2012 AAU JO Games–Women Pole Vault Young 17-18

    Turner Stadium Humble High School                    
                              Humble, Texas

 1 Lakan Taylor              95 Fort Worth, TX        12-06.00      3.81m
  2 Emily Brigham             95 Shawnee, KS          J12-06.00      3.81m
  3 Annie Rhodes              95 Waco, TX             J12-06.00      3.81m
  4 Sarah Bell                94 Bloomington, IL       12-00.00      3.65m
  5 Autumn Conn               93 St Charles, IL       J12-00.00      3.65m
  6 Aaliyah Walker            95 New Iberia, LA       J12-00.00      3.65m
  7 Heather Glenn             94 Liberty, MO          J12-00.00      3.65m
  8 Alyssa Gullo              95 Cypress, TX           11-06.00      3.50m
  8 Whitney Adams             95 Vinton, LA            11-06.00      3.50m
10 Blake Wood                94 Hico, TX             J11-06.00      3.50m
10 Brittany Hull             95 Bloomington, IL      J11-06.00      3.50m
10 Kally Long                95 Wimberley, TX        J11-06.00      3.50m
10 Shelby Poncik             94 Needville, TX        J11-06.00      3.50m
14 Meg Simon                 94 Maurice, LA           11-00.00      3.35m
14 Mary Pitts                94 Memphis, TN           11-00.00      3.35m
14 Katelyn Whitekiller       94 Purcell, OK           11-00.00      3.35m
14 Zoe Casteel               94 Orange, TX            11-00.00      3.35m
14 Hanna Hartman             95 Santa Anna, TX        11-00.00      3.35m

Spaeth has a disappointing JO

Pennsylvania –Riverhead High School athlete Jonah Spaeth competed in the USATF National Junior Olympic Track & Field Championship pole vault event last weekend in Baltimore, Maryland. Jumping only 13 ft. 5 in. in the pole vault event, Spaeth did not place in the competition, but he recognizes the achievement of making it to the Junior Olympic Championships to begin with. “It was a great experience,” said Spaeth, who will be a senior at RHS in the fall. “I’m going to do a lot better next year.”Spaeth previously broke the RHS pole vault record when he cleared 14 ft. 6 in. at the N.Y. State track and field championships this June, placing third. He qualified for the Junior Olympic Championships with his performances at two other preliminary and regional track meets in June. Spaeth said he was the only athlete from Riverhead to do so.The weekend before the Junior Olympic Championships, Spaeth attended Pennsylvania Skyjumpers, a camp in Kutztown, PA for high school pole vaulters. He said he improved at camp, jumping 15 ft. 6 in. “If I had jumped like I did then, I could have probably tied for third place,” Spaeth said in an interview Friday afternoon.Spaeth might have been disappointed with his performance, but he believes he’ll qualify and perform better next summer. “I love to do it,” Spaeth said. “I like it because you have to put in a lot of work. Hopefully I’ll do better next time.”  more

High Schooler Sarah Bell vaults 13+

BLOOMINGTON – Central Catholic High School junior pole vaulter Sarah Bell has had a busy summer.Recently, Bell vaulted her way to a first place finish in the USATF National Junior Olympic Track and Field Championships in Baltimore. She vaulted 13-03.50 in the young women’s division. That’s also a personal record for Bell.Afterwards, she drove with her mom to Houston to compete in the AAU Junior Olympic Games. She finished fourth with a 12-0 vault.The AAU event was her last of the summer, and now she gets to take a break from vaulting, but not from athletics.“Actually, in three days I start golfing. So I’ll have the golf season, and that’s my pole vault break. Then once I’m done with that, I start training again for vaulting,” she said Friday.  more

Focus: Trey Hardee

U.S. Olympic track team member Trey Hardee only spent a short time in Mississippi, but does have ties to the state. Mississippi State University recruited him as a pole vaulter, but he became a decathlete–an athlete that competes in the decathlon, a series of 10 events including the long jump, pole vault and javelin throw–instead.Hardee set the decathlon record at MSU with 8,041 points before the university shut down its indoor track program in 2004. He transferred to the University of Texas afterward MSU’s program ended.At the University of Texas, Hardee set the NCAA decathlon record at the Texas Relays in 2006 with a score of 8,465 points. He finished second behind Ashton Eaton at the U.S. Track and Field Trials this year.This is Hardee’s second time competing in the Olympics. He participated in the Beijing games in 2008, where he no-heighted, or failed to clear the bar, in the pole vault, ending his medal hopes that year.   more

