Plainfield Pole Vault City (IL)

A forum to discuss anything related to Illinois

Moderator: rainbowgirl28

User avatar
rainbowgirl28
I'm in Charge
Posts: 30435
Joined: Sat Aug 31, 2002 1:59 pm
Expertise: Former College Vaulter, I coach and officiate as life allows
Lifetime Best: 11'6"
Gender: Female
World Record Holder?: Renaud Lavillenie
Favorite Vaulter: Casey Carrigan
Location: A Temperate Island
Contact:

Plainfield Pole Vault City (IL)

Unread postby rainbowgirl28 » Fri Jun 15, 2007 3:47 pm

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/hera ... S2.article

Plainfield Pole Vault City

May 27, 2007
Kremer

From page B1

North Central College, has worked with Plainfield pole vaulters for a number of years.

His sons have helped turn Plainfield into Pole Vault City. Jake won the state championship while at South. He later went on to attend Alabama. He plans now to return home and transfer into his father's program once again.

Josh Winder, a Central sophomore, extended the Wildcats' streak to three straight years with a pole vault medal winner during competition Saturday at the Class AA state meet. He jumped an outdoors personal-record of 15-0 and placed eighth -- on a new pole.

"That pole definitely helped out," Josh said. "My dad brought that from North Central, and that's almost the exact same pole that I broke, only it's a Pacer-FX instead of a Pacer-Carbon. It moved perfectly. I gripped it the same way as on the other pole. And everything just clicked.

"My technique was a lot better today than it's been. I was kind of drifting off to the side earlier in the year. Now, I was going straight up."

And over the bar.

Winder was batting 1.000 through his first seven jumps -- 7-for-7 -- on the state's grandest stage. He was enjoying the moment. And he was feeling his dad and his vault coach working to will him to new heights during a competition that turned epic with the two finalists taking aim at a 15-year-old state record.

Central assistant Phil "Flip" Coats is the man who wears a cowboy hat and rides off into the sunset with his boys nearly every night after they've finally put away their vaulting equipment. Central assistants Don Hartlaub and Marc Jones helped Lawrence turn senior Jonathan Anderson from project to medal winner.

Anderson placed seventh in the 110 hurdles with a time of 14.86. He followed in the footsteps of his sister, Valencia, who won a medal in the girls state meet last weekend competing for Plainfield North.

Jonathan was unhappy with his race -- and his performance -- because he uncharacteristically clipped several of the hurdles. He said he could have moved up a couple spots.

He also said he never would have blossomed into an all-stater without a push from Lawrence.

"It's mostly the coaching," Anderson said. "Coach Jones, coach Lawrence, coach Hartlaub -- they've all got this piece, and when you put them all together, you can make a great athlete. Coach Lawrence showed me how to be a true leader.

"He showed me even if you're not the best, if you give it all you've got, you can succeed. He gave me that piece of mind to make me stronger to run these races. Because, if I was at my other school, I probably wouldn't have been down here."

Anderson transferred from Downers Grove South to Plainfield Central. He went from a 15.5-second hurdler to a state finalist. Jacob Arnold transferred from Plainfield South to Plainfield North. He has straightened out his life in the last year and a half.

He became the first individual to win a medal in any kind of boys state competition for the Tigers when he placed ninth in the 400 meters. He was clocked in 49.95 seconds.

"I feel good. We're starting a tradition that's going to live on forever. We've got our name out there. That's what counts."

The sport here is track.

It is not always the most popular. Meets run long. The weather in northern Illinois is uncooperative. And there are countless other reasons to write it off as irrelevant or unworthy of your attention.

Not in Plainfield.

The men and women coaching in the district have all the programs on the rise. The evidence was there for all to see in Charleston. South's Dionte Hollins, Joey Guiterrez, Rudy Bores and John Prieboy teamed for a time of 8:14.94 in Friday's preliminaries of the 4x800 relay. They missed advancing to the finals by matter of seconds.

They didn't miss out on the experience of a lifetime.

Return to “Illinois”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 15 guests