Vaulter recovering from 40 foot rock climbing fall

Colorado — Hannah Schall describes the 40-plus-foot tumble off Horsetooth Rock like segments from a dream.

There are the fuzzy, fleeting memories of a friend trying to comfort her, rescuers working to secure her, and the rugged terrain acting against her. To be fair, what the 16-year-old Rocky Mountain High School junior experienced Aug. 18 would be blurry for anyone.

But as Schall regained consciousness and felt the crushing pain — her body crumpled on rocks just inches from a likely lethal 200-foot fall — she realized this hike would have lasting effects. Her summer vacation ended with a pelvis that was broken in multiple places, a mangled ankle, a broken nose, bruised lungs, and scrapes and gashes that made her almost unrecognizable.  more

USATF 2014 Hall of Fame Class includes Dragila

INDIANAPOLIS – Trailblazers and living legends comprise the 41st National Track & Field Hall of Fame induction class featuring Stacy Dragila, Lance Deal, Tom Burke, Pat “Paddy” Ryan and contributor Theodore “Ted” Corbitt, USA Track & Field announced Friday.
The group will be honored Thursday evening, Dec. 4, at the Jesse Owens Awards and Hall of Fame Banquet, which is a part of the USATF Annual Meeting in Anaheim, California. Dragila, the first women’s Olympic pole vault champion, holds two IAAF World Championships and a World Indoor Championship title as well. She joins four-time Olympian and Olympic silver medalist Lance Deal on the slate of modern athlete inductees, which includes those who have retired within the past 25 years.

Stacy Renée Mikaelsen Dragila
Born: March 25, 1971
Stacy Dragila amassed a collection of firsts in an inspiring and storied career during the rise of women’s pole vault. The Auburn, California, native and Idaho State alumna garnered track and field successes in the U.S. and abroad. During a 10-year span from 1996-2005, she was an eight-time U.S. Indoor champion and nine-time U.S. Outdoor champion. Internationally, she won the 1997 World Indoor Championship and two World Championships in 1999 and 2001. In 2001, Dragila won gold medals at the Goodwill Games and IAAF Grand Prix Final championships. She won the first women’s pole vault competition held at an Olympic Games, clearing 4.60/15-1 at the Sydney 2000 Games to equal her own world record set in 1999. Dragila stayed on top of the world for nearly four years, re-setting the world record four more times before Yelena Isinbayeva took over the record in July 2003. Dragila is the 2000 and 2001 recipient of the Jesse Owens Award, USATF’s annual honor for the athlete of the year  more

Stefanidi enjoyed the best season of her career

Greek pole vaulter Ekaterini Stefanidi enjoyed the best season of her senior career to finish 2014 joint second in the world. We chart her journey of ups and downs that have taken her from child prodigy to world-class performer. It’s been an intense 14-year relationship, but finally Ekaterini Stefanidi appears to have sorted out any past differences she may have endured with the pole vault. In a breakthrough 2014, the Greek athlete improved her lifetime best by 20cm, racked up seven PBs, claimed her maiden Diamond League success and snared a European silver medal. Success has not come overnight for the 24-year-old Arizona State University PhD student. Her journey to the top owes much to persistence, hard work, talent, and most importantly an enduring – though occasionally testy – passion for pole vault. Athletics is in the Athenian’s blood. Her father, George, and mother, Zoi, were both former Greek internationals in triple jump and sprints respectively. Stefanidi’s father introduced his daughter to the pole vault when she was aged just ten. She set world age-group records at 11, 12, 13 and 14. In 2005, at the tender age of 15, she was crowned world youth champion in Marrakech and lauded as a future superstar.  more

Author from Houston, TX Publishes Autobiographical Journey of an Olympic vaulter

PRLEAP.COM) November 5, 2014 – “Olympus and Beyond: (A Story of Life, Sport, and Love on Four Continents),” a new book by Allan Lawrence, has been released by Dorrance Publishing Co., Inc.

