Clovis New Format. Opinions???

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.fresnobee.com/sports/story/1583863.html

Pole vaulter makes a name for herself
Shade Weygandt arrives in Clovis as nation's best.

Published online on Thursday, Aug. 06, 2009
By Andy Boogaard / The Fresno Bee


Two things distinguish Shade Weygandt from every female teenage pole vaulter in the United States:
Her talent, which is tops.
And her first name.
Shade?
"Well, it's a weird story," said Weygandt, an 18-year-old Texan, who will bring her personal best of 14 feet -- short by 11/4 inches of the national high school outdoor record -- into today's North American Pole Vaulting Championships in downtown Clovis.
IF YOU GO
NORTH AMERICAN POLE VAULTING CHAMPIONSHIPS
TODAY: Pollasky Avenue in downtown Clovis
LINEUP: 5-7 p.m., High School Team Division; 7:15-9 p.m., Emerging Elite and Elite divisions
ADMISSION: free
FEATURED VAULTERS: Former NCAA champion Becky Holliday; former USC All-American Jeff Ryan

While the 15th version of a fan-friendly event will emphasize high school competition more than ever before, Texas Tech-bound Weygandt -- in her third Clovis appearance -- will compete against the likes of former NCAA champion and four-time street vault winner Becky Holliday in the Elite Division.
Weygandt has earned that status in part by placing second in last week's Pan American Junior National Championships at 13-111/4 and, a few weeks prior, becoming Texas' first 14-foot teen vaulter.
"Weird" stories have long been associated with vaulters, who ride high on sticks and commonly have competitive personalities that soar in unorthodox manners.
Those traits only feed the frenzy of the nationally identified Clovis street vault on Pollasky Avenue, where competitors invite fan involvement -- nothing to be confused with golf or tennis here -- and galleries up to 5,000 respond with rhythmic clapping as the vaulters sprint down the elevated runway.
Today they get another look at Weygandt -- so smart, she graduated from Mansfield (Texas) High at the semester of her senior year; so fast, with a 12.05-second 100-meter time, she can hang with top-level sprinters; so talented, she projects well into representing USA at the 2012 Olympic Games at London, if not even better at the 2016 Games at an undetermined site; and so unusually named, she has to explain it.
So here goes:
"When my mom was pregnant with me she was going through motocross entries because my brother used to race. She saw a name she thought was Shade, ran over to my dad and said it would be a perfect name, boy or girl. Actually, the name she saw was Shad, but she had already decided. So it was a mess-up, kind of."
Also ...
The High School Division will involve two boys and one girl from each of five cities -- Clovis, Bakersfield, Los Angeles, San Diego and Reno. Among the competitors will be Kortney Ross, 2009 girls state champion from Westview-San Diego; Michael Peterson, 2009 boys state runner-up from Clovis East; and Holly Waseloff, 2009 girls bronze medalist from Buchanan.
Team Bakersfield will get some help from Lemoore, and it's a Fraley -- Lyle, grandnephew of Bob Fraley, the street vault meet director and former coaching icon at Lemoore High and Fresno State.
The Elite Division men's field will feature Jeff Ryan, a former USC All-American.

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.kmph.com/Global/story.asp?S= ... enu612_2_2

Pole Vaulters A Big Draw In Clovis
Posted: Aug 7, 2009 11:13 PM
Pole Vaulters A Big Draw In Clovis



By Clint Olivier

FRESNO - Huntington Beach High's Allison Koressel is clearly over the top.

And in her estimation, so are the people in Clovis who came out to see her and dozens of other athletes jump in the North American Pole Vault Championships.

Hundreds turned out for the event.

"The athletes love coming here because of the fans," she said.

Organizer Sharon Jackson of "Business Owners of Old Town" says it is a Clovis tradition.

A farmer's market is usually held in old town every Friday evening each May through September.

Streets are blocked off to allow dozens of vendors to set up and folks to walk around.

Jackson says the people this event attracts spend big cash in the community.

"We have visitors, we have all these athletes in addition to all their friends and family, and then we have spectators who come from all parts of the valley to watch this," she said.

"Pretty steady tonight. Hopefully we'll get something better when the festivities die down a little bit," Bert Liberta said.

Liberta owns Luna Pizzeria, at this location since 1969.

Liberta says he's happy the pole vault championships bring extra business, but he's concerned about the frequency the streets around his restaurant are closed, because it hurts his business.

"This is a good event but the other ones when it's hot and stuff make it difficult for people to get in and out," he said.

But on this Friday night, thanks to the folks in Clovis, Allison Koressel will have stories of big cheers to take back to her friends in Huntington Beach.

"They're amazing I love them. They have such great enthusiasm and support for pole vaulting," she said.

Clovis is one of only three cities in the United States that hold street vaulting events.

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.fresnobee.com/sports/story/1585842.html

Women make mark at pole vault event
As participation grows, pole vault roots can be traced to Fresno.

Published online on Friday, Aug. 07, 2009
By Andy Boogaard / The Fresno Bee

Bob Fraley remembers the beginning, the struggle, when as vice president of the NCAA Coaches Association in the late 1990s he urged his colleagues to add the pole vault to women's track and field.
Firmly.
"I reminded them of Title IX," the former Fresno State coach said, referring to the education amendment of 1972 prohibiting discrimination based on gender. "And if they fought, they'd lose."
He won. And, as he did, so did Melissa Price (now Melissa Lewis), who made the short trip from Kingsburg to not only receive the first female scholarship for a college pole vaulter but to also become the NCAA's first female champion in the event in 1998.
So, essentially, the competition for women in the United States was launched in Fresno County, and it continues to soar like never before, evident in the 15th North American Pole Vault Championships on Friday night in downtown Clovis.

It was here, at Pollasky Avenue and Fourth Street in pleasing 80-degree temperatures, that the street vault reflected well on the gender's growth and popularity before a throng estimated by police at 11,000, a street vault record.
The female field in Old Town ranged from former NCAA champion Becky Holliday of Oregon to national high school leader Shade Weygandt to state titlist Kortney Ross of Westview-San Diego.
But perhaps no one better represented booming interest among females -- not only in the states, but across the border and beyond -- than Tiziana Ruiz.
"What a thrill," the 15-year-old from Veracruz, Mexico, said through an interpreter, her mother. Ruiz watched women pole vaulting in the Olympics on television, told mom two years ago, "I want to," traveled 11/2 hours three times a week to train in a country with limited vaulting resources and instruction and became a state champion, clearing 11 feet, 8 inches.
"I thought it was only for boys," said her mother, Carmina Dominguez Ruiz.
Her daughter would like to become the female version of Mexico's Giovanni Lanaro, an ex-Olympian.
"Why not," the slight Ruiz said after clearing 10-10 in her first Clovis appearance. "I love everything about it."
Weygandt cleared 13-6 -- 6 inches below her high school nation-best mark.
The men's and women's Elite champions were Jeff Ryan (17-10) and Holliday (14-2).

[achtungpv]

And, as he did, so did Melissa Price (now Melissa Lewis), who made the short trip from Kingsburg to not only receive the first female scholarship for a college pole vaulter but to also become the NCAA's first female champion in the event in 1998.

Bianca Maran from Cal Poly was the first NCAA Champ...unless they mean indoor...

[rainbowgirl28]

Photos: http://markhaymond.smugmug.com/gallery/ ... 3995_xVY3v

[ECRPV]

The 7 jumps rule was only for thoughs in the high school team competition. Elite athletes jumped as normal. and even with seven jumps some of teh high schoolers went big.