cleared 18-feet, 18-4, 18-8, 18-10 and 19-feet without misses and finished third with a jump of 19-0 1/4 to earn the final berth on the U.S. team at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials Sunday at the Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex in Sacramento, Calif.
His final height was nearly six inches above his personal best of 18-6 1/2 in 2000 at the last trials, when he had few expectations but nearly snuck onto the Olympic team.
Now he’s done it.
Miles was one of four vaulters in the finals that train in Jonesboro under Earl Bell of Bell Athletics â€â€

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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/s ... lai12.html

UW's Walker puts trials in vault for future

SACRAMENTO, Calif. â€â€

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http://www.tribnet.com/sports/story/529 ... 8702c.html

Former UW pole vaulter meets his goal, but falls short in Athens bid
DAVE BOLING; The News Tribune

SACRAMENTO - Whether they'll admit it or not, most athletes go into competitions with mental concepts of what it will take to accomplish their goals.

Sometimes, though, the competition just doesn't cooperate.

Former University of Washington pole vaulter Brad Walker speculated that a clearance of 5.75 meters - 18 feet, 10 1/4 inches - at Sunday's U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials might be enough to earn him a trip to Athens.

Walker made that height, but it was only good enough for sixth place this time around. Even at 4 inches higher than that, eight vaulters were still going at it in a field that included six of the world's top 10 in the event.

"That was pretty much unexpected," Walker said of the bunched field. "Everybody brought their 'A' game, and it was exceptional, the best competition I ever jumped in. But good guys won and it came down to the wire. I think the heights were higher than anybody could have expected."

It seemed to Walker that "everybody is just peaking at the right time," he said. "I thought you'd make the team if you went clean through (18-10 1/4), and that only got you fifth place."

The two-time NCAA indoor vault champ from Spokane had two early misses, at 18-4 1/2 and 18-8 1/4, which put him behind the field as the competition progressed.

"I just had some changes I needed to make," he said, explaining that he needed a stiffer pole at one height, and had to tinker slightly with his approach on another. "Once I did that, everything was OK."

In front of more than 22,000 fans sweltering under 96-degree heat, the pole vault took more than two hours to decide.

"I liked it," Walker said of the weather. "I liked the warm weather and it felt good all around; I felt good throughout the whole competition and I had plenty of energy. I couldn't have asked for anything more."

UW vault coach Pat Licari sat in the end zone stands and offered shouted counsel to Walker throughout. "He really competed well," Licari proudly pointed out. "He made two really good attempts (at his final height)."

Once Walker missed his first attempt at 19-0 1/4, he saw that a later clearance at that height still would not guarantee a top-three finish that would get him to Athens.

So, he passed until 19-2 1/4, which would have been a personal record of more than an inch.

"I played the passing game and had a couple good attempts," he said.

Elevation was not a problem for Walker, who clearly got his chest over the bar on both of his final tries. He simply didn't get enough depth into the pit and came down on the bar both times.

A clean jump at that height would have earned Walker a place on the team.

Tim Mack won at 19-4 1/4, then failed to clear an American record height of 19-9 3/4. World leader Toby Stevenson ended up taking second as the only other vaulter to make 19-2 1/4.

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http://www.fresnobee.com/columnists/bra ... 4969c.html

Sometimes, even your best isn't quite good enough


By John Branch
The Fresno Bee

(Updated Monday, July 12, 2004, 5:10 AM)


SACRAMENTO -- The best pole vaulter at Applebee's wasn't sure what to think.


"I can't complain," said Jim Davis, his identifying red bandana still wrapped around his skull.

Well, he could complain. But he wouldn't.

He summed up the day. More than four years after setting the school record of 19 feet and one-quarter inch at vault-happy Fresno State, Davis had the second-best result of his life.

An 18-101/4. At Hornet Stadium, a notoriously difficult place to vault because of the swirling breezes. In the U.S. Olympic track and field trials, which practically could be the world championships, given how dominant the Americans have become. Davis stopped and went blank for a moment, then snapped back to the conversation, as if he was plugged back in. He shook his head.

"Oh, man," he said.

Davis finished in seventh place. Told you the Americans are good.

"Seventh place at 18-101/4. That's unheard of," Davis said.

The day's flashy event was the men's 100-meter final. But a 31/2-hour passion play at the north end of the field captivated the 22,107 people baking in the stands.

The bar kept going higher. The athletes kept going over it.

Pole-vault enthusiasts hadn't seen anything like it.

"Nope. Never. Never. Never," said Fresno State track coach Bob Fraley, the biggest enthusiast of them all, sitting in the bleachers.

Not enough nevers. He needed an exclamation point.

"Never!"

Going 18-101/4 four years ago at the trials would have captured second place.

