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Female vaulters are rare breed
By KRISTEN LEIGH PORTER At Crystal River track and field practice Wednesday afternoon, Lisandra Vazquez prepares to pole vault. Clutching the pole she has used all four seasons, the senior takes a step back on the runway. Starting with her right foot, she will count seven steps with her left foot, before planting the pole and lofting herself into the air. "The trick is to end up on your left leg so you can plant and go up with your right leg," Vazquez said. The scene is not all that common. Vazquez is among only three main female pole vaulters in Citrus County this season. Vazquez said she has tried to teach several other athletes, but usually they end up dropping out. "Eight girls that wanted to try pole vault this year and I'm the only one again," she said, laughing. "I scared them away from it." It wasn't until the mid 1990s that girls pole vaulting emerged on the high school scene. The Florida High School Activities Association began including girls in the sport in its state championships in 1996. Last year, only 30 states had girls pole vaulting as an event during the regular season. Only 25 recognized it as a scoring event in state meets. Vazquez started her freshman year because there were no other girls trying it and she thought it looked fun. "I fell in love with it," Vazquez said. "When I started, I just kept going with it and I went to camps and clinics for it and I love it." Megs Brown, a Lecanto senior, liked the fact that nobody else did it. Citrus' Katie Steelfox had a slightly different reason for taking up the pole vault. "I think one day my freshman year in P.E. I was doing something really weird and coach (Tom) Darby was like, "Oh, you're going to be a pole vaulter,' " Steelfox said. "Because he always said pole vaulters are weird, I didn't know whether to take that as a compliment or not." It was a smart move, as Steelfox placed seventh in last year's Class 2A state meet. Her best performance is 9 feet, 6 inches. Vazquez, who has cleared 8-6, finished fifth in a region meet last season. She said there isn't much time to be afraid of the heights vaulters reach because the experience goes by so fast. "Everybody's like, "Aren't you afraid when you get up there?' and I don't even realize how high I go," Vazquez said. "My main worry is that I get over the bar and don't knock it off and land on the mat without breaking my neck." Brown has hit the 8-foot mark and said the only thing she is scared of is falling backward. "But if you hold onto the pole, there's really nothing to be scared about," Brown said. "If you're scared, you're not going to do it and you're just going to psych yourself out." The issue of safety might keep potential vaulters from entering the sport. The National Federation of State High School Associations is trying to minimize the risks and among new mandates increased the size of the landing pad effective this season. Vazquez will not get to pole vault until a competition Saturday, and Steelfox did not vault in her first meet because of illegal mats. Then at the Hurricanes' second meet, at Wesley Chapel, Steelfox posted a victory. "I was extremely sore and I didn't have enough speed to get over the bar, but I still got first," she said. To be a competitive vaulter requires not just speed, but strength, flexibility and determination. It also involves patience, sometimes taking years to see progress. If you want instant success, look elsewhere around the track. If you are interested in pole vaulting, be prepared to work on your steps and plant. "You do that about five million times just so you can know what it feels like, and you just have to practice your run-throughs," Brown said. "Just that one plant, until you've got that, you basically don't have anything. You have to be out there a lot and just keep doing the drills." Heights are improving with the more practice vaulters receive. The national high school record book listed girls vaulting for the first time in 1995 when Melissa Price of Kingsburg, Calif., established the mark at 12-6. The record now is 13-8, set by Shayla Valentine of Morro Bay, Calif., in 2001. "The progress has been very impressive," said John Gillis, an NFHS assistant director. Gillis sees the popularity of girls pole vaulting increasing, especially with the success of Stacy Dragila, who in 2000 won the sport's first Olympic competition. As the sport grows, maybe there will be more area females participating. But until then, athletes such as Vazquez, Steelfox and Brown will continue to be few and far between. "It's still kind of a learning process because it's not a very big sport here," Brown said.
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