“Olympus and Beyond” by Allan Lawrence is the story of sport (running) told against the backdrop of the bigger human story of atmosphere, emotions, and relationships from the beginning, where a young Australian boy watched a newsreel and saw an American Naval Ensign become the first human in history to exceed 15′ in the pole vault in Madison Square Garden. He vowed that one day he would compete in Madison Square Garden and break a world record. True to his word, seventeen years later, almost to the day, he succeeds, although in a different event.  more

Former vaulter dances way into Hall of Fame

New Jersey — Kevin Michaels is the only song-and-dance man being inducted into the Sussex County Sports Hall of Fame on Friday night.He was a great athlete, no doubt about it, but he could also take to the stage with a little soft-shoe.  Married, retired, living in Virginia Beach and enjoying his grandchildren these days, after a high school career that included football, wrestling and track achievements, he remembers his mom signing him up for tap dance and ballet as a kid.“I got into a few fights over it,” he said. “But, hey, I could play sports and dance. What other kid could say that?”A 1969 Sparta High graduate, Michaels, who went on to become an NCAA wrestler at the University of Virginia, is one of five individuals to be voted in for induction into the Sussex County Sports Hall of Fame.

The annual dinner ceremonies take place Friday night at Lake Mohawk Country Club.

Back in his high school days, Michaels was football captain and most valuable player, captain and most valuable on the wrestling team and a state champion in the pole vault as a track and field standout.  more

From Erie to Hollywood: Former coach consulted on Brad Pitt film

ERIE — When Bernie Null, 79, recalled his old high school coach, he smiled. One of just 37 graduates of Erie High’s class of 1953, Mr. Null showed off his senior yearbook, which was dedicated to George Smilanich, a dashing, dark-haired young man whose photo is prominently featured. “He was really well-liked when he was here,” said Mr. Null, who played basketball, football and track under the direction of Mr. Smilanich. “He was a great guy.” Mr. Smilanich has attracted national attention for his role in helping coach the makers of Brad Pitt’s new World War II film, “Fury.” …”One thing about him — he could tell you what he wanted you to do, and if you couldn’t do it, he would show you,” Mr. Null said. “He was athletic enough and young enough.” “They were having track practice one night, the pole vaulters, and they’d get up around 10 or 10-1/2 feet. He always wore generally a blue suit, a white shirt, a tie and wing-tipped shoes, always,” he said of the coach. “He always was dressed to kill. He made the statement, ‘Anybody could pole-vault that high,’ and the guys started to rag on him. And he grabbed the pole and went over it with his dress shoes on.” more

Alma mater to honor Jenn Suhr

Olympic pole vault champion Jenn Suhr is being honored with a monument at her western New York alma mater.

The Observer of Dunkirk reports that the Fredonia Board of Education recently accepted the donation of the stone monument from the Fredonia Olympic Celebration Committee.  The administration has yet to decide where it will go.

Suhr won gold at the 2012 London Olympics and plans to defend her title at the Rio Summer Games in 2016

Kingsport bridge dedicated to Vietnam veteran and former vaulter

KINGSPORT, Tennessee — Eddie Reed was a serious athlete, a runner and a pole vaulter, who enjoyed to hunt and fish. A wonderful father, brother and son…his parents were very proud of his service to the country. This is how Brenda Reed describes her late husband Eddie, the highest ranking serviceman from the Kingsport area to be killed in action during the Vietnam War.Today, the city of Kingsport will officially dedicate the Clinchfield Street bridge over Reedy Creek in honor of Reed. The ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. inside the Kingsport Farmer’s Market, given the forecast for inclement weather. “We feel really honored and blessed by Eddie’s service being acknowledged and we’re very appreciative,” Brenda said. “I know his mom and dad would have been very proud and appreciative too.”  Read more: Kingsport bridge dedicated to Vietnam veteran | Kingsport Times-News http://www.timesnews.net/article/9082119/kingsport-bridge-dedicated-to-vietnam-veteran#ixzz3HpUx2aK7
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TFN Status Quo

