Cassie Crawford: NC Female Athlete of the Year

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http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/06/13/ ... ights.html

Four years ago, the suggestion made Cassie Crawford laugh. Her friend’s father offered to show her how to pole vault.

“My first reaction was, ‘What is pole vaulting?’ ” Crawford said recently.

At the time, Crawford had just quit gymnastics and was preparing to enter ninth grade at Panther Creek High School.


Burned out on tumbling, she thought flying in the air on a pole sounded interesting, though she never imagined the mark she would make on the sport.

The senior was named The News & Observer’s prep female athlete of the year after claiming her fourth state title and setting a state meet record – in all classifications – with a jump of 12 feet, 6 inches in late May at the North Carolina Athletic Association 4-A championship at N.C. A&T in Greensboro.

She later resumed her gymnastics career, and with the same limberness and mobility she uses to clear the bar, Crawford dazzled the judges at the state gymnastics meet. Her score 37.85 won the small division’s all-around competition this year.

She has dedicated much time and effort into becoming the state’s top pole vaulter. Her hard work has earned her a spot at Appalachian State this fall to jump for the Mountaineers. She carries a 4.75 grade point average and the flute she played in concert band.

Those who have watched her progression, say she has a future in the sport at the college level. With her recent jumps, she has climbed into the national pool, ending the season tied for 21st place on the DyeStat rankings with other competitors who have reached the same height.

Atop that list is Merritt Grace Van Meter from Louisiana who has cleared 13-6, a mark Crawford has set her eye on for the future. Her private coach Mike Young, a former assistant at LSU, said she has the mental composure and technical skill to keep raising the bar.

“I’ve seen the very best of college track and field and elite level track and field,” he said. “Cassie can get to that level. I don’t think it’s a stretch of the imagination for her to be All-American in a year or two.”

Young, who trains Crawford at the Athletic Lab sports facility in North Raleigh, based his assessment on her growth and determination over the past year. After clearing 11-6 at the indoor state championship last February, she struggled to jump higher, stuck at that height for over a year.

Crawford practiced and practiced, but she could jump no better than 11-8.

“I was getting so frustrated,” she said. “I wasn’t going to give up, but I was tired of not getting better.”

Her coaches saw her problems as easy to fix. For Crawford, it involved an intense weight training program designed to improve her speed on the runway and strength in bending the pole to jump.

As a gymnast, she positioned her body well in the air, but lacked the runway techniques and skills to propel herself to higher heights.

“She could do all the stuff in the air very well,” Young said, “but on the runway she was kind of a mess, really. She planted too early. She would run with her feet out in front of her.”

Workouts changed Crawford into a 5-foot-4, 140-pound dynamo. She advanced from a max of three to 22 pull-ups. She bench pressed 120 pounds. She squatted 160 pounds.

Committed to the physical changes, putting in the extra effort, Crawford noticed her speed on the runway change. As a freshman, when she ran against sprinters at track meets, she always finished last. “It was embarrassing,” she said.

Soon she was chasing down sprinters on her team. More speed and improved strength helped her bend poles easier, which in turn provided more spring to clear higher heights.

The combination finally lifted her higher in April when she cleared 12-6 at the Bojangles’ Apex Lions’ Relays. She had won with a height of 11-6 and was given three chances to try any height she wanted.

She set the bar at 12-6 and prayed for the best. Her thigh throbbing and covered in Icy Hot, she feared she had bumped the bar too hard. It was her third and final attempt.

“I hit it coming down,” she said. “Got lucky, the bar bounced up and down a little bit but stayed on the pegs. It was amazing when I saw it stay on.”

Since then, she has jumped 12-6 six times, including at the state meet where she moved ahead of the previous record holder, Watauga’s Sallie Gurganus, who had cleared 12-1 in 2006.

Crawford also tried for 13 feet at the state meet. “She didn’t miss it by much,” Panther Creek High coach Andrea Spaulding said.

Later, at another meet, she secured her personal best of 12-7. Spaulding wasn’t surprised, saying Crawford’s drive and attention to detail has helped her excel academically and athletically.

As a member of the National Honor Society, captain of the Color Guard, a member of the gymnastics team, and flutist, she has constantly juggled activities around pole vaulting.

“She makes it look easy,” Spaulding said.

Crawford laughed at the thought.

“I don’t sleep,” she said.

Staff writer J. Mike Blake contributed to this report.



Cassie Crawford

Panther Creek, senior, 5-4, 140

Track and field, gymnastics