Cogdill sets new school record

Being a former pole vaulter I love it when that sport is featured.

Well this weekend, Ben Cogdill broke the school record in the pole vault for Eastern Washington University.

Cogdill cleared 16-8 1/4. The record was 16-7 1/4 set in 2005 by Mike Erickson.

Cogdill, a senior from Estacada (Ore.), will now compete at the Big Sky Conference Championships on May 12-15 in Ogden, Utah.

Congrats to Ben on this accomplishment.

High School Sports Feature: 3A SPSL/WCC Sub District Track Meet

Yesterday was the first half of the 3A South Puget Sound League and Western Cascade Conference Sub District meet.

I wasn't able to make it out for it, but the match proved to have a number of high lights. Thanks to athletic.net for keeping us up-to-date on the results.

The finals in field events for boys were: Discus, pole vault and long jump.

Let's start with the pole vault. It was no surprise that Gabe Cadero-Smith of Yelm High School walked away with the gold in the event. He had lead among all the participants in the league all season. At the meet he jumped 13 feet 6 inches for the win.

White River's Austin Shirey, who I featured last week, finished in a three way tie for third at 12 feet even. The top seven performers in each event will move on to districts next weekend at Mount Tahoma High School.

In the long jump the victory went to Spencer Marr. Marr, of Clover Park High School, dominated the performance with a distance of 21 feet 2 1/4 inches. Second place was Quentin Sison from Timberline High School with a jump of 20 feet 7 3/4 inches.

Over at the discus Darrien Creamer won with a throw of 155 feet 11 inches. The junior from Peninsula High School has the fourth best throw in the state this year at 168 feet 5 inches. However, two of the throwers in front of him are also in 3A.

The only final from the running events was the 1600 meter. Marcus Dickson of White River won the event in 4:26. Dickson is only a freshman.

The rest of the events will be decided this afternoon.

On the girls side the following field events were final: high jump, long jump, javelin and shot put.

Over at the shot put pit Tiara Killmer of Bonney Lake won by almost three feet with her throw of 39 feet 11 inches. Second place was Christi Ometu of Auburn Mountainview with a throw of 37 feet 1/4 inch.

The javlin was won by Sasha Weber of Timberline. Weber let loose a throw of 114 feet 7 inches. Weber is also only a freshman.

Weber also took away the gold in the high jump. She won at 5 foot 6 inches which was 6 inches higher than second place.

In the long jump Stephanie Schreiner from Enumclaw High School won with a jump of 17 feet 1 3/4 inch. Second was Briana Welsh of Timberline at 16 feet 1 inch.

On the track Ashley Taylor of Yelm High School won the 3200 meters by 11 seconds with the time of 11:31. Second was Theresa Edwards of Bonney Lake in 11:42.

Today are the finals in the rest of the events and it will be decided who moves on to Districts.

High School Sports Feature: White River Track and Field

For today's JustSON High School Sports feature I headed out to Buckley, Washington to my old high school. White River High School.

Now when I was in high school I was good in the classroom but my main love was track (actually field) because you see, I was a pole vaulter.

For those of you who have never pole vaulted, I'm sorry. It is a thrill like no other but it takes a certain type of person who can compete at this sport. You have to be driven. Even after breaking my elbow pole vaulting my freshman year I was still drawn back to the sport. After a year of rehab, I made it back for my junior and senior years.

Well today, I was in for a treat as White River took on Enumclaw and Auburn Mountainview in a three team meet.

Naturally I spent the meet over at the pole vault pits. My former coach is still the pole vault coach there so it was great to see him.

But before I get to the battle that took place at the pits, I must congratulate the White River Hornets boys track team on their perfect season. They finished 8-0 on the year and hands down won the South Puget Sound 3A crown.

I found this amazing, back when I was in school (I graduated in '03) the team would win one track meet a year. And that was against Fife High School every year.

But this team had some amazing things happening they beat Enumclaw 82-62 and Auburn Mountainview 91-54. I cover more of the rest of the teams highlights in a bit. But first, back to pole vaulting.

