the Saturday story - vaulters handle the hype
By Stephen Underwood
In the midst of the controlled chaos of the end of the first day of Nike Indoor Nationals – with youth of all ages relaying around the track, with girls triple jumping and 25-pound weights from the boys’ event crashing in and out of the sector – attention was continually drawn to another event with depth and quality almost unrivaled in prep indoor history.
The attention paid off. The athletes in the much-hyped pole vault, buoyed by the energy from the announcer and the crowd, responded with historic performances. Three made 17 feet and, on a rightly-awarded fourth attempt at 17-4.25, Granite Bay CA sr. Scott Roth cleared to beat the greatest field ever. He couldn’t quite propel his tired body over a USR 17-7, but despite Walter Henning’s USR in the weight throw, a slew of intriguing relays, exciting pentathlons, and solid field events, the pole vault ruled the day at the Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex and lived up to its billing.
It was a great triumph for Roth, but left him almost as exhausted as he was exhilarated and deeply questioning a previously planned attempt at National Scholastic five hours up the road the next day.
First of all, he was using a new, heavier pole. “And I felt like I had to give 120 percent on each jump,” he said. “I’m used to a more relaxed atmosphere and after 10 or 15 jumps, I got really tired. I just couldn’t get up at that last height (17-7).”
Roth, Watkinsville (Oconee Co. HS) GA sr. Jordan Scott, and Chesapeake Edge VA sr. Michael Morrison all cleared 17 feet (Roth on his third attempt, the others on their second) but none made it at 17-4.25. But, wait – official hands and arms were waving as Roth powered down the runway for his third attempt at the height. The horizontal positioning of the standards had been mistakenly done unevenly, but Roth began his runup before one set of officials could alert the others as to what was going on. When he missed, Scott and Morrison thought they would be in a jump-off, with Roth having more misses. But no one questioned the extra attempt, knowing it was justified under the circumstances.
The fact was also clear that Roth had been getting over at 17-4.25, but knocking the bar out on the way down; Scott and Morrison, for the most part, just weren’t getting there. On attempt four, Roth finally got over cleanly as the crowd went wild.
“From the perspective I had coming down the runway, I couldn’t tell that the standards were off,” he said of official miscue. “I’m very thankful that the officials pointed it out. Whether I would have made it on that attempt if the standards had been on, I don’t know, but I definitely thought it was fair that I got another jump. And, I kind of thought I got what I deserved (with the final clearance) after all that effort.”
Neither Morrison or Scott could really complain, despite a bittersweet end. Each basically equaled his PR, with Scott going 17 undercover for the first time.
“Yeah, it was kind of bittersweet,” said Morrison. “All three of us are good friends, so I was disappointed to lose, but happy for Scott. For me, I’m fairly happy with 17. My coach wasn’t here with me, so it was good to know I could do it on my own.”
“It was kind of like last year,” said Scott, recalling how he and Morrison thought they might have a jumpoff at 16 feet in the 2005 NIN before Eric Sparks PA finally cleared the height, leaving them tied for second just as they were tonight. “Hitting 17 was all right, but I felt like I could have gone higher. On the second try at 17-4.25, I thought I was over.
“It was one of the most exciting meets I’ve been in,” he added. “It was awesome.”
For the others in the spectacular field, there were mixed results. Ft. Wayne IN Vault Club (Homestead HS) jr. Hunter Hall was probably the most pleased as he hit a seasonal best 16-4 and a lifetime PR 16-8, scoring fourth, while 17-3.25 Bryant AR jr. Spencer McCorkel in fifth was probably the most disappointed, missing at the latter height needing three tries before getting 16-4. Irvington NY sr. Casey Di Cesare was the sixth over 16 feet, and nine more made at least 15-0.25, compared to X in 2005.
Boy’s Weight Throw: Walter, Straight and Long
It was hard to claim attention from the pole vault, but South Huntington NY jr. (St. Anthony’s) Walter Henning and his foes sure tried. In addition, the fact that throws out of the sector scared the triple jump girls into delaying the completion of their event, then later smashed to bits a 70-foot marker almost overshadowed the fact that Henning was merely putting together as great a series as a thrower could ever hope to have.
All six of the junior’s throws would have been good enough to win. The shortest was more than 77 feet and four were more than 80 feet. And, to the officials’ gratitude, his massive efforts all made the middle of the sector.
When throw number two revealed a measurement of more than 83 feet, it was steel tape time. “I was kind of worried it would come down to being a quarter-inch off or something,” Henning admitted,
No worries. The bag had landed an official 83 feet, 2.5 inches from the circle, bidding farewell to the Leif Arrenhius national mark of 82-10 from two years ago. And Henning still has 2007 to improve on that mark – or beat the meet record, which is 87-5 by Canadian thrower Dylan Armstrong from 1999.
Excelling with speed, great footwork and centrifugal force more than power, the champion added that it was what he hasn’t done in recent weeks that’s helped him more than what he has done. “I took a lot of time to rest,” he said of the weeks after his jr.-class record 81’ he hit in early January. “Last year I was focused on training too much and by this time, I was too tired.”
Friday night, Henning got some practice throws in at the facility, a few over 80 feet, and knew he was ready. Before his second throw Saturday, his dad told him to relax a bit, and from that came the new USR.
Powerful Pentathlons
David Klech and Ryann Krais each had their moments of unexpected challenges and deep concern in their bids for pentathlon national championships. For each athlete, however, the final event proved revelatory. With scorching final 200s, Klech and Krais ran away from the field in their respective 1000 and 800-meter runs to take their events in US-list-revising fashion.
For Klech, experienced in the multi, but never having done the whole thing in one day, there was less-than-satisfying performances in the long jump and, to a lesser extent, the other three events. There was even a rough start in the 1000 that found him almost losing his footing and dropping to last. But once he got moving, he ripped a 2:35.99, including a 27 final 200. That left him with a meet-record 3980, the No. 4 performance in US history.
Krais, meanwhile, was a sophomore competing in her first multi. While she is one of the US’s best in the long jump and 60-hurdles, and a great 400 runner, the other three events were truly foreign territory. She was hardly the pentathlon favorite … but then she threw 31 feet and high-jumped 5-3.75 in her first-ever competitions in those events and all bets were off. When the 800 came around, she was within 15 points of the lead.
After reluctantly pacing Alexandra Coppadge through 1:12 400 and 1:52 600 splits, she steamed a 34 final circuit to hit 2:26 for a 5-second win. Her total of 3670 was 59 points clear of Coppadge and US#6 all-time. Was her plan in the 800 to wait until the last lap?
“Actually, I didn’t have a strategy for the 800,” she said with a laugh, still catching her breath. Then she added, “I wanted to stay behind her for the first few laps. I slowed down at one point to try and let her pass me, but she didn’t.”
Understandably, she was delighted by her shot and high jump efforts, if not so much the 60 hurdles and long jumps that are normally her forte. “I wasn’t as happy with those events I always do … but I didn’t expect even to hit 28 in the shot put.”
She gave a lot of credit to Coach Rob Ronzano for getting her up to speed in the new events.
Klech started his pentathlon solidly with an 8.14 60H, but lost 82 points to rival Terry Prentice with a sub-par long jump (21-11) and about 100 more in the shot (his admittedly weak event). A 6-9 high jump regained 100, leaving him with 32 to make up in the 1000. He made up much more.
“My goal was to get out fast in the 1000; I got wedged in, but I tried not to let it mess me up,” he said. “My goal was to hit 2:06 (he was 2:08), so I knew I had to put the hammer down.”
Klech already has a 1:58 outdoors and said he’s been on a real hard 800 schedule.
Distance Relays: Saratoga In and Out
The 4x1 Mile and Distance Medley relays for both genders seemed to revolve, fairly or not, around what Kinetic RC/Saratoga Springs NY did or didn’t do. They were top-seeded in all four races, but ran just two. After dominating the girls 4x1 Mile, they pulled out of the girls DMR; on the boys side, injury to a team member prevented a 4x1 mile attempt, then they held on to win a thrilling DMR.
The winners of the Kinetic-less events, however, did their best to make sure the attention was focused on their presence and not their opponents absence. The boys from Fayetteville-Manlius NY thoroughly impressed with their meet record 17:33.28 in the 4x1 Mile, getting a racebreaking negative-split 2nd leg from Tommy Gruenewald. The girls of Hammer TC/Southern Regional NJ, not one of the faves despite Toga’s absence, were fueled by a wonderful come-from-behind effort from the extraordinary Danielle Tauro in a 12:05.15 upset win.
