http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/recrea ... 002e0.htmlArea pole vaulter best ever in his age group
By Randy Sharer |
rsharer@pantagraph.com | Posted: Tuesday, June 21, 2011 7:00 am | (2) Comments
Adam Coulon practices at the Flying Dragons club facility, Wednesday, June 15, 2011, in Bloomington. (The Pantagraph, David Proeber)
BLOOMINGTON — Adam Coulon loves to fall.
The farther the Tri-Valley eighth-grader-to-be falls, the better he likes it.
“It’s a great feeling falling down,” said Coulon, who has spent a lot of time descending after improving the age-13 world record in the pole vault twice since June 4.
Coulon, who won’t turn 14 until Oct. 5, first broke the record of 14 feet, 1.25 inches at Rockford by improving his personal record from 13-9 to 14-2.
On June 11 at Tremont, the Bloomington resident soared over 14-3.25 with room to spare. Only two Pantagraph area high school vaulters went higher this spring.
A year ago, Coulon’s best was 11-6, but then he grew to 5-foot-8 and 125 pounds, got faster and learned to invert his body while vaulting.
His 33.25 inches of improvement is the biggest one-year gain in the history of the Normal-based Flying Dragons Pole Vault Club, where Coulon has trained since age 11.
This is the same club that has produced many state high school champions, including state record holders Logan Pflibsen of Streator and Emily Grove of Pontiac.
Coulon credits the club for providing “a lot of friends,” a place to train and the proper series of progressively stiffer and longer poles to help send him ever higher.
Coulon was introduced to vaulting at age 9 by his father, Tom, who was a state high school indoor and outdoor pole vault champion in Ohio and cleared 14-6 for Bowling Green State University.
In November 2007, a 10-year-old Coulon went to a Flying Dragons camp where he caught the eye of Coach Mike Cockerham. Coulon started competing for the club the next summer, topping out at 7-6.
As a sixth-grader, Coulon placed third in the IESA Class 7AA state meet at 10-0. By the end of the summer, he was over 11-6. In this year’s rainy state meet, he cleared an IESA record 13-2.
Tri-Valley doesn’t have a pole vault pit, but school officials hope to change that.
The versatile Coulon also placed fourth in the state 110 hurdles and fourth in the high jump to help Tri-Valley take third as a team. His high jump best is 5-5 while his top hurdle time is 16.1 seconds.
“He’s a great athlete,” Cockerham said. “He’s very fast. He has a lot of body awareness and he’s absolutely fearless.”
Once Coulon learns to pike at the top of his vaults, Cockerham expects another 6 to 8 inches of improvement. The age-14 world record is 15-7.
“We’re going to keep challenging him to see what he can do,” said Tom Coulon, who was “emotionally shocked” when his son cleared 14-2. “We are going to take him as far as he can go.”
Cockerham tabs the reserved, humble Coulon as one of the best at accepting coaching. The biggest danger for anyone so young with so much talent is burnout.
“We’re trying to set him up so that doesn’t happen,” Cockerham said.
Coulon, who is also a standout basketball player and Tri-Valley’s No. 2 man on the cross country team, can’t imagine getting tired of vaulting.
“When you start the sport, you can’t stop,” he said. “It’s an addicting sport.”
Plus the higher you go, the longer you fall.
New heights
A look at the age 13 pole vault world record, which was set twice this month by Tri-Valley eighth-grader Adam Coulon:
Previous record — 14 feet, 1.25 inches
Coulon’s first record — 14-2, set June 4 at Rockford
Coulon’s latest record — 14-3.25, set June 11 at Tremont