There were 12 vaulters to start the meet (four from each school). And even as the bar rose to 10 feet, there were still 11 in the competition. At 12 feet there were just two. Austin Shirey of White River and Clifford Newman of Enumclaw.

At this point the rest of the track meet had ended and soon most of the participants in the meet were lining the runway of the pole vault pit to watch the battle for first. It was a great site to see.

Newman cleared 12'6" on his second attempt. (You get three attempts at each height). His coach had said that his previous personal record (PR) was 11'6".

Shirey missed his second attempt at 12'6" and was down to his last chance. His previous PR was 12'.

As he walked back down the runway for his third and final try at 12'6", the White River team was cheering for him and hollering their support. With that, Shirey stared down the runway, picked up his pole and cleared the height.

Newman went on to win the event at 13 feet, but Shirey earned himself a PR at the meet today. Also, keep in mind Shirey is only a sophomore.

Here are some of the photos I snapped at the meet today. Click on each photo to make them larger:

Austin Shirey clears 12 feet as storm clouds move into the area.


Clifford Newman runs to attempt 12 feet 6 inches as fans watch.


Aaron Toman races down the runway on his first attempt at 10 feet.

All in all it was a great day for pole vaulting. And while the pole vault was my highlight at the meet, there were a number of athletes that deserve recognition on both the boys and the girls side.

Another great battle took place on the track in the 300 meter hurdles. Abe Kellogg of Enumclaw won in 39.61 and Kramer Green of White River finished right on his heels in 39.78. It was a fight down to the final step. Kellogg got the extra edge on the final hurdle and it was just enough to hold off Green. Only 22 runners in all of Washington state have ran under 40 seconds in the 300 hurdles this year.

Green actually ranks with the 9th fastest time in the state with his time of 39.49 that he ran at the Shelton Invitational on May 2nd. It is also the 3rd fastest time in all of 3A.

First place finishers on the league champion Hornet boys included Collin Green in the 400m at 50.50. The 1600m relay tean won in 3:25.32. Blake Tidwell won the long jump with at jump of 19'10.5". Grant Peckham won the discus with a throw of 140'0". And Blake Halvorson won the high jump at 5'6".

On the girls side, White River beat Auburn Mountainview 74-47 but lost to Enumclaw 57-66. They finish at 5-3 on the season which should be good enough for third place in the league.

First place finishers for the girls were Lauryn Wate in the 1600m at 5:21.2 and in the 800m in 2:24.7. The 800m relay team won in 1:49.12 and the 1600m relay won in 4:15.79. Ashley Llapitan won the 3200m in 12:24. Hailey Menzel won the pole vault at 8'6".

Next up for the White River track teams is sub-districts. The teams head down the hill to Sunset Chevrolet Stadium in Sumner on May 14 and 16. After that is the district meet at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma on May 22-23. The state meet will be on May 29-30, also at Mount Tahoma.

Naked pole vaulter runs through the streets

I found this on Comcast Sports. Someone, give him clothes!

A French pole vaulting champion ran naked with his pole through the streets of Paris and posted the video on the Internet, hoping to draw attention to his quest for a new sponsorship deal.

Romain Mesnil, who won a silver medal at the 2007 Athletics World Championships in Osaka, was sponsored by Nike but says his contract expired last year and was not renewed.

"It was probably for budgetary and strategic reasons. It's the crisis," he wrote on his Web site.

Many athletes have reported difficulties obtaining corporate sponsorship as companies cut costs because of the global economic downturn.

In his video, Mesnil runs with his pole as if preparing for a vault at tourist spots like Montmartre and the Pont des Arts across the River Seine. A black square has been added to the footage to cover his groin area.

The video has succeeded in drawing attention to Mesnil's plight, at least in France. It was broadcast on prime-time state television news bulletins.

Here's the video:

High School Sports Feature: Wes Chamberlain, Washington's best pole vaulter

For those of you who don't know, back in high school track and field was my sport. Well, mainly field. I was a pole vaulter and that will always be my favorite sport. Did pretty well, went to state twice. Although I'll be the first to admit I was no Brad Walker.

Today for our high school sports feature, we're going to showcase Wes Chamberlain of Ephrata High School.