THE LATEST in the aches, pains & eligibility departments

Some significant international names will pass on indoors to focus on training for next summer. Poland’s ’09 PV world champion Anna Rogowska. A back injury hampered British vaulter Holly Bleasdale the last two outdoor seasons. Now healthy, she aims for a solid outdoor season in ’15, especially defending her Euro Indoor title in March. Olympic PV silver medalist Björn Otto of Germany is back training after recovering from an Achilles tear. Yevgeniy Trofimov, coach of Yelena Isinbaeva, confirmed their desire to compete at the ’16 World Indoor in Portland. But only, he clarified, “if Yelena is in good enough shape for that.” He added that next June they will begin a 7-month initial prep period aimed at the Rio Olympics and trying for the indoor WR also will be a goal en route to Oregon.
Former mile AR holder Steve Scott is again fighting cancer. Scott, 58, beat testicular cancer in ’94 but now is battling prostate cancer. He said he is making his second bout public to encourage men to not be reluctant to see their doctor. “We’re all like that,” says the Cal State-San Marcos coach. Vaulter Jordan Scott says he would “dedicate one or two days to sit down, call my coaches, agent, etc., and get organized before the season even started. Last September, I got married and started a full-time job. I think that maybe if I got more organized with figuring out workout times, times my coach and I could vault together, times I could lift weights, and strategize my vacation days better, that my season would’ve been much more successful.”

Mark Hollis Finally A 19-Footer

Sieg Lindstrom

Scaling 19-feet in the pole vault, especially in career terms, can be more like climbing a mountain than clearing a bar. Few vaulters understand that as personally as 29-year-old perpetual late bloomer Mark Hollis.
On July 16 in Naimette-Xhovémont, Belgium, Hollis cleared 19-¼ (5. 80) to become America’s oldest first-time 19-footer.
“For every American pole vaulter, every foot increment is a big goal,” Hollis says. “Every time you make that new foot you kind of check it off and it’s a celebration.” Exactly 29 years, 7 months and 16 days old on his big day, Hollis surpassed vault legend Earl Bell for the senior firsttimer honor.
LA Olympic bronze medalist Bell was 28 years, 9 months and 16 days young in ’84 when he cleared the same setting, an American Record at the time.
So how did Hollis celebrate? “I got a tattoo when I jumped 17 feet,” he says, “and when I started jumping professionally my brother said he would get the same tattoo when I jumped 19-feet.
“It took 7 years but this year he finally got his tattoo. It’s a pole vaulter that my other brother drew right under the armpit on the right side.”
Illinois native Hollis, who stands 6-1/190 (1.85/86), has soared a long way from where he started. “I jumped 14-6 in high school,” he says, “so it’s kind of funny to be the oldest American to break that barrier.
“It just goes along with the rest because I really didn’t get my growth spurts until I went to college [Olivet Nazarene]. I think when I graduated high school I was, oh, probably 5-8, 145 pounds, just a scrawny little kid. Then I went off to college and I started to see what hard work in the weightroom could do.”
With no NCAA exposure, Hollis won NAIA titles in ’06 and ’07 and graduated with a 17-6½ (5.35) PR. So, yes, he shocked the U.S. vault community in ’08, his first year out of school, when he improved all the way to 18-10¼ (5.75).
Working with coach Danny Wilkerson in South Bend, Indiana, Hollis won USATF crowns outdoors in ’10 and indoors in ’11, but Olympic and World Championships teams eluded him as did personal bests.
“I never would have thought it would take this long,” says Hollis, who finally climbed a centimeter higher in Austria two days before his first 19-footer.
“But after the majority of those years you start to think, ‘Well, maybe It will never happen,’ and then it becomes like this mythical—’How does anyone jump 19 feet!?’ It really became this huge barrier: if it hasn’t happened now, what can I really do that much different?
“In my head I thought it had to be this perfect jump, all the stars would align, perfect day, and when it actually happened—I remember calling my wife before the meet and telling her I hoped I could jump because my hamstring was really bothering me.”
Rather than a celestial event, what got Hollis over 19—eventually 3 times, including a 19-1½ (5.83) PR in August—was coaching from ’04 Olympic champion Tim Mack. Long a friend of Mack’s, Hollis moved with his wife Amanda to join the former Tennessee star’s training group in the summer of ’13.
Mack won his Olympic gold just 20 days before his 32nd birthday, and, according to Hollis, has coached a vaulter used to persevering to even greater attention to perfection of his craft.
This is obvious as Hollis distills the technical changes Mack has introduced for a non-expert. “For a few years I’d always been one of the faster guys on the runway,” Hollis says. “I came in thinking, ’I’ve got that down.’ ”
Not so, Hollis continues: “That’s one of the major things that we changed, just the way I was running and, rather than just strictly turnover, a lot more power coming through the hips and building the speed in a way we can control it as I come into the takeoff.
“That kind of led into pole drop and shifting the pole, being in the right position so everything’s kind of working together as the hands are coming forward and you’re planting the pole.
“Then just being in a powerful position to move the pole off the ground to vertical. And that leads into adding pressure with the hands moving up and being able to swing long to go to vertical and just being on the topside of the bend so that you’re in the right position to receive the energy from that bent pole.”
Hollis adds, “I’ll be figuring out the pole vault for the rest of my life,” but the three championships years ahead will be about “remembering that feeling of what’s worked this past year, building on it, making it stronger, just reproducing it, being consistent and having that confidence.”