‘Worried’ Isinbayeva eyes golden hat-trick

Almost everybody sees Yelena Isinbayeva as the outright favorite to claim the gold medal in pole vault at the 2012 Olympic Games, but the Russian star said that she is not comfortable.
The pole vault events at the London Olympic Stadium start with the qualification round on Aug. 5.
The 30-year-old athlete looks to cap a hat-trick of Olympic gold medals to add to her 2004 Sydney and 2008 Beijing triumphs.
Isinbayeva will bid to safely negotiate qualifying for the final on Aug. 6. The 30-year-old Russian world record holder has suffered rare but bitter defeats during the last three seasons.
Isinbayeva heads to London boosted by gold in the 2012 World Indoor Championships in Istanbul but with another failure to clear 4.70 meters in the Monaco Diamond League meet on July 20.
“I’m physically and mentally ready for the Games, of course, but as a human, I’m worried like any other competitor,” said Isinbayeva, who failed to record a height in a tear-stained 2009 world championships in Berlin and came just sixth in last year’s worlds in Daegu, South Korea. Ukrainian pole vault legend Sergei Bubka said fans should not expect world record performances in the competition.
“How high you go does not matter at the Olympics, it is all about winning and the most important is to be Olympic champion. There is double pressure at the Games for the athletes,” Bubka said. “For Yelena, she is a great athlete, she has achieved everything and it basically all depends on her.”
Isinbayeva said that she plans to retire from sport after next year’s World Championships in Moscow   more

Sprint king and pole vault queen make London bow

THE cream of men’s sprinting and Russian pole vaulting legend Yelena Isinbayeva will make their bow on the second day of the athletics programme of the Olympics today.Defending Olympic champion Usain Bolt and Jamaican team-mates Yohan Blake and Asafa Powell will run heats and round one of the 100m alongside US rivals Tyson Gay and Justin Gatlin, with the semi-finals and final scheduled for tomorrow.The 100m remains the premier track and field event, and arguably of the whole Olympics, with an especially thrilling final in prospect in London. “Everyone’s been waiting for this for four years. It’s going to live up to expectations,” said Blake, who edged Bolt in the Jamaican trials and has been tipped as a genuine title contender.The women’s 100m gold will also be decided following yesterday’s qualifying heats and a semi-final today.In the women’s pole vault, double Olympic champion Isinbayeva will bid to safely negotiate qualifying for Monday’s final.The 30-year-old Russian world record holder has suffered rare but bitter defeats during the last three seasons. Isinbayeva heads to London boosted by gold in the 2012 World Indoor Championships but with another failure to clear 4.70m in the Monaco Diamond League meet on July 20.“I’m physically and mentally ready for the Games, of course, but as a human, I’m worried like any other competitor,” said Isinbayeva, who failed to record a height in a tear-stained 2009 world championships in Berlin and came just sixth in last year’s worlds in Daegu, South Korea   more

Olympic Physics: The Pole Vault

Editor’s Note: The summer Olympics draw viewers to sports that they otherwise ignore. We marvel as athletes ranging from divers to pole vaulters turn power and speed into athletic artistry. Speed (velocity) and power (force) are also key elements in physics. This is the fourth in a series of guest posts by Dr. Larry Silverberg, an NC State professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, who works in the area of engineering dynamics. He talked to NC State coaches Tom Wood (track and field), Jon Choboy (tennis), and Josh Karshen (diving) about the dynamics involved in their sports.We’ve already talked about how strength and speed apply to the discus in track and field. While those elements also apply to the pole vault, it is a very different event. It is more complicated, requiring more stages to perfect. And each stage has its own special dynamics.The goal in pole vault is to use a pole to launch yourself into the air and clear a horizontal bar. If you miss three consecutive vaults, you’re eliminated. The bar is raised repeatedly, and the winner is the person who clears the highest bar. The pole itself can be any length, any diameter and made of any material, though the surface must be 

Olympic Women’s entries

 Qual. rule: qualification standard 4.60m or at least best 12 qualified.

