A Pole Vault Story
Title: A Pole Vault Story
Autumn was ranked number one going into sectionals (indoor
track class D pole vault) but we had been in this situation before and it
hadn’t worked out for us. In the outdoor
track season of 2018, Autumn had come into D sectionals ranked number one. One of her opponents PR’s the week before
sectionals bringing her up to 8’3” but Autumn had a PR of 9’ that season and
had been over 8’6” many times too, so things looked good. What a battle that was! There were a fair amount of good girls,
knocking last years Sectional Champion into fifth place! Autumn battled hard and came in second. She lost by three inches. It was the second time Autumn had come in
second in a sectional contest where she was the high seed. I tried to get her into State Qualifiers on
the merit of her 9 foot vault at John Reed but she didn’t make the cut. The weird thing is that she could have
vaulted in A class (big school class) with that same vault but not in the
little schools (classes B – D)! That’s
the way it goes sometimes, as I well know as a track coach.
But I’m at the end of the story, let me back up to the
beginning. After initial success in
early indoor track in early December, Autumn tried to use her pole “brigand” (an
FX pole which means it is a superior pole to the average pole and harder to
bend) in a competition. (Autumn often
calls FX poles Fed Ex. I think it’s
because they throw her so hard, it’s like express mail:) It didn’t go well. Oh, she made good strides and was able to
bend the pole (for an FX that is impressive) but she didn’t have the matt time
to really get good at it. When she went
back to her old pole she was off her game and didn’t do very well in a meet in
early January. That wasn’t too
disturbing but then she struggled in the very next meet and her form was
awful:( At prayer meeting I asked the
saints to pray for Autumn. I told them,
“Would you just pray that Autumn can do her best, win or lose?” The very next meet it looked at first like
God wasn’t listening. Warm up was just
AWFUL:( I began to question the wisdom
of even doing indoor track I was so discouraged. I had no idea what to tell her. Then Autumn got some very good advice from
Coach DeGaetano (her Hornell Coach). He
said, “Autumn, I think you are too tense.
Just relax and have fun.” Autumn
took that advice to heart and hung out with Hornell track friends laughing and
talking. She vaulted like a beast that
night going over 8’6” and looking really good at her attempts at 9. God whispered, “You see, I heard.” Unfortunately the next week this method
didn’t get her over 8’6” and it felt like we were back to square one. I faithfully began to ask for prayer for her
EVERY prayer meeting night!!
About a month before the Indoor Sectional meet Autumn had a
really bad night. The boys had taken so
much time vaulting that the official was in a hurry to get the girls over with
so we weren’t vaulting at midnight (we’ve come close to doing that
before). I think he was nervous about
nothing, they had plenty of time to get done by 11pm, and Autumn thought it was
unfair that the girls barely got any warm up time. In outdoor track this wouldn’t be that big of
a deal. Autumn doesn’t warm up much
before an outdoor meet because she does tons of vaulting during the week. But in indoor track we have nowhere to
vault! For many weeks, the only vaulting
Autumn got was at indoor track events!
Autumn was slated to come in at 8 feet (again, no problem in outdoor
track) and she faulted out:( I was down
on the floor that night and we walked over to her Hornell Coach, Mr.
DeGaetano. He encouraged Autumn with,
“The girl that was ranked number one faulted out at 8 feet too and she’s over
in the corner with her parents crying hard.”
One girl had a great night. The
number two vaulter in class D from LeRoy hit a PR and got over 8 feet winning
the event. I was so proud of Autumn when
she went over and congratulated the girl.
They have become friends since then.
Then came the indoor track version of the county meet. One change for us was that Hornell had there
meet on a different day, so instead of a school bus, Autumn and I rode up to
the meet with her pole sticking out the window.
The Arkport boy hurdler (another one of Autumn’s new friends) was in the
same boat, so we brought a pair of JT blocks for them both (Autumn does Hurdles
too). The Lord has a sense of humor (a
good one by the way:) and that day all of Autumn’s events came up on top of
each other!!!! She got two warm ups in
for pole vault and then she dashed off to shot put for warm ups. I had wanted her to get one more vault in
but there was just too much going on and the meet was starting. Autumn threw some big PRs in shot put, so
good it moved her from ranked 14th coming in to 7th!! Hornell shot put coach, Damian Demarco (also
Hornell’s head XC coach), has done an awesome job with her! Her best throw coming into this season was a
24 something, with her regular throws being 23s. At this meet she threw a 26’, then a 26’7”,
and then a 25 something! She realized
she was getting tired and passed on her last throw attempt. That was good because no sooner had she
finished throwing, Autumn found she was up in pole vault!! Her first vault was garbage but Autum followed
some advice I had given her years ago and she got over 7’6” with it. In her early days of bending the pole, I told
her, “At low heights, never eject out of a vault, even if it’s going
badly. Hang in there and you might be
able to make it work. A tired Autumn and
I walked back down the runway as she was resting and I told her, “Autumn, you
are a very good vaulter. I can’t believe
you made that work!” She smiled. The problem was she was the only vaulter left
so there was little rest time to be had AND the 55 hurdles were coming
up!! Yipe!! Autumn cleared 8 feet with less than stellar
form but she made it over. Nervously she
watched the event before 55 hurdles wrapping up and asked to take a hit at 8’6”
worried she’d be too tired after the hurdles.
She failed in the first attempt and had to run off to check in to hurdles,
the 15 minute clock now running. Autumn
came into the hurdles ranked seventh and walked out with a sixth place ribbon,
even with a less than awesome run. When
she came back over she said, sourly, “I wasn’t low enough over the
hurdles!” I told her she got a ribbon
and that brightened her day. Autumn used
the last of her rest time to hold blocks for her Arkport friend who had a
really bad day himself:( At this point a
very tired Bear came back and just couldn’t do it. Oh, she tried but she couldn’t get over 8’6” It didn’t matter. She had won pole vault:) She had actually won with her first vault
over 7’6”. A very happy Autumn bought a
tee shirt and put her medal around her neck.
Then the Lord did us a huge favor. The weather in early February hit 50
degrees! On Monday family friend Brandon
Owen and I shoveled the pole vault area, then dragged out the JT pole vault
matt system. Autumn started to practice
after school with two of Brandon ’s
little boys cheering her on. I won’t
bore you with what we learned over the next two days of vaulting about Autumn
but we have realized the core thing we need to work on in the spring
season. All I needed to say was that
Autumn vaulted her mind out in those two days.
I should also say the Lord was very kind to give us that at just the
right time in the season.
We had a one-and-done meet that Friday, kind of a filler
meet the week before sections. A one and
done meet, only goes for TWO HOURS with two or three classes! In outdoor track we can barely get a dual
meet in under two and a half hours!
Indoor track is a whole different world!
Autumn was told she was only allowed three attempts at pole vault. We interpreted this to mean that after three
faults you were out. That was the wrong
interpretation. You only got three
attempts, period! Blissfully ignorant of
this major limitation Autumn soared over 7’6”.
We were both surprised when the next height was 8’6”?????? Wow!
Autumn sprinted down the runway and got a crazy huge bend that didn’t go
anywhere. This is where the Lord
intervened again. You see, at that meet
was Class A Coach Andrew Fetzner, who is Autumn’s expert summer vaulting coach. Autumn is part of his club called, “Rockback”
and proudly calls herself a “Rockback” girl.
He’s a pole vaulting genius and he was there just when we needed
him! Autumn went over to him and he
said, “That bend was too good for that pole.
It is too weak to handle that.
For now, move your mark six inches closer, and have the bar moved back.” Autumn followed that excellent advice and
soared over 8’6”! Boy, were we both
surprised when we found out she was done!!
BUT she tied for second with the combined athletes of A and C class! (When Autumn travels with Hornell she
competes in their class). Autumn came in
to that meet ranked 5th!
Now it is sectionals week.