Wes is the defending 2A State Champion in the pole vault. Many people laugh at 2A and smaller schools. Saying that winning state championships there don't count do to the size of the school. Well, I'd say Wes winning the 2A with not only the best vault in that level, but the best vault in the state is pretty great.

Last year as a junior he posted the top height of all vaulters in the state with a vault of 15 feet, 5.5 inches. He got that height on April 10th at an Invitational. At the actual state meet at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma, he posted a mark of 15 feet 5 inches. But that was good enough to set the meet record.

The previous mark of 15 feet 4 inches was set by Evan Whitehall of Cashmere in 2002.

And now it is Wes' senior year. Look for big things from this small school pole vaulter.

Stuczynski sets U.S. pole vault record

U.S. Olympic silver medalist Jenn Stuczynski broke the six-year-old indoor pole vault record at the Boston Indoor Games.

Stuczynski set the new record at 15 feet 9 3/4 inches.

She has broke the outdoor record four times in the past 18 months and currently holds it at 16 feet 1 3/4 inches.

For setting the new indoor record, Stuczynski earned a $25,000 bonus.

Washington native sets new American Record in Pole Vault

It was quite a day for Washington natives in the professional sporting world today.

Today marked the Nike Prefontaine Classic, and 14,221 fans were in Eugene, Oregon to watch.

A number of meet records fell, but no one was more watched than Spokane native, Brad Walker.

Walker, a graduate of University high school in Spokane, and the University of Washington, cleared an American Record in the pole vault. He cleared 19 feet 9 3/4 inches.

After two attempts at the World Record of 20 feet 2 inches, he called it a day.

"I've never heard cheering like I heard at my second attempt at the WR. It startled me. It's overwhelming. But I'll take that any day of the week. It was great."

Walker will be back at Hayward Field on the University of Oregon campus in a few weeks for the Olympic Trials. The 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials will be held June 27-July 6.

Another Northwest native, Tommy Skipper of Sandy, Ore. and University of Oregon graduate, finished 6th in the pole vault at 17 feet 8 3/4 inches.

And as for another Washington athlete, Kasey Kahne of Enumclaw won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Race today at Pocono. It was his third win in the past four races. But only two count toward point standings, as his win at the All-Star race isn't a point qualifying event.

With the win Kahne moves up to 9th in the overall NASCAR standings, 365 points behind the leader.

Not too bad of a day for professional athletes from the Pacific Northwest.

The Wii Workout

Incase you haven't heard, the Wii is the hottest thing to happen to videogame systems since Pong.

Well, I joined the craze of Wii fanatics and purchased one a while back. I actually had to fend off 14 kids, 7 moms, 2 grandpas and a goat on my way to the cash register at Toys R Us.
For some reason I have always enjoyed track and field.
So when Nintendo came out with Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games, I knew I had to get it. Little did I know what I was getting into.

Day 1: Throwing the game into the system I get ready to play. Two hours later I was ranked 1,251 out of 45,082 in the world. Yet I still sat over four feet behind first place.

Day 2: My shoulders were slightly sore yet I decided to play anyway. Today I won the gold in the 100 meter dash, a silver in rowing against the computer and placed 983 out of 14,256 in the hammer throw.

Day 3: I head for the TV with a slight limp and unable to lift my arms above my head. The constant movement of the remotes (spinning and flicking) have begun to take their toll on me. Yet somehow I manage to place silver in archery, gold in high jump and after the fourth hour still couldn't break the top 5 in long jump.

Day 4: I warm up with a few stretches and jumping jacks. Then I get to work. After 3 hours I have won gold in the 400 meter dash, forth in the 4 x 100 relay and silver in the triple jump. Another day, more sore muscles but more medals too.

Day 5: I lay in bed, unable to move. The constant abuse to my muscles has finally been too much. I finally roll out of bed and crawl to the TV. Refusing to let this system get the best of me, I turn it on. After only 12 minutes my arms feel like putty and I am laying in the middle of the floor on my back. Sweating worse than Mark Mangino at a lobster buffet during the Kansas summer. This round goes to Mario and Sonic. They have beat me.

This game is a better workout than Richard Simmons came out with Disco Sweat. And that is saying something.