Clovis - Frawley 5.50

[rainbowgirl28]

Clovis vault fest pleases Olympian
Silver-winning Morris has witnessed sport's evolution.

Posted at 11:17 PM on Friday, Aug. 12, 2011
By Andy Boogaard / The Fresno Bee


An Olympic silver medalist in the pole vault 51 years ago, yet a man who has often feared for the event's survival since, Ron Morris watched with pleasure -- if not relief -- Friday night in downtown Clovis.

It was here, at Pollasky Avenue and Fourth Street, that the EYE-Q North American Pole Vaulting Championships were held among the masses for the 17th time.

Participants ranged from teens to pros, male and female, firing off an elevated runway about 3 feet wide and sailing between two mature trees illuminated by generator-operated lights.

Fear? Concern? Nowhere, but that wasn't always the case. And who knows better than the man who experienced the gamut of vaulting evolution, transitioning from bamboo to steel to fiberglass poles in the 1950s and '60s.

"But then pole vaulting became kind of an endangered species," said Morris, 76, second at the 1960 Summer Games in Rome. "People were dropping it at schools, it was expensive, lawyers said it was liability, there were some lawsuits and not very many coaches."

And Morris' trepidation increased when the sport crossed the gender line and into the hands of such pioneers as the former Melissa Price of Kingsburg in the mid-90s.

"When the girls came in I was really concerned because if one them got hurt we were really in trouble."

Yet the female impact would have a reverse effect.

"They brought a lot of energy and excitement to the event, and it really helped," he said. "And their participation in the Olympics has really helped."

Standing nearby while he said this was Stacy Dragila, who won the first female Olympic pole vault gold while representing the U.S. in 2000.

A former Clovis street vault participant, she's retired but hasn't dismissed the idea of making a run at the 2012 Games in London.

Meanwhile, Dragila is coaching high school vaulters in San Diego. She coached Team San Diego, which, with a total of 51 feet, 6 inches, placed second to Team Los Angeles (52-6) in the six-team high school competition Friday night. Teams each had two males and females.

Team Clovis delivered the top male and female prep vaulters in Clovis' Scott Greenman (15-6) and Clovis West's recently graduated Anginae Monteverde (13-0).

For Greenman, who will be a senior, "it was the best experience of my life." And to think he said this two months after winning the Central Section Master's crown at 15-8 and placing fourth in the state at 15-6.

"Oh my gosh, these people are awesome, it's really exhilarating," said Greenman, who drew a collective roar by clearing 15-6 on his third try, clipping and wobbling the bar.

Nick Frawley of the U.S. Air Force Academy, won the Elite Division at 18-01/2 -- a half inch below his personal record. He just missed at an Olympic Trials standard height of 18-4-1/2.

[rainbowgirl28]

This is from before the meet...

http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/08/11/249 ... lying.html

Ducks young and old to fly in Clovis vaulting event
Posted at 10:56 PM on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2011
By Andy Boogaard / The Fresno Bee

Soon after Oregon's Melissa Gergel had won the NCAA women's outdoor pole vault title two months ago at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa, she returned to Eugene and was buying groceries near campus.
A woman whom she had never met approached and said, "Congratulations, Melissa, we were following the competition online."
This is what Anginae Monteverde can look forward to at "Track Town USA."
The two vaulters were together Thursday at the Doghouse Grill -- Gergel, the outgoing Duck; Monteverde, the incoming one from Clovis West High -- trumpeting an Oregon track and field program that is progressively overwhelming recruits with a combination of academic/athletic facilities and fan following.
"It's shocking and it's awesome," said Gergel, who will join Monteverde in a wide-ranging field of 34 competitors today at the 17th North American Pole Vaulting Championships in Old Town Clovis.

MARK CROSSE / THE FRESNO BEE
Melissa Gergel, left, and Anginae Monteverde laugh it up at the Doghouse Grill on Thursday. Gergel, the NCAA pole vault champion from Oregon, and future Ducks athlete Monteverde will compete in tonight's street vault competition in downtown Clovis.
NORTH AMERICAN POLE VAULTING CHAMPIONSHIPS
-- Vitals: The 17th annual event begins at 5 p.m. in downtown Clovis with the high schools division. The Development Division and Elite Division begin at 7 p.m. Admission is free.

Better known simply as the Clovis Street Vault, it is expected to draw, once again, about 10,000 fans throughout the evening in an intimate and supportive atmosphere at Pollasky Avenue and Fourth Street.
It will be a first for Gergel, who was raised in Glenwood, Ill.: "It's the biggest street vault they have in the U.S. I've heard great things about it, I've watched it on video, and I've always wanted to go. Now I have an opportunity."
While the streak down the street will be a novel experience for Gergel, competing in front of feverish fans is routine since there is not a college track and field program in the land that rivals the support base of Oregon at Hayward Field.
"Any regular home meet draws pretty big crowds, way better than most college meets," says Gergel, who matched her personal record with a leap of 14 feet 71/4 inches for the NCAA gold. "And the fans are so knowledgable -- they know your name, they know your event, they know your PR, and they're into it."
This was all part of Gergel's sales pitch when she served as Monteverde's host during her recruiting visit in November.
But Gergel didn't have to sell too hard a Ducks women's program that is selling itself, given all the bells and whistles -- thanks largely to more than $300 million in donations from Nike chairman and former Oregon miler Phil Knight -- and two consecutive NCAA runner-up team finishes in the outdoor championships following a 2010 indoor title.
It's having quite a local impact with state champion Anginae Monteverde, who is headed to Oregon along with her twin sister, Alyssa, a two-time state bronze medalist in the 300 hurdles, and five-time state gold medalist sprinter/hurdler Jenna Prandini of Clovis. Already there is national-class long-distance runner Jordan Hasay of Mission Prep in San Luis Obispo.
All were national recruits. The Monteverdes also visited Stanford, Arizona and Brigham Young. Gergel chose the Ducks over Stanford, South Carolina and Notre Dame.
Anginae Monteverde is actually ahead of Gergel's development at this stage.
Gergel arrived at Oregon with a best of 13-21/4.
Two months ago at Buchanan's Veterans Memorial Stadium, Monteverde delivered an extraordinary one-night, 9-inch PR improvement while capturing the state vault title at 13-6.
"She has a lot of potential and will do well at Oregon," says Gergel, who will remain there in her second year of graduate work after earning a degree in human physiology in three years.
Gergel's competition today in the Elite Division will include Oregon's only previous NCAA female vault champion in Becky Holliday, who won her title in 2003 and has a lifetime best of 15-1. Also competing at Clovis will be April Steiner-Bennett (15-2), a 2008 Olympian from the University of Arkansas, and Kelsie Hendry (14-11), a 2008 Canadian Olympian.
The male Elite vaulters will be two-time NCAA All-American Brandon Estrada (18-1) from USC and three-time All-American Nick Frawley (18-1) from Air Force.

[BrentBurns]

I thought this was a typo and that I was in the Wayback Machine. Guess this isn't Doug Fraley jumping 5.50. Can't really think of Clovis without thinking of the Fraley's, though. They have done much for the event. I'd be really impressed if Doug could still jump 5.50. I remember when he could and it was a thing of beauty. I want to say that his last meet was in Clovis, too. It was a great place to start and finish a great career.

[rainbowgirl28]

I'd be really impressed if Doug could still jump 5.50.

That sure would be something else!

[Bubba PV]

Hope you're doing well Brent. Nice to see you here! You are one of my favorite vaulters and a super guy! Bubba