Pole vaulting makes a new leap in Steamboat Springs (CO)

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http://www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2008 ... t_springs/

Pole vaulting makes a new leap in Steamboat Springs
By Luke Graham (Contact)
Sunday, May 4, 2008


Pole vault history
■ Poles originally were used as a means of getting over natural obstacles, such as canals and rivers in Europe.
■ Competition began around 1850 in Germany when pole vaulting was added to gymnastic exercises.
■ At the end of the 19th century, pole vaulting was developed in America.
■ Pole vaulting was originally measured as a distance instead of a height. Vaulting poles have been made of materials such as bamboo, steel and aluminum, and now are made of fiberglass or carbon fiber.
■ World Record: 20 feet, 1 3/4 inches by Sergei Bubk of the Ukraine in 1994
■ Steamboat Springs High School record: 14 feet, 6 inches by Buddy Bair in 1979
■ Colorado high school record: 18 feet by Pat Manson of Aurora Central in 1986

Steamboat Springs junior Dylan Pivarnik attempts a run through while practicing the pole vault inside the gym last week as coach Quint Friesell watches. This season is the first time the track team has offered pole vaulting at the school since the mid-1980s. Photo by John F. Russell


Pole vaulter Emily Rabbitt attempts to get her steps down while practicing inside the old gym at the Steamboat Springs High School last week. Rabbitt, and her classmates, are the first athletes to get a shot at pole vaulting at Steamboat Springs since the sport was taken away in the mid-1980s. Photo by John F. Russell


Pole vaulting coach Quint Friesell talks with student athletes during practice inside the old gym at the Steamboat Springs High School this week. This season is the first time the school has offered pole vaulting since the mid-1980s. Photo by John F. Russell

Steamboat Springs — It was a coincidence made in heaven.

More than 30 years ago, just as the local middle school was getting new pole-vaulting pits, the old mats landed in the alley behind Buddy Bair’s house.

Bair, then just a sliver of the man who would become an All-American football player at Mesa State College, couldn’t run down and plant the pole. So he’d have a couple of the neighborhood children hoist him up and fling him over and onto the mats.

“I guess you could say I started pole vaulting before I could even run,â€