Ramblings of an Ole’ Coach

By Bill Falk

Coaching Track & Field, the world’s greatest sport, for 60+ years has given me a host of unforgettable memories. Strangely, I have always rated an off-the-field happening as my fondest memory.

While coaching at the Univ. of Rhode Island, I welcomed Butch Brown as a promising freshman middle distance runner. Butch had trouble adapting to a new life. Academics were difficult for him, making it impossible to find enough practice time for Track.

All in all, nothing went well for Butch during his freshman year. He barely slid through academically and his running was mediocre for a kid with a wealth of talent.

Butch lived with his grandmother who felt his poor academic performance meant he wasn’t cut out for college. She was dead set on Butch leaving URI and getting a job.

Butch was confused about what he should do, but I wasn’t. I felt he would be able to do the academics because he was willing to accept tutoring and he seemed to possess stick-towardness.

I went with Butch to see his grandmother in Providence. She told me her thoughts, but she was willing to let me present my case. Fortunately I convinced her to let Butch stay in college. I went out on a limb saying he would improve in academics and athletics,

Butch’s sophomore year at URI was a little better both academically and athletically, but lots of problems remained. He began to run much better but his spring track season was cut short when he tripped over a pipe during a training run. Butch was demoralized and talked of dropping track.

To my surprise Butch showed up for fall practice his junior year. His running skyrocketed, and he qualified for the indoor Division I NCAA championships. The first year in such a huge meet is difficult for most runners, and Butch was bumped, crowded and shuffled back in the 800m. Once again he was discouraged. He thought he couldn’t run with elite runners. He was ready to quit track – but he didn’t.

Senior year turned out great for Butch. He ripped off a 1:45.5 anchor leg in the 4×800 and went on to again qualify for the indoor NCAA championships. This time he was ready. He ran a great race, placing 3rd, and made All-American. Outdoors, Butch broke the New England Collegiate 800m record and went on to make All-American.

Since he had to take additional courses, Butch remained at URI for a 5th year. His college running career was over, but he completed all the requirements for graduation.

I was overjoyed when Butch received his college degree. More excitement came when he was elected to the URI Hall of Fame. What an accomplishment.

All the work Butch put in was worth it to see this kid overcome his academic and athletic problems. What marvelous achievements. I feel honored that I was able to contribute.

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Bill Falk is the founder of M-F Athletic. He has coached at every level of Track & Field from high school to professional and is now coaching women pole vaulters at the University of  Rhode Island

Reflections of an Ole’ Coach by Bill Falk

I got to thinking about my first full-time teacher/coach job in Attleboro, MA in 1952.

Having just received my MA, I was desperate for work and ready to accept a job anywhere in the country. Jobs were very scarce, but I noticed that Attleboro, MA had an opening. I rallied all the people who might have influence for help. Strangely, my college basketball coach was very friendly with the Attleboro A.D. I put his name down when I submitted my application, but I didn’t expect much help since we had many disagreements about various things – mostly about my lack of playing time.

Looking back, I was a lousy player, and I didn’t deserve much playing time – even though I thought otherwise. To my surprise, my ex-basketball coach gave me a glowing recommendation and clinched the job for me.

I taught a full schedule of classes at Attleboro, plus I was assistant football and basketball coach in addition to being the track coach. Pay was $2,700 for teaching and coaching even with my masters. Oh, I also coached two junior high basketball teams on afternoons when the high school team played at night. I had been a basketball player, so coaching that sport came naturally.

I tolerated coaching football, but I found coaching track & field difficult. The HS team had only six returnees from the previous year, so it was a new experience for me and for about 40 kids I recruited to join the team. My enthusiasm interested these candidates, but I had to come through as an effective coach. I had no real experience in track & field, so I had to learn quickly.

