Ashley Early Article (VA)

[MightyMouse]

Heres an article I found on the front page of VAs Milestat

Early breaks her own state pole vault record (12-4!)
by Brandon Miles - milestat@yahoo.com
2/16/2005
FORK UNION, VA -- Western Albemarle's Ashley Early improved upon her state record in the pole vault (12-2) that she had sit earlier in the season by extending the state record to a new height of 12-4. Early cleared the height at the Region II Meet held Wednesday at Fork Union's Estes Athletic Center. The Western Albemarle junior

http://va.milesplit.com/

[polevaulter245]

ya she is a beast

[jp1667]

Yes, Ashley certainly can hit the runway fast and has good execution over the bar too. She might be at the Newport News meet this sat. I'll see if i can get photos to post.

[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.dailyprogress.com/servlet/Sa ... th=!sports

Early to Rise
WAHS vaulter soars above competition

By Craig Kotarski / Daily Progress correspondent
July 21, 2005




Ashley Early has become one of the most dominant athletes in the Central Virginia area. As a junior pole vaulter, the Western Albemarle Warrior has already captured three state titles to go along with solid placing at recent national meets.

After setting a state record of 12’2â€Â

[rainbowgirl28]

There is an article on Ashley in Milestat, but you have to register to read it all.

http://www.milesplit.com/article/7413

Athlete Spotlight: Ashley Early

In a featured MileStat.com interview, Western Albemarle senior Ashley Early has great expectations for her final year of high school track. A three-time Group AA state champion and three-time All-American, Early would like to better her two state records indoors (12-4) and outdoors (12-6.25) in the pole vault. As the state\'s top pole vaulter for the past two years, the sky is the limit for Virginia\'s All-American vaulter.
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[rainbowgirl28]

http://www.dailyprogress.com/servlet/Sa ... th=!sports

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Early reaching such great heights

By Kris Wright / Daily Progress correspondent
March 23, 2006

On the wall of Ashley Early's bedroom rests a broken pole, a fractured reminder of an old vault gone awry. The broken shaft serves as a commanding centerpiece in what has become a vaulting shrine.
Ribbons. Bibs. Photos.

There are flashbulb moments of the nation's elite high school vaulters. Then there's one of Early with Stacy Dragila, a one-time world record holder and the first Olympic gold medalist in women's pole vaulting at the Sydney Games.

It is a fitting ode to vaulting from the Western Albemarle senior. After all, Early is the state's premier vaulter as the owner of several Group AA state records in the event. The wall is more than a merely appropriate collection of vaulting relics, though. It functions more as a telling illustration of a competitor's passion, a revealing glimpse at the driving fire inside a young woman with Olympic dreams of her own.

After completing her senior year this spring, the next step for Early along the path toward Beijing in 2008 or London in 2012 will be college competition. The WAHS prodigy has elected to attend Virginia Tech where PV coach Bob Phillips is considered among the nation's elite teachers of the sport.

Need proof? This season alone, Phillips has helped guide Hokie after Hokie to personal-best marks and school records. Most recently on the women's side, Erin Mahoney cleared her best mark with a vault of 12 feet, 3 ? inches. That's tied with Abbey McGrath for the second-best height in school history.

The interesting part of those accomplishments is that neither of those athletes were scholarship recruits - they were walk-ons who entered the program as single-digit vaulters. Early will be Virginia Tech's first female vaulter on a full scholarship. Tech and Early expect to raise both her and the program's level of success in the sport.

"Ashley is an incredible talent," said Dave Cianelli, Virginia Tech's director of track and field, when she signed in November. "She will quickly become an elite level collegiate pole vaulter. ? From the first time I saw Ashley compete, I knew right away that she was something special. She is a perfect fit for our program and our university.

"Virginia Tech and our program are lucky to have landed a student-athlete of her caliber and character."

Any program would have been lucky to have Early, who also looked at a number of schools out west in addition to nearby Virginia and James Madison. And not just for her vaulting.

A humble and unpretentious person, Early has served as a student member of the County Council that represents area schools, worked as a Habitat for Humanity volunteer and is a member of the Salvation Army Youth Advisory Board.

That's all in addition to working as a class officer and council member at Western for all four years, while competing in indoor and outdoor track as well as cheerleading (competition and football sideline).

That's not too surprising. All Early ever does is reach great heights.

In pole vaulting, she is the Group AA state record holder in indoor (12-7) and outdoor track (12-6 ?). That's in addition to being a four-time All-American (it would have been five had Early not come down with the flu prior to this winter's indoor national meet).

That's all in a sport that USA Today once named as No. 3 on its 10 Hardest Things to do in Sports list. Of course, it came rather naturally to Early, who was originally a gymnast for years.

"There's so much technique and it's such a mental sport," Early said. "So even though it came naturally, there was a lot to work on. There's so many little details with it."

Evidently, the senior sensation pays attention to details. She has continually improved her craft, advancing to more difficult vaulting techniques and longer poles along the way. That's where the fiery drive comes into play - Early wants to be the best and is willing to learn from the good and bad times along the way.

"My freshman year of outdoor, I had already won the district and region, but then I had a no height at state. I didn't clear the bar at all. I had to learn that the season was great and it was just one bad meet. But it's good to be a district and region champion and not be satisfied," Early said. "I had to learn not to dwell on those bad meets. It was the first time I had a no height at a big meet all season and I had to learn from that."

The motivation to be better has propelled Early into national company where her 12-7 is currently fifth nationally. The scary part for Warrior and Hokie opponents? She's still studying and improving along the learning curve. The best is almost certainly yet to come.