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Heritage girl shows she's a fast learner
Carolyn Lewis wins the Peninsula District pole vault, as well as the long jump.


BY LYNN BURKE
247-4961

Published May 21, 2005

NEWPORT NEWS -- Carolyn Lewis remembers when she took up pole-vaulting. It was the start of indoor track season last year and vaulting didn't come naturally to her.

"At first, I couldn't do 5 feet," she said. "I can high-jump 5 feet."

Lewis, now a junior at Heritage, has improved considerably. On Friday, her 9-foot, 6-inch clearance not only won the Peninsula District meet, but it also broke a six-year-old record by a half-foot. Gloucester's April Mafturak cleared 9 feet during the 1999 district meet.

The victory in the pole vault was one of two titles for Lewis on the first day of the meet at Todd Stadium. She won the long jump in 17-9. And she finished fifth in the shot put for an individual total of 24 points.

Heritage leads the girls portion of the meet with 38 points, one ahead of Warwick. Denbigh leads the boys side with 33 points to Phoebus' 29. Friday's program included seven field events, the 3,200-meter relays and trials in the dashes. Today, there will be six field events and 20 running events. Field events start at 9:30 a.m. and the running events at noon.

Lewis will be busy again today when she competes in the triple jump, the 100-meter hurdles, the 300 hurdles and the 1,600 relay.

Lewis' personal best in the pole vault is 9-9. She did that last weekend at the Southern Track Classic in Richmond.

"They want to get me up to 12 feet, but I don't have the form," she said.

Next up for Lewis is the Eastern Region meet next weekend at Todd Stadium. Based on results posted at www. milestat.com, only three other vaulters in the region have cleared 9 feet, and they've hit 9 feet exactly.

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Vaulting into the forefront
Heritage track star Carolyn Lewis tries to get a personal record every time she enters a meet.

jjordan@dailypress.com 247-4648
April 2, 2006
NEWPORT NEWS -- By the time Heritage track star Carolyn Lewis was 7 years old, she could lap boys and girls during recess races at McIntosh Elementary School. At 8, she'd embarrass the boys in her third-grade class by doing eight pull-ups, and by age 9, she held the McIntosh record for the most curl-ups in one minute at 60.

"That record still stands," Lewis said.

Perhaps her first record is what drives her approach to every track meet.

"I come into every meet wanting to get a personal record," Lewis said.

Mission accomplished. In Saturday's Conn-Madden Relays at Todd Stadium, which kicked off the outdoor track season, Lewis won the pole vault, the only individual event of the meet, by clearing a personal record of 10 feet, 6 inches.

During the indoor season, Lewis was the Peninsula District champ in the pole vault, high jump and triple jump. She also was the regional pole vault champ.

Just think of what the senior could do if she was at full strength.

"I'm always tired," Lewis saod. "My coach is always telling me to get in the bed early, but I just can't. I was up Friday night until about 3 a.m.; that's what time I usually get to bed."

The fatigue doesn't hit Lewis during the field events, only when it's time to run. Saturday when her coach, Jacqueline Bateman, asked Lewis if she was ready to run a leg of the 400-meter relay, Lewis took a deep sigh of disinterest, then smiled and nodded.

"I don't really like to run," Lewis said. "I like the hurdles, but I would much rather stick to the field events. That's what I concentrate on."

Bateman added: "We use her on relays, but we can count on her for about 40 points in every meet from field events. That's not too bad."

Lewis plans to sign with Hampton University this month, joining her sister, Yvette, a junior and former Menchville star who won the NCAA triple-jump title March 11.

"I don't really talk to Yvette about track," Lewis said. "Sometimes she tries to give me pointers, but we don't really talk about track like that. I just to try to do better every time out. If I'm doing that, I know that I'm going to get better."

And getting better only helps Lewis move closer to achieving her goal of pole vaulting in the Olympics. She can still remember Ms. Hampton, her teacher at McIntosh, telling her that she would make the Olympics in the future after Lewis dusted her classmates during those outside races.

"Everyone has a track star, but I remember Ms. Hampton telling me that," Lewis said. "She was the first one to ever tell me that, and I could tell she was serious. My goal for now is 12 feet on the pole vault, so I'm just going to have to keep working hard." «