Sydney White apparently born to vault (NC)

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East's White apparently born to vault

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Credit: BRUCE CHAPMAN/JOURNAL

Sydney White, a junior at East Forsyth, clears 12-feet-8 during a meet against Ragsdale in March. Last weekend, White finished second in the New Balance Indoor Nationals in New York.


By MASON LINKER
Published: March 17, 2011
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Sydney White, a junior at East Forsyth High School, is driven to soar.

And last weekend in New York, she put herself above any other high school girl pole vaulter in state history.

White placed second in the New Balance Indoor Nationals at the New York Armory with a vault of 12 feet, 10¼ inches — more than 9 inches higher than the previous best indoor vault in state history and more than 4 inches higher than the previous best outdoor vault.

"It's really exciting," White said. "That was my goal from the beginning, to break some records and show that I could really succeed in something. To put my time and effort in and get a good result out of it, so that record means a lot."

Some people were born to do specific things, and so it seems with White, who said she has been vaulting for only about 20 months.

She played varsity soccer at East as a freshman in 2009. That same spring, she took an athletics evaluation at school consisting of a 200-meter run, broad jump and standing vertical jump.

She said the results "popped up," identifying her as a pole vaulter.

After trying the pole vault for a week that spring, she found a coach during the summer.

"It became addicting," White said. "I just fell in love with the whole event."

And so by last spring, White had quit soccer and dedicated herself to her new sport. She won her first state championship last month, vaulting 12-2 in the NCHSAA 4-A indoor championships.

James Studevent, the first-year coach at East, is a strength-and-speed specialist who took White under his wing in November. He said that White — eager to get in the weight room mornings before school — quickly reached strength goals, such as bench-pressing and hang-cleaning her weight.

He said that White, who is 5-foot-6, weighs about 125 pounds.

"She is very coordinated, I am sure she had gymnastics when she was younger," Studevent said. "She's an acrobat and a daredevil. In sports, you can't be scared to fail or fall, and she's not. A lot of kids are afraid to give the effort, being scared of getting bruised or scraped up. She is not afraid.

"I guess you could call it fearlessness or what have you. She has the innate ability to be challenged and to step up and go. She doesn't back down."

White, mainly an A student, said she is ranked in the top 12 percent of East's junior class. But her aptitude for academics might even be overshadowed by her aptitude for pole vaulting.

"My goal for this spring is to hit 13 feet consistently, and I definitely want to top out higher than that," White said. "If I hit it consistently, it will show good progress and be a good setup for next year.

"Right now for indoor rankings, I finished No. 5 (in the nation). If I jump 13 consistently, I will definitely be top 5, and if not that, definitely top 10."

Pole-vaulting ability must be in the water in Kernersville.

Austin Vegas of East — who also won an NCHSAA indoor title last month — and Jaie Maness of Glenn will most likely battle all season until the outdoor state championships in May.

Two weeks ago at the Southern Indoor Invitational at East Tennessee State, Maness won with a vault of 15 feet, 4¼ inches, the fifth-highest vault by a high school boy in state history.

Vegas finished third in that meet.