Group A Saturday 04 August 2012 – 10:20

Order Bib Athlete Country SB 2012 PB

• 1 2246 Tomomi Abiko  JPN 4.40 4.40
• 2 2733 Maria Leonor Tavares  POR 4.42 4.50
• 3 1376 Ling Li  CHN 4.50 4.50
• 4 1962 Lisa Ryzih  GER 4.65 4.65
• 5 3004 Angelica Bengtsson  SWE 4.58 4.63
• 6 2361 Yun-hee Choi  KOR 4.41 4.41
• 7 1773 Vanessa Boslak  FRA 4.70 4.70
• 8 1198 Anastasiya Shvedova  BLR 4.52 4.65
• 9 2122 Jillian Schwartz  ISR 4.52 4.72
• 10 1848 Holly Bleasdale  GBR 4.87 4.87
• 11 3187 Ganna Shelekh  UKR 4.60 4.60
• 12 1999 Ekateríni Stefanídi  GRE 4.51 4.51
• 13 2889 Anastasia Savchenko  RUS 4.60 4.60
• 14 1969 Martina Strutz  GER 4.60 4.80
• 15 1505 Yarisley Silva  CUB 4.72 4.75
• 16 1735 Minna Nikkanen  FIN 4.40 4.60
• 17 2697 Monika Pyrek  POL 4.50 4.82
• 18 1069 Alana Boyd  AUS 4.76 4.76
• 19 2939 Tina Šutej  SLO 4.55 4.61
• 20 3318 Jennifer Suhr  USA 4.88 4.92

Group BSaturday 04 August 2012 – 10:20   

2012 AAU JO Games–Boys Pole Vault Intermediate 15-16

Turner Stadium Humble High School                    
                              Humble, Texas

Finals                                                                   
  1 Jacob Zalesky             96 Keller, TX            14-06.00      4.41m
  2 Carson Waters             96 Clearwater, FL       J14-06.00      4.41m
  2 Devin King                96 Kentwood, LA         J14-06.00      4.41m
  4 Adam Coulon               97 Bloomington, IL      J14-06.00      4.41m
  5 Lucas Diagle              96 Church Point, LA      14-00.00      4.26m
  6 Dalton Ledford            96 Argyle, TX           J14-00.00      4.26m
  7 Gavin Gautreau            96 Sulphur, LA           13-06.00      4.11m
  7 William Carlton           96 Burleson, TX          13-06.00      4.11m
  9 Jacob Wooten              97 Tomball, TX          J13-06.00      4.11m
10 Chad Gates                97 San Antonio, TX       13-00.00      3.96m
10 Kody Breaux               96 Erath, LA             13-00.00      3.96m
12 Kyle Baudoin              97 Walker, LA            12-06.00      3.81m
12 Marshall Shank            97 Salisbury, NC         12-06.00      3.81m
12 Jerrod Young              97 Helotes, TX           12-06.00      3.81m
12 Cambell Westmoreland      96 San Antonio, TX       12-06.00      3.81m  

All-America performance Jaffke helps Mundelein Mambas soar at JO Nationals

BALTIMORE — Soon after learning pole vaulter Nicole Jaffke underwent surgery for a bone spur on the inside of her right ankle in late May, Mundelein Mambas track and field club coach Toni Carmichael figured the best course of action would be to shut down the Libertyville senior-to-be for the summer.But Jaffke chose an entirely different path.“I wanted to train,” said Jaffke. “And I did, off and on.”Carmichael worried activity would jeopardize Jaffke’s cross country season in the fall. The coach also thought a hobbled Jaffke at summer track meets, in front of college coaches, wouldn’t be a good thing.But Jaffke ended up convincing Carmichael to let her run, plant and soar.“Nicole said to me, ‘Trust me, trust me,’ ” Carmichael said. “Then she told me, ‘I can do this.’ ”What Jaffke did at last week’s USA Track and Field Junior Olympics at Morgan State University in Baltimore: place seventh in the pole vault (young women’s division) with an 11-foot-4 clearance.She returned home as an All-American.“She was fantastic, tough as nails,” Carmichael said.Jaffke’s journey to Baltimore this summer began with a fourth-place showing at a state meet in Kankakee, followed by a championship effort at a regional meet in Indianapolis.In Baltimore she was surrounded by Carmichaels.Three, to be exact.   more

Walker in a tie

Germany’s Bjorn Otto, Ralf Holzdeppe and the USA’s Brad Walker shared the spoils after an absorbing pole vault contest at a special meeting in Jockgrim, Germany, on Wednesday.The three athletes tied for the first place after clearing 5.81m. All three of them cleared the height on their first attempt, but neither had any success after that.Malte Mohr, who also went over 5.81m, finished fourth as he took more attempts to clear lower heights that put him below the top three in the results.Around 3500 spectators witnessed the contest, where there was another tie for fifth place between Czech Jan Kudlica and Kostadinos Filippidis of Greece at 5.61m, seventh placed Karsten Dilla of Germany also achieving 5.61m.In the women’s competition, Alana Boyd of Australia and Cuba’s Yarisley Silva jointly set a new meeting record clearing 4.63m.German record holder Silke Spiegelburg was forced to pull out of the competition after experiencing problems in the warm-up, though it was nothing major and she will continue with her training and preparations for the Games.

