2011 THREE RIVERS FESTIVAL STREET VAULT

[Vault High Athletics]

On Saturday July 16,2011 at 9:30am Vault High Athletics will be hosting the 7th annual Three Rivers Festival Street pole vault. The event wil be held on 4th street between Spy run and Clinton. The event will be open to beginners,elite,college,open,masters men and women. Awards will be given to the top 3 in each group. UCS Spirit will be sponsoring the event and raffling off a NEW UCS POLE!!!! There will be music along with our special guest Olympian Doug Lytle!!! The event is USATF sanctioned. Be part of all the excitement and fun, for more information or to sign up go to www.polevaultcamps.com or call Paul Babits at 260-637-8209

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igco3NSHYNU

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http://www.wane.com/dpp/sports/local_sp ... lt-july-16


Schipper takes TRF street pole vault
Dwenger grad just misses out on record

Updated: Sunday, 17 Jul 2011, 12:32 AM EDT
Published : Sunday, 17 Jul 2011, 12:32 AM EDT

Ross Kinsey
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - For the seventh consecutive year, pole vaulters converged on Fourth Street for the Three Rivers Festival street pole vault event Saturday. Competitors from all over the country come to the Summit City every year just for the event. The men's and women's elite competitions are the biggest draw of the day.

In the men's elite division, Bishop Dwenger grad and Notre Dame pole vaulter Kevin Schipper won the title jumping 17'2'. Schipper just missed out on the event record by five inches. Last year Schipper's older brother Matt won the event clearing 16'6". Max Babits, who jumps for Eastern Michigan, was second clearing 16'0". Tony Heath was third jumping 15'6".

In the women's elite competition, Alyssa Mc

Gary Hunter set an American record for men aged 55-59 by clearing 14'6" at the event.

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http://www.journalgazette.net/article/2 ... 1002/LOCAL


Three rivers festival
Competitors set sights high during Street Vault

Overcast skies and parking lot dust didn’t set the typical scene for a spiritual paradise, but Saturday’s Street Vault was just what Paul Babits believes it should be.

“This is a pole vault mecca,” the meet promoter said Saturday. “Year in and year out, Fort Wayne turns out some of the best pole vaulters in the country.”

Sponsored by Babits’ Fort Wayne-based Vault High Athletics, the exhibition meet attracted about 50 athletes from Allen County as well as Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin, where the pole vault center hosts instructional camps every summer.

The demonstration event occupied Fourth Street in front of the Lawton Park skate park with a makeshift platform and dozens of people lining nearby sidewalks to watch.

Onlookers began softly clapping as each pole vaulter approached, planted, took off and swung up, gradually building their slow applause into a raucous drum.

Babits said that type of community support raises the sport’s profile in a city that already embraces it. He added he was looking forward to the elite vaulters round, which was to feature such renowned athletes as Kevin Schipper and Gary Hunter later Saturday afternoon.

“Just the fact that they’re here helps promote us,” he said. “It’s all about keeping the kids motivated to go on with the sport.”

Among the elite vaulters, heights topping 17 feet, 6 inches are not uncommon, he said. And as the event built momentum, Babits might have been tempted to leave his responsibilities as announcer for another duty.

At last month’s Rush County Fair Vault in Rushville, Babits cleared 15 feet, 7.4 inches in the men’s 50-54 age division, setting a record. He’s a champion, too.