The only media to learn from was books, and I devoured everything I could find. Still, most of my coaching was trial and error. I concocted drills that probably would have driven most athletes away today. I worked my athletes hard, using ideas developed on the spot. My enthusiasm was contagious. We did pretty well that first year – winning over half of our dual meets. My young recruits began to blossom the next year, and we even qualified a few athletes for the MA State outdoor meet. Our team lacked experience, but I openly predicted we would win the states the next year.

In those days our Bristol County duals did not have hurdles, discus, javelin or pole vault, but my thought was we would practice those events so we could score vital points in the state meet. That meant building hurdles in shop classes and digging our own pole vault pit (metal poles were used then). We scraped up enough money to buy a discus and a javelin.

We worked on all the events and we won the state meet as I predicted. I was lucky that my prediction came true – considering that there was no track surface in town. A friend of mine helped me measure a mile around a small zoo. We created a 7 to a mile track, and we had several meets on the asphalt. I used to kid the athletes that I would feed them to the lions if they ran poorly.

After that, I was lured away by Hope High School, Providence, RI to teach plus coach cross-country plus indoor and outdoor. Pay was $4,400, so I couldn’t pass it up (and no assistant coaching assignments). I had decided track & field was all I wanted to coach from then on.

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Bill Falk is a National Hall of Fame Pole Coach who has coached all track & field events at every level from high school, college and pro.

2014 Patriot Pole Vault Club Halloween Vault

Westborough, Mass. —We are pleased to announce that our annual Halloween Costume Vault will be held on Saturday October 25th at Westborough High School starting at 2pm. Costumes have always been original and we’re looking forward to seeing what you folks come up with this year. If you can clear a height in the costume even better! There will be lots of candy and prizes for the best costumes. Updates will be posted on our website and our Facebook and Twitter feeds. If necessary the rain date will be Saturday November 1st. Please feel free to forward this on to any athletes and other parties that might be interested.  more

2014 Reflections: Jordan Scott

Jordan Scott, “I have one big ‘do over’ for the past 2014 season, and that would be to dedicate one or two days to sit down, call my coaches, agent, etc. and get organized before the season even started. Last September, I got married and started a full-time job. I think that maybe if I got more organized with figuring out workout times, times my coach and I could vault together, times I could lift weights, and strategize my vacation days better, that my season would’ve been much more successful. It was a huge transition into a 9-5 job, but it is definitely possible to get all my workouts in before, during lunch, or after work (because I’ve finally figured it out this fall…), but I never got a game plan and ended up feeling stressed and overwhelmed with trying to fit everything in the entire season. But it’s also hard for me to say I’d rather ‘do it over,’ because I know how important it is to learn from your own mistakes, and make sure you only make them once. It’s a new season, a new training plan, and time to keep living the dream of being a professional athlete!” more

Wanted: Cities interested in hosting 2024 Olympics

LONDON (AP) — Rejected time and again for the 2022 Winter Olympics, the IOC will soon be seeking suitors for the 2024 Summer Olympics. It will be hoping to attract a competitive, high-profile field to show there are cities that want to host the games rather than shun them. Even before Oslo became the fourth city to drop out of the race for the 2022 Games, the International Olympic Committee had started reviewing its bidding system to make it more appealing and less expensive for future host cities. Making the process more flexible — allowing cities to tailor a bid to their own needs from the start rather than adhere to strict IOC requirements — is central to IOC President Thomas Bach’s “Olympic Agenda 2020” reform package. Recommendations are being finalized this week at an IOC executive board meeting in Montreux, Switzerland. Bids will need to be submitted next year. The host city will be chosen in 2017. A look at some potential 2024 candidates:

RETURN TO THE USA?

The U.S. hasn’t hosted the Summer Olympics since 1996 in Atlanta. New York failed in a bid for 2012, while Chicago was shot down by the IOC for 2016. Stung by those defeats, the U.S. Olympic Committee stayed out of the race for 2020. But 2024 could be the right time. Relations between the U.S. and IOC have improved since the two sides signed a new revenue-sharing agreement in 2012. The USOC is weighing bids from four cities before deciding whether to submit a candidate to the IOC next year. Vying for the U.S. nomination are Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston and Washington. Los Angeles hosted the games in 1932 and 1984 and offers the easiest choice from the U.S., but does the world want to go back for a third time or go somewhere new? Whatever happens, the U.S. would start as the favorite if it enters a bid.  more