Ecker to retire

German pole vaulter Danny Ecker, 35, will call an end to his career on August 25, at the pole vault classics in his home town of Leverkusen.

Germany’s best vaulters have already been confirmed for the events, the list includes the likes of Malte Mohr, Raphael Holzdeppe, Bjorn Otto and Karsten Dilla.

Ecker’s best result was the bronze medal at 2007 IAAF World Championships in Osaka  more

Uckermark takes well-earned break

WARWICK — While most high school track and field athletes have taken the summer off from competing, Warwick’s Todd Uckermark has stayed busy with his pole vault competition schedule.The local champion took his talents to the U.S. Junior Olympic circuit and came home from the national championships last weekend in Baltimore with a seventh-place finish and all-American status.”I believe I could have jumped better,” said Uckermark, who cleared 14 feet, 2 inches, “but I am content with a performance that I gave. It is a learning experience, and I’m just trying to get back into it for indoor season.”Uckermark just wrapped up a 10-month training and competition cycle, from fall training through the indoor and outdoor seasons.”I really love the sport of pole vault,” he said. “The more I can do it, the more I will. It has been a long time, the 10 months that I’ve been doing it, but I’ve loved every second of it. If I can give myself some more meets and some more time to improve before the indoor and outdoor season of next year, I’ll take it.”But even Uckermark, 16, realizes it’s time to take a break.”Even if you love something you have to take a break from it every now and then,” he said. “I’m going to take a month or so off and just work on my speed and work on my strength and then go back to the vault some time in September.”  more

Dennison aims to prove she’s still in pole position

Kate Dennison might be playing second fiddle in British pole vault circles, but the Loughborough ace is vowing to prove she has still got it at London 2012.

Just two years ago, Dennison’s status as the best female pole vaulter in Britain seemed nigh-on untouchable, breaking the British record nine times in 2009 before winning Commonwealth Games bronze a year later.

But since then the 28-year-old, who gets her Olympic campaign under way tomorrow morning with the qualifying heats, has come under attack from compatriot Holly Bleasdale, who took Dennison’s British record en route to establishing herself as the newest and hottest pole vaulting commodity.

Although Dennison knows she is currently second best, she insists nothing is stopping her from aiming as high as possible this summer.

“I definitely want to make the final – that’s my first target, and then once you’re there, you reassess and see where you’re at,” she said.

“I’m just looking forward to it and looking forward to getting out there.  more

It happened at the Oregon state meet

A new generation emerged at the state meet in the past 13 years, with something (or someone) special happening each year at Hayward Field. The Oregon meet is one of the best in the country. Atmosphere is a big part of it. Strong coaching has something to do with it. The state’s got a knack for producing superstars, too.

Let’s start with 2003, because that was the Year of Tommy Skipper. That’s the state meet where Skipper pole vaulted 17 feet, 7 inches, won the 100 meters in 10.88 seconds and finished second in the 200 in 21.86. (A few weeks later he would break the national record in the pole vault at Golden West with 18-3).   more

Sergej Bubka: Pole vaulting all the way to the Czech House

Ukrainian Sergej Bubka is an Olympic champion, six-time World Champion and holder of the current world pole vault record. The former top athlete who is now a member of the International Olympic Committee came to the Czech House top meet with Czech fans, and his friends at the Czech Olympic Committee.  Czech House. A base for all sports fans during the London Olympics. Sports coverage as you’ve never seen it before, medal celebrations, live music, art, rub shoulders with the athletes or just chill out. As he arrived and before he entered the building he was surrounded by tens of Journalists, photographers and supporters of this Ukrainian superstar from the 80s and 90s. „Winner of an Olympic gold, who also exceeded the world record several times is not something to miss out on,“ the fans were told. A moment later out of his car stepped the elegant looking athlete, who seemed just as trim as he was at the height of his fame.   more