First, the tradition of the Toga girls in the 4x1 Mile – they set a crushing 19:59.24 USR last year and were looking for their fourth straight win – was in evidence as two athletes got their first track nationals experience with the ‘A’ team. Kipling Hill and Ashley Campbell carried the tradition on well, hitting 5:13.7 and 5:18.9 to give Hannah Davidson (5:11.3) and Lindsey Ferguson (4:56.9) plenty of real estate to cruise home on. The 20:40.85 final time wasn’t quite the mind-boggler that previous years have seen, but it was a winner by almost a minute and plenty pleasing for the quartet.
“I didn’t know what order we’d be running in until last night, so it was really exciting,” said Hill. And Ferguson, who has had to step into a big leadership role, said the race was a great topper for the indoor season. “It’s amazing to be the anchor for this awesome team.”
In the boys 4x1 Mile, the race was competitive for the first leg as Morris Hills’ Kyle Soloff fought off F-M’s John Heron in a terrific 4:22.0-4:22.7 duel. But the powerful Gruenewald ended anyone else’s hopes when, after a 2:10 first 800, he bore down for a 2:07 that gapped everyone. After that 4:17.0, it was left to Geoff King (4:32.3) and Owen Kimple (4:21.3) to stride it home.
As pleased as the “Men of Stotan” were, they couldn’t help but think what might have been. “We were shooting for the national record and we were disappointed that Saratoga pulled out,” said Kimple. “Probably both teams could have gone under the record. But we ran with heart and did our best.”
Gruenewald, who said he started his race a little slow then put in a “hard lap to make sure no one could catch up,” was even more emphatic. “I almost would have rather run faster and lost, if it would have meant a chance to compete with them. They definitely would have pushed us.”
Again, the girls led off the DMR action and the Toga-less race had a curious start. The 1200 runners – an odd distance that many runners are inexperienced in anyway – ran as if it was a strategic mile heat at a championship instead of an 800 with another lap tacked on. They crawled through a 2:37 800, then finished in 1:11, with Blazin Raiders/ERS MD, Four-Pointers/Sioux Falls SD and others all together.
“I had too much left at the end,” moaned Sioux Falls leadoff Krista Eckert afterward. “I didn’t really know how to run it. I kept waiting for someone to get going.”
“We thought (Saratoga’s) Hannah Davidson was going to set a hard pace and everyone would key off her,” said ERS coach Desmond Dunham. “It was entirely too slow.”
But with legs of 59.1 400 from Doris Anyawu and 2:15 800 from Tameka Jameson, ERS stretched out its lead to about 70 meters. When Marika Walker started off in 68 for her 1600 leg, they seemed to have it in hand. But back in fifth was a certain Danielle Tauro, the Millrose Mile champ and, well, you’d better have a big lead on Danielle if you’re going to beat her. “We really knew we had to have 100 meters on her,” said Dunham.
It looked impossible, but suddenly with 3 laps to go a 10-second gap had shrunk to 5 seconds and Tauro was slowly, but surely reeling her in. Meanwhile, Sioux Falls anchor Allison Eckert, a star runner herself, was tailing the Southern Regional star and a stunning 3-way battle was about to unfold. With a lap to go, Tauro took the lead and finished off a 4:50.1 anchor (12:05.15) that sent her into the arms of her wildly joyful teammates and loving fans. Both of them digging deep through oxygen debt, Walker (5:03/12:07.34) held off Eckert (4:54.8/12:07.84). Both set school records, but were wracked with disbelief at what had happened.
For Tauro, who had been down with a stomach flu virus been out of action since her Jersey season ended, the result seemed to be a miracle. “I had no idea where I was in the race, I had no idea who was ahead of me, I had no idea what my splits were," she told Elliott Denman for the NSSF. Rachel Ruggiano, Jessica Bergin and Jillian Smith had given her a chance with legs of 3:55, 1:02.6, and 2:16.1.
“ll four of them were incredible,”said Coach Brian Zatorski.
An equally unbelievable comeback almost happened in the boys DMR. Through legs of 3:04.8, 54.5, and 1:56.9, Saratogans Greg Kelsey, Randall Wilkes, and Greg Kiley gave Steve Murdock a lead of three seconds – which he quickly expanded. A hard early tempo would take its toll on the super junior, though, and his place slowed just enough to give a young man from Poland a little hope.
Axel Mostrag, the Fork Union Military Acad. VA jr. with a 1:54 800 this winter but just a 4:20 mile, saw just enough chance to get up and sprint a crazy last 100 and just miss catching Murdock at the tape. He split a huge PR 4:13 with a 27 closer, but Murdock’s 4:16 was just enough. Saratoga 10:17.01, Fork Union 10:17.04.