Virginia Tech vaulters taking their game to new heights

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Pole vaulters taking their game to new heights
Wednesday, February, 9, 2011; 10:56 PM | 0 | ShareThis | Print
by Courtney Lofgren, sports reporter



TOPICS: track and field pole vault bob phillips
Year in and year out, the Virginia Tech men’s and women’s track teams have been two of the most successful within the Hokies athletics programs.

Within the track team itself, pole vaulting in particular has had some of the greatest success over the last several years. Both teams have had several athletes over the years qualify for the NCAA National Invitational.

Much of the success can be attributed to pole vault coach Bob Phillips. Phillips, an alumnus of Tech, has coached the team for 29 years. He jumped for Tech from 1977-78 and was a four-time NCAA national qualifier. He was also named an All-American in 1980.

Phillips believes that the consistency of the coaching staff has helped make the program an elite one.

“I think it’s like football or any other sport, once you get a program rolling, it makes it easier to recruit and keep the program rolling,” Phillips said. “I think just like in football that consistency of the coaching staff, I’ve been here a long time, there’s not a lot of turnover in the turnover. Coach Cianelli has been here for 11 years. The tradition gets passed down from one group of kids to the next.”

Right now, the men’s and women’s teams are in two very different spots in the program. The men’s team is thriving, as the track and field team had a preseason ranking of No. 7 in the nation and is trying to reach the No. 5 spot by the end of the season.

“Hopefully we can fulfill (the preseason hype) and finish in the top five in the nation,” said Yavgeniy Olhovsky, a senior on the team. “It would be a big step forward for us to finish (strong).”

Olhosvky has led the team in jumping over the last few seasons. He is hoping to return back to the NCAA National Championship where he has represented the Hokies each of his previous three seasons.

Along with Olhosvky, senior Joe Davis is also consistently one of the top performers on the men’s side. So far this indoor season, he’s already set two personal records.

“I had two lifetime (personal records) already, and I think it’s just attributed to me being healthy this fall,” Davis said. “It’s like the first time I’ve had a healthy fall since my freshman year and I PR’d three times my freshman year. It’s kind of exciting seeing the results from the past few falls.”

The women’s team is in the middle of a rebuilding stage. Redshirt seniors Caitlin Thornley and Kelly Phillips are the veterans of the team that has three freshmen and sophomores.

Thornley and Phillips appreciate their role as mentors to the younger jumpers this season.

“It’s cool in a way because you see the people that come in, and you think it’s cool because these people were interested in the school because of what we did,” Thornley said. “It’s also cool to help see other things that other things and help in the coaching process and be able to give your 2 cents and try to make the future better. There’s a sense of pride of being an alumni of this program.”

Both Thornley and Phillips have faced tough injuries in their careers. Phillips has had two surgeries on her right wrist and Thornley had surgery on her shoulder this summer after she stretched out her capsule and tore her labrum.

Phillips has already proved she is healthy this indoor season after qualifying for indoor nationals in this past weekend’s meet.

Both the men’s and women’s teams are small and close knit. Each pole vaulter wants to see one another succeed individually while also helping the team out.

“We’re all here to motivate each other,” Davis said. “The one attribute we take from each other is we want to jump high and we all want to work hard. It’s nice to have training partners that push you forward in your experience. It’s a lot harder as an individual to push yourself but when you work as a team I think it elevates your performance. I think we totally feed off each other, especially in practice. It’s part of the process, we all want to see each other do well.”

Additionally, there is a family connection among the pole vaulters, coach Bob Phillips is the father of Kelly Phillips.

Phillips did not start pole vaulting until her freshman year of college, although Phillips tried to get his daughter to start the sport much earlier.

“Obviously I’ve been around the sport for a long time and really liked it,” Kelly Phillips said. “I did gymnastics for a long time and I loved it so I didn’t want to give it up. It was hard to think about switching but there’s also very few opportunities for collegiate gymnasts. I needed a change mentally and physically. I decided the spring of my senior year to give it a shot. I decided I was coming to Tech and would try to pole vault and started over the summer.”

Though it may sometimes be hard to control their emotions, both Phillips’ maintain a professional relationship while they are at the track.

“I think that a lot of people are surprised at how well it works,” Kelly Phillips said. “I think it takes a special person on his end to be able to balance me as an athlete and a daughter. He does a really good job of not treating me differently than everybody else in a good and a bad way. At times lately there’s been more of a dad and a coach because he’s been worried about the injuries. He’s been trying to convince me to pole vault for a long time.”

Phillips only likes to play the role as a parent at the meets if Kelly is injured.

“The most difficult part for me has been the injuries,” Phillips said. “You know she’s had two wrist surgeries and the father of me comes out in more when she’s jumping in those circumstances. Otherwise it’s been great.”

The relationship between Bob Phillips and Kelly Phillips is representative of bond between all of the pole vaulters.

“Like in every sports team we’re kind of like a big family,” Thornley said. “Among the track team, it’s kind of split up because everyone is so specialized with what they do. The pole vaulters are one specialized family.

It’s no wonder that with such a close group that success is so common.