Doing it this year gets Davis a trip back to his home in College Station, Texas, and probably a few more shifts at Applebee's, the same chain restaurant he worked at when he lived in San Diego before, and Knoxville, Tenn., before that, and in Fresno when he was a college student.

Maybe Applebee's could sponsor the poor guy, plaster a logo on his back, if Nike or Adidas won't. Of the 13 pole-vault finalists, Davis was one of two unattached to a sponsor. The other guy finished 13th.

Tim Mack made it to 19-41/4, then took three swipes at 19-93/4, which would be an American record. The other finalists lined the runway in support, clapping in unison. Everyone in the stands clapped, too, then groaned as one when each attempt failed.

Toby Stevenson finished second. Derek Miles and Tye Harvey tied for the team's third and final spot at 19-01/4. Miles won the tiebreaker; Harvey stays home.

"Goll dang it," Fraley said with a mix of excitement and disbelief. "You make it to 19 feet and you don't even make the Olympic Games! Can you believe it?"

If he can't, we can't.

Fraley recruited Davis, the best high school vaulter in 1996, from the tiny town of Godley, Texas. Afraid that Fresno's size would scare off Davis, Fraley showed him Old Town Clovis and part of the campus. That's it.

"And he drove me through all the agricultural parts of campus," Davis said. "I never saw all the other buildings."

At Fresno State, only injuries outnumbered his conference and meet titles. Two knee surgeries. A broken wrist. A horribly sprained ankle at the Western Athletic Conference meet as a junior, when he raised his arms after a successful vault, then stepped off the mat and onto a curb.

But he was patched together enough for the WAC championships his senior year, becoming Fresno State's only 19-foot vaulter. At the 2000 U.S. trials, Davis made the finals, but couldn't clear the first height. He then basically quit the sport for a year.

"I realized I don't know what I am yet," Davis said. "But I am a pole vaulter."

He regained his inspiration when he joined some vaulting friends in Tennessee. He was given a spot at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista and stayed for more than a year.

He and Ty Sevin, a javelin thrower, moved to College Station, where Davis is a volunteer assistant coach at Texas A&M between stints at Applebee's.

"I've totally rejuvenated my pole-vault technique," Davis said. "It's gone from a zero to a 10."

He woke Sunday morning hoping to reach the heights he reached. He did that. History was on his side.

In the end, he smiled. He looked like he could just as easily cry.

It was his greatest day. And his most disappointing. Strange how that works here.

"It's disappointing. It's heartbreaking. But you've gotta live with it," Davis said. "American pole vault is No. 1, and I'm glad to be a part of it."

He let out a laugh.

"Even though I was No. 7."

The columnist can be reached at jbranch@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6217.

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http://www.thetowntalk.com/html/2C505A8 ... 03DD.shtml

Ryland fails to vault onto Olympic team
Posted on July 12, 2004
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -Daniel Ryland's coach calls them bottlenecks - those little bumps in the road you have to overcome to really excel in big meets.

The 24-year-old pole vaulter from Deville made it past his first bottleneck at the Olympic Trials this week, clearing 18 feet-1/2 inch on his final attempt Friday to qualify for Sunday's final.

"You get in a meet and the adrenaline is rushing and you're running faster than you were in warmups, so you have to go to a bigger pole," Ryland said.

"It's about making the right adjustment at the right time."

Unfortunately, Ryland wasn't able to adjust in time Sunday - he jumped 17 feet-8 1/2 inches, a foot or more below his recent performances, to finish 12th. But he was still upbeat about his performance this week and his future in the sport.

"It was a great meet," he said. "It was one of the most incredible things I've ever been a part of."

The competitors were using different runways from Friday - this time they would be running slightly downhill. Add to that the high stakes - the top three would earn spots on the U.S. Olympic team - and Ryland and his fellow competitors were practically flying down the runway.

He went to the biggest pole he had ever used, then went one size bigger than that. Had he managed to make it at 17-8 1/2, Ryland feels he would have had the feel and could have jumped 19 feet or more.

He would have had to in order to finish in the top three on a banner day for U.S. pole vaulters. Timothy Mack finished first at 19 feet-4 1/4 inches, followed by Toby Stevenson at 19-2 1/4 and Derek Miles at 19-1/4. Ryland would have had to better Myles' mark since Myles did not have any misses until he went up to 19-2 1/4.

Russ Buller, former LSU All-American and current McNeese State track coach, placed eighth and failed to make the team.

Ryland, who will compete in several upcoming meets in Europe, leaves Sacramento convinced he's on track to qualify for the Olympics.

"Every guy that made the team this year was in the Trials in 2000," Ryland said. "This weekend definitely opened my eyes to what I want to do in the next two and maybe three Olympics."