PoleVaultPower.com

anyone know anything about the vault program at cal poly san luis obispo?

It was one of the best programs in the 80s and 90s and is starting to make a comeback.

The all-time list is awesome there. Sean Brown (Neovault) holds the school record 5.65m. I vaulted 5.30m and I did not make the top ten. When I was there Sean vaulted 5.65, Brad Pickett vaulted 5.50, Logan Nichols vaulted 5.48 and I was tied for #4 with Joe Koenig at 5.30m. Great School and SLO is an awesome town. It is also a 20 min drive to Jan Johnsons house (best backyard in america) Working pole vault camps was definitely a highlight.

Even though I coach at Stanford, I still have to give props to my alma mater. I am where I am today because of where I came from.

HaHa...I'm going there next year. But i probably won't be able to make the team . so i will probably vault at jans place. I talked to the coach and he says you need to be up at 14'6 to 15 to make it.

Cal Poly is a vastly underrated vault program. Easily one of the best in the country.

Don't forget Jon Takahashi last year jumped 5.61 (18-4 3/4) there.

Gotta give some advertisement to my hometown boy Joe Koenig's band: http://www.snaphookmusic.com.

achtungpv wrote:Cal Poly is a vastly underrated vault program. Easily one of the best in the country.

Don't forget Jon Takahashi last year jumped 5.61 (18-4 3/4) there.

Gotta give some advertisement to my hometown boy Joe Koenig's band: http://www.snaphookmusic.com.

They had several DII national champ vaulters back in the day and 2 DI champs not that long ago.

cal poly SLO has some good jumpers, Adrian Rurak has jumped 5.05 this year, and should put up 5.20 + this year. They have 2 other guys that are jumping 15-16'.

They have a 13' girl jumper, Kelli Dahl i think the name is. Kira Costa vaults there too, i think she's been able to put up a 12' bar this year....

GREAT School

I've heard different opinions about the track team. You'd have to find out for yourself by asking a member that is actually on the team.

Yeah, Cal Poly SLO has a great program...but it's all about the restaurants in the town of San Luis Obispo. I went there last year for a competition, cruised the town and had the best ribs in the world. I think the name of one of the restaurants is Fire Stone Grill. I highly recommend eating there...stuff your face!

well if they have good food there maybe i should apply and go there next year.

k_rabbit,

I wanted to address the fact you said you probably wouldn't make the team at Cal Poly. I'm Brad Pickett (the guy Kris Mack just mentioned in an earlier post). My highest jump in high school was 13'6". In fact, an old coach of mine helped me get into Cal Poly by telling the coach at the time (Brooks Johnson) that I had jumped almost 15 feet in high school. Brooks never checked it out and gave me an athletic exemption into school. That little lie happened to provide the greatest opportunity in my life. My freshman year I went out for the team as a walk-on and was almost cut (luckily I knew how to hurdle; we had no hurdlers), but I was still about 7th out of 7 pole vaulters going for about 4 spots. I knew I was physically overmatched; but, I believed more than anyone that if I worked hard enough good things would happen. I ended up jumping 15'3" my freshman year; 17'4" the next; and 18'1/2 consecutively my final two years.
My point is: keep a positive frame of mind. Even if you're not the best jumper right now, a lot of things can change if you are serious about your training.
In addition, the SLO life itself is totally unique. I was at school from 95-2000, and still live here. I couldn't imagine being in another part of the world.

Well, I'll put up my opinion on here since I went there 4 years...


I'll start with the cons:

Pretty much what I tell everyone is DON'T go there if you are going to college primarily for the purpose of being an athlete. Especially not while *Decided not to name names* is the head coach, I don't really think I've ever met a more evil person. She makes vaulters buy their own poles, and she gives all the scholarship money to runners. Plus Cal Poly doesn't put a lot of money into athletics in general, and pretty much none of the students give a crap about athletics except the athletes. The athletic administration is absolutely intolerable also *barf*.

On the other hand (pros):

Cal Poly has an outstanding academic program. If you want to go to college so that you can get a good job, this is a good place. And hey, just cause you don't get a lot of funding, that doesn't mean you can't jump high. Sheldon Blockburger is a really good coach. He's not a super analytical coach, he's more of a "grab a pole and jump" kind of guy. If nothing else, he'll get you in really good shape. There's also a good overall environment at Poly for you to develop as a vaulter-- Justin Norberg, Sean Brown, Dean Starkey, Jill Starkey, and Jan Johnson are all local to the area and still active in the vault scene. The facility is pretty decent too. There's a good gymnastics room there for workouts. The wind is crap, but that'll make you tough... So anyway, Poly is good for the all-rounder student athlete, but if all you care about is scholarship and media attention, look elsewhere...

Tak-

Sorry to hear once they built that parking structure you lost the most consistent and piping tail wind. I'm sure Brad can agree with that.

Pickett-

Whats going on man? You wanna come up on memorial day and see the US Open? I've been training and helping out the other Mack (Tim). He has some sweet gymnastics routines and is totally intense.

Oh yeah, Bring me some Tri-tip from Firestone (gotta craving)

Mack attack,

What's up man! I'm sorry I can't come up memorial day; already have plans down here. I'll give you a call.


To Tak,

You almost have it right, but not quite: I went to school to be a pole vaulter, and happened to get a good education. The pole vault is not football or basketball, you don't need media attention. If you jump high enough, you'll get press. The most important thing is to jump in a good environment. I happen to think there are few environments better than Poly (facilities, athletes, coaches (excluding some); weather). Just take a look at the Cal Poly all time list (on their website) and you'll realize how good the place is. Remember, the group of guys/girls on the lists did not get a lot of money (you're right there), but that even makes a stronger case for Cal Poly vaulting.

By the way, who are you Tak? Do we know each other?