Pole Vault

Using a series of damaged poles, American Derek Miles was one of 16 pole vaulters to clear the required height of 18 feet, 8 1/4 inches yesterday in the preliminary round. Miles got the qualifying score on his last attempt. Miles will be joined in tomorrow's final by Tim Mack of Knoxville, Tenn., and Toby Stevenson of Chula Vista, Calif. "I was pretty relieved to get through, because our goal was to make it to the finals," Miles said. "It was a little shaky getting things figured out. But I think now that we made it to the finals, we're a little relaxed.

No one thought it would be 32 years between gold medals in pole vaulting for the United States. The pole vault used to be as American as tail fins on a Cadillac. At every Olympics from the London Games of 1908 to the Mexico City Games of 1968, the gold went to the United States. In 1952, 1956 and 1960, Americans finished 1-2. It ended with Bob Seagren's gold in 1968. No American had won it since then - until Nick Hysong and Lawrence Johnson came through on a muggy night in Sydney.

All season long, Absegami's Brandon Kurtz has had his eye on the all-time South Jersey pole-vaulting record, and yesterday he finally leaped his way into the record books. Kurtz, a senior, pole-vaulted a stunning 15 feet, 7 inches during the South Jersey sectional championships at Bridgeton High to shatter the 14-year-old record of 15-3 1/4, set by Willingboro's Dan Lamp. Kurtz's record was the highlight of a day filled with surprises. Four South Jersey teams won sectional crowns, and Haddon Heights' Tim Israel set a Group 1 record in the long jump.

Since 1970, Pat Hurley has been a fixture at the Southern Chester County League championship meet. Stopwatch in hand and yelling louder than just about anyone else, Hurley has joined his wife, Verna, in cheering on seven sons, five of whom have won individual league championships for Octorara. Pat Jr. was the first Hurley to compete for Octorara. A 1973 graduate, he won the mile and 2-mile races at the league championship meet four consecutive years. Next came Mike, Steve, Bill, Dan, Matt and finally Luke, the youngest son and currently a junior.

Downingtown's Chris Watson and Coatesville's Clint Seace won individual events to highlight area performances in Saturday's 17th annual Father Judge Track Relay Carnival. Watson cleared 14 feet, winning the pole vault and continuing his string of outstanding performances this spring. This is the second time he has cleared 14-0, which ties the school record. "I did pretty well, considering the weather," Watson said of the cold conditions Saturday. "The runway here is pretty quick, and everything seemed to click.

The NJSIAA avoided a potential lawsuit after its executive committee approved a plan last week to include girls' pole vault as a standard spring track event by 2004. Officials from Hunterdon Central, a Group 4 school from Central Jersey, had said they would sue if the NJSIAA kept girls from the sport at all regular-season events. Until last week's approval, only boys' pole vault was recognized as a standard spring track event by the NJSIAA. "This is what we wanted three years ago, but I'm glad they finally decided a plan of action needed to be in place," Hunterdon Central athletic director Bob Rossi said.

Lack of practice hasn't limited Villa Maria Academy's Amy Carroll in the pole vault. Although the weather has not been conducive to outdoor pole-vault workouts, Carroll still tied for third in her speciality at Saturday's Pennsylvania Track and Field Coaches Association Carnival. She cleared 7 feet, 6 inches at Lehigh University. "That was real good for her," Villa Maria coach Phil Genther said. "It was a little warmer last week, and she was able to vault. She's only been able to practice three days all year because of the weather.

In a meet dominated by Penn Wood and Penncrest, Haverford High's Nick Gargiule was the only area athlete to have a good meet at the Delaware County Relay Championships on Saturday at Springfield. The Fords' senior combined with teammate Rob Letofsky to win the pole-vault relay and anchored the 800-meter relay team (Steve Coren, Darrin Harris, Dave Ocenas and Gargiule) to a third-place finish behind Penn Wood and St. James. Penn Wood won four events and Penncrest three. In the pole vault, Gargiule cleared 12 feet, 6 inches, and Letofsky 9-0 for a total of 21-6.

Jess Kloss was running scared. Cruising down the runway of what was her biggest pole vault event thus far in the outdoor season, the Moorestown senior had things on her mind. It had nothing to do with her attempted clearance height of 12 feet. The nationally ranked vaulter had already cleared that height six times at meets and many more times at practice. What scared her was the slippery runway due to the rain as she competed yesterday in the high school girls' pole vault championship.

In what could be seen as a victory for the girls' pole vault competition in New Jersey, the Burlington County League's executive committee recently voted to include the sport as a scored event in league dual meets during next year's outdoor season. The Burlington County League is the first athletic conference in South Jersey to approve the event for scoring in dual meets. "This is a great thing," said Rancocas Valley track coach Shana Butch, who has two girls learning to vault, Lauren Detrick and Lisa Steinhauer.

Distance standouts Maria Seykora of Notre Dame and Dustin Wilson of Chestnut Hill Academy took advantage of Saturday's warm weather to turn in some hot times at the Inter-Ac League track and field championships at Germantown Academy. Seykora set girls' meet records in winning the 1,600 and 3,200-meter runs with times of 4 minutes, 57.30 seconds and 11:34.48, led off the winning 4x400 relay, and captured the girls' athlete of the meet award. In the boys' meet, Wilson set a meet record of 4:18.17 in the 1,600 and won the 3,200 by a margin of 30 seconds with a time of 9:36.46.

Malvern Prep's Tom Pitt set a meet record in the high jump by just a quarter of an inch to highlight the West Chester Henderson Invitational, which finished on Saturday because of inclement weather. The event began Friday before it was postponed after strong rain and lightning. Pitt captured the high jump with a mark of 6-81/4. He bettered the previous meet record of 6-8 set in 2010 by Ryan Brumfield of Owen J. Roberts. Ryan Hart of Downingtown East shattered the meet record in the discus and created a gap from the field.

Down by 5-0 after four innings, Holy Ghost Prep fashioned an impressive comeback, capped by Cole Long's game-ending two-run single, and jolted visiting Archbishop Ryan, 6-5, in nonleague baseball Saturday. Nick Payesko started the rally with an RBI single in the fifth inning, and Chris Crawford scored on a double steal in the sixth. In the seventh, the Firebirds got a pair of two-out walks, worked a double steal, and both runners scored on Long's clutch hit. In other nonleague action, reliever Mike Piscopo secured La Salle's 4-3 win over visiting Haverford School by getting a game-ending strikeout after inheriting runners on first and second and a 3-1 count in the seventh inning.

Indoor Track and Field NJSIAA STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS GROUP 1 BOYS Team scoring: Pleasantville 49, Woodbury 46, Robbinsville 22, Hasbrouck Hts. 17, Penns Grove 14, Essex Tech 14, Bernards 14. 55 meters: 1, Anthony Averett, Woodbury, 6.51. 2, Darrell Bush, Woodbury, 6.53. 3, Sylvester Gooden, Essