Vaulter Magazine – Vaulter Club Week #5 Results and Leader Board

(Temecula, California) What a week and what meet this one turned out to be!  Each week we wonder how we can top the last week and somehow it happens. One and half block from Huntington Beach and the sun shining a sweet 60 degrees all meet long. 1984 Olympic Pole Vault Silver Medalist Mike Tully on hand and 42 pole vaulters lined up and ready to jump their hearts out. Sometimes you ask yourself if it can get any better than this.

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This week we had some excitement at the top end and plenty of personal records to share around. Vaulter Clubs Elite pole vaulter Jenny Wartinbee broke her personal pole vault record that she had from 2010 and jumped an easy 14’4″ (4.38) with plenty of room to spare.

Jett Gordon was attempting some sweet jumps at 16’2″ and made everyone a believer that huge jumping is on the horizon for the Higher Flyers Club jumper. Coming in at first place with a jump of 15’6″ this meet was one to watch for the high school pole vaulting enthusiast.

This week’s leader board was full of changes and the Higher Flyer pole vault club is walking away with the point scoring and destine to take the trophy home for the first ever club pole vault travel team circuit. The rate these club athletes are pole vaulting on the girls and boys side for their club, there is no doubt that the trophy may be out of reach for all the rest. No problem though, the rest of the clubs are handling their business with the trophy as an afterthought to the process.

Kate Thomas (Higher Flyers) came in this week and stole the show jumping a solid 11.6′ for the high school girls. This girl has the grit and jumps like a champ after being away since summer. The real deal is an understatement when you see this young lady hit the runway. If she plans to compete the rest of the five meets that are left, some of these other high school girls will have to step up their game. Coming in second place at 11′ from the same team we have Karlly Feng (High Flyers) that continues to build on her skills and polishing her craft. Erin Gerardo (Higher Flyers) comes along in third place jumping 10’6″ to round out the club success and showing the depth of what these kids can accomplish. Next week we have MT. SAC for what some are saying the biggest of all the meets for the circuit.  Competition will come for this event so all of the girls better have their best foot forward for this next meet.

Madison Kast (Vaulter Club) a Freshman with a cause has maintained the leader board for the 6 – 9 grade division with a new PR of 9’6″ and plans to set some serious goals for her upcoming high school season. Like the high school girls above, Vaulter Club has this division beat with Kaitlyn Swenson coming in matching her personal pole vault record of 8’6″ as a middle school eighth grader and Nicole Silverlake taking third place with 8′ under her belt. If you think that these kids are going down without a fight, then you are wrong. This week they plan to step up their game and although Kast has pulled away from the other two girls, there is no reason why they can’t put on their game face and catch up.

Jett Gordon (Higher Flyers) continues to impress and show the competition and the rest of the nation that he has what it takes to make some big bars. Finishing off at 15’6″ and taking some great jumps at 16’2″ this kid is soon to advance to a new personal record. Kevin Mohr (Higher Flyers) comes in second place with a sweet jump at 14′ showing that his depth is soon to elevate and bring home some satisfying jumps in the near future. Asa Martin (Vaulter Club) jumped a third place 13’6″ and almost busted up his personal record sailing to 14′ plus.  Soon all of these boys will be adding to the stats and setting a great foot forward towards their upcoming season. After watching these kids jump, anyone could see that big bars are around the corner.

Thai Pham (Corona) set the standard this week by winning the 6 – 9 boys division and making it look easy as he scores another point for the club team at nine feet. We have three Freshmen that are battling it out for the top spot in this division with Skyler Magula (Higher Flyers) coming in on the leader with a jump of eight feet six inches. Right on his heels is Nicholas Gutierrez (Corona) with an eight feet six inch jump as well to pick up the third place spot. These boys are looking into the future and plan to make some big moves very quickly. Watch out because anything goes with these boys running down the runway for their clubs.

So there you have it, the entire meet completed by 12:30 in the afternoon running two runways and having the time of our lives.  This week we have MT. SAC in the cross-hairs with two raised runways and plenty of pole vaulters to join in the fun. If all of the pole vaulters come out, we could see up to 82 entries for the weekend. Yes, 82 pole vaulters coming together, registered and ready to make a mark in December! If they all come time will only tell, but so far we’ve seen the numbers rise as the meets continue on.

The future is looking bright for the pole vault community and all of this with the word FREE wrapped right in the middle.  You read it correctly, free to jump and join the adventure. Coaches you are amazing and we couldn’t do it without you!