There will be NO vaulting outside due to bad weather culminating in a
snow day on Tuesday! Once again, Autumn
would not be traveling with Hornell due to different competition days, so we
stuffed two poles into the Avenger and off we headed for RIT. It was funny that as we were talking about
departure time Autumn said, “I’ll feel bad leaving weight-lifting so early
again. Mr. Helgeland must be getting
sick of it.” I said, “Autumn, Mr.
Helgeland is one of your biggest fans!
He’s fine with it, trust me!”
Scott Helgeland has been Autumn’s weight-lifting coach at JT for years
now and he should get some credit here!
Scott has really helped Autumn develop into a Championship level
athlete! She thinks he’s wonderful!!!
Almost every believer I ran into on Friday I begged them to
pray for Autumn. I had Naomi Hulbert
pray for Autumn and our Bible class at the opening of release time this
week. I asked Mrs. Smith who is the mother of a very
special team Captain on my team years ago who went on to do track in college, to
pray for Autumn. I called my mom and dad
and asked them to pray and I asked my facebook friends to lift her up in
prayer. God answered those prayers...but
he had a sense of humor about it:)
When I saw the order of events I immediately noticed that 55
hurdles was up early in the meet and by my calculations, might hit RIGHT IN THE
MIDDLE OF HER VAULTING!!! “Oh, Father,”
I whispered, “please help!” Again, it
seemed like God was ignoring me because different things slowed down the pole
vault and the hurdles were coming faster and faster! Autumn and I nervously watched the A boys
finishing up the 3200 knowing hurdles were next. Of course, the hurdles hit right before Autumn
was up to vault! Auggg!! Autumn came in ranked 10th in
hurdles, so there was no sectional patch on the line there. The most she could hope for is MAYBE she’d
get a sixth place ribbon and even that was unlikely. She took her warm up vault and the “checked
out” for hurdles. As I watched her
frantically resetting her blocks on the line (she let a friend borrow them to
warm up and so they were set differently) I thought about the irony of this
moment. It seemed so unfair that in a
FIVE HOUR meet Autumn would have two events running simultaneously!!! I was beyond discouraged and had a sinking
feeling that Autumn would be second again in pole vault. I serve a God who can do anything and THIS is
what he does???? The Lord whispered to
me, “But this will make the story so much more interesting!” Bang!
Autumn flew down the lane tight with the leaders to PR in the
event. She came in frowning. “If I hadn’t had my hands wrong over the
first hurdle I could have hit high nines today,” she said. “Well, you hit a PR (10.05),” I replied and
then asked, “How are you doing?” “Tired,”
Autumn replied. This is where God helped
us. By having A vaulters go with D, it
meant there was a much bigger field at the higher heights than normal, meaning
more rest time! Ready or not, she walked
over to the official (we were blessed to pull him too! He’s very good!) and told him she was
ready. She nailed 7’6” first try! She paused to talk to a vaulting friend and I
came over and said, “Bear, you need to keep walking and breathing!” Autumn nodded and did so. While she was resting she got to watch her
Arkport friend have a HUGE night! He hit
a big PR and placed in the top six from the slow heat!!! Autumn was so pleased for him!
I need to back up here a few minutes back to pole vault warm
ups. The LeRoy girl was on fire! One of her warm ups was so high it looked
like she could clear 8’6” no problem. Autumn would have to earn her sectional patch... if she got one at all! The LeRoy girl sailed over 7’ easily
and commented to a friend, “Are you sure that was 7 feet?? It was so low!” Yep, Autumn was going to be in for a
fight! Then the LeRoy girl faulted her
first attempt over 8! All Autumn had to
was go over 8 feet clean and she would win, unless the girl hit another PR at 8’6”...assuming
she got over 8. Autumn faulted
too!! And with bad form to boot!! Ugg!!!!
A sinking feeling began to form in my gut. Was she going to be second again? In outdoor season 8 feet is generally her
money vault. At the county meet last year
she came IN at 8 feet and nailed it, but this is indoor track, and she has far
less opportunity to train. The LeRoy
girl faulted a second time and Autumn...nailed it! The poor LeRoy girl couldn’t pull it out and
faulted out. Autumn hadn’t realized she
won due to all the A girls still with her but she hugged her friend. (LeRoy girls won the meet and her eight
points went a long way to that! They
only won by two points! A sectional
trophy is a great consolation prize don’t you think:) At this point I tell Autumn, “Hey, Bear, you
just won.” She gave me big eyes. “I DID???” she said. I nodded.
At this point Autumn is vaulting with only A girls from one
school, Hilton, whose coach is the head of Rockback vaulting club. It was like she was back at summer practice
with her Rockback teammates, vaulting under the waning sun. Autumn faulted her first attempt at 8’6” but
once again it was Coach Fetzner to the rescue.
He said, “You’re coming on point and need to move your mark two inches
forward.” She did and Autumn sailed over
8’6” second attempt. At that point
Autumn said to me, “Oh, man. That girl
is better than me and she just faulted out!
She’s a senior too!” I looked
over at one of her Rockback comrades crying, hugging her mother. It was sobering. That could have been us.
That is the end of the story:) Autumn and I loaded up the Avenger and I
taped a garbage bag around the crack in the window (poles stick out) to keep
the snow out:) Yeah, Rochester was cold and snowy! We listened to Christian CDs happily, singing
with the heater blasting and the wind shoving the car at points:) If it was a movie the credits would have been
rolling!
I want to thank so people (I’m going to forget people so
please understand that I couldn’t possibly thank everyone). First I want to thank my prayer meeting and
so many more of you praying for Autumn to do her best! Next I have to thank my mother-in-law who
paid for “Brigand” and “Levy” (based on Fairy Tales character, Levy McGarden). I also want to thank her for all the money
she has spent on summer pole vault lessons, gas money, and often, food. It’s hard to keep the Bear fed:) My wife Gail who has put up with Autumn and I
being gone a lot this winter and has been VERY supportive! Mrs. Green who made indoor track happen and
who puts up with magically appearing pole vault matts in the dead of
winter!! Coach Mike DeGaetano Hornell
tracks head indoor coach, the wonderful lady coach there, and the excellent
Coach Damian Demarco! Autumn also really appreciates Coach John Welc and his daughter from Avoca and Phil and Barb Hulbert for all their support!!!! I’d like to thank the Hornell team for making
Autumn feel so welcome and her Arkport hurdle buddy! I’d like to thank McKenzie Prutsman who
encouraged Autumn all those years ago in optional spring break practice. The fact that Team Captain Pruts paused to
talk to a little eighth grader, when Pruts was literally a huge star in the
league meant a gigantic amount to Autumn.
I think Autumn tries to live up to the example Pruts set as a
Captain! I’d like to thank Mike Davis
who made sure Autumn could do pull ups every morning since ninth grade! I want to thank Scott Helgeland who has been
her expert lifting coach!! I have to
throw in Mr. Barnes her, because he encourages her and she likes him a
lot! I’d like to thank the girls track
team past and present for being so excellent!
It has helped Autumn excel and be part of that tradition! I’d like to thank Brandon Owen and Josh O’Neil
and Leland Essigmann who have helped us drag out matts and put them away over
the years. (My fondest memory of that
was putting away pole vault matts at midnight racing a winter storm...in the
dark! Fun! That’s back when lawn mowers were in the shed! Leland and Autumn will never forget that
night either!) I’d like to thank our
church and community who have cheered when Autumn has done well! I’m also grateful our community supports
track and field! Of course I want to
thank Coach Fetzner and Autumn’s Rockback associates! I want to thank Coach Lyon’s sister-in-law
for helping Autumn recover from her torn meniscus! (insurance wouldn’t let us
go to the Thomas family in PA but Yvonne C Strauss did AWESOME!! Autumn was back in time for spring
track!!!!!!!!!!!!!) In closing I want to
thank the Lord Jesus Christ, my creator, my savior, who has allowed Autumn to
do all this!
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