SJV's Favaloro raises stakes with 14-0 vault (NJ)

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SJV's Favaloro raises stakes with 14-0 vault
First to get there in the state this spring
BY TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer



CHRIS KELLY staff St. John Vianney's Chris Favaloro prepares to take off during the pole vault event at Saturday's Lion Invitational in Middletown.
The race has been on for the state's best pole vaulters all spring.Since they all topped out at 13-6 during the indoor season, they've been watching each other's results intently to see who would be the first to get to 14-0 outdoors.

The first to do it was St. John Vianney's Chris Favaloro, who upped the ante for his rivals when he catapulted himself over the bar at 14-0 at the Holmdel Relays (April 21).

"It was pretty important," the Lancer senior said of getting to 14-0 first. "A couple of us were at 13-6 and it was a matter of who would be first."

It would be Favaloro, and he would do it under the restriction of relay competitions, where a vaulter is limited to just six jumps overall. After clearing 14-0, he had just one jump left and he tried 14-1. He and teammate Mike Reese set the meet record at 26-6.

Indoors, Favaloro, Manalapan's Mike Goldwasser (the Meet of Champions winner) Don Bosco's Matt Steeg and North Hunterdon's George Vallone were the 13-6 vaulters. Now, he is alone among his peers as they each get ready for the approaching championship season. Favaloro, who lives in Marlboro, will compete against Indoor MOC champion Goldwasser at the Monmouth County Champion-ships next Thursday and Saturday at Neptune High School.

Favaloro, however, doesn't see 14-0 as the be all and end all. It's just a start, and he proved it on Saturday at the Lion Invitational, when a scaled a new pb 14-3 in taking first. He'd like to get to 15-6 before the season concludes next month with the Meet of Champions.

Since last year, he has been more dedicated than ever to pole vaulting. He started going to HipAthletics in Cherry Hill under the guidance of Chip Hill during the winter, and is vaulting every day. Hill has helped Favaloro finish his jumps better technically at the top.

Along with the technique, he's starting to grip the pole farther up, allowing him to jump higher, as well as running and lifting to make himself faster and stronger.

Favaloro began his track and field career at SJV as a distance runner until he tried something different during practice one day that would change his career direction.

"I tried it [pole vaulting] out at practice and it was so much fun," he recalled.

Fun, with a bit of the fear factor. Favaloro admits that the first few times he inverted on the pole were "pretty scary."

He overcame the scary aspect pretty quickly and improved each year to the point that he was the NJSIAA Non-Public Schools A state champion last spring. Indoors, he improved to 13-6 and was second at both the Group III and Meet of Champions despite not being outjumped at either meet. It came down to the tiebreaker of the fewest misses.

"That was kind of hard," he said of those second places. "It was disappointing. It's important not to miss at the lower heights."

The higher up Favaloro goes, the easier the lower heights are becoming, and that could be the difference this time around as he takes aim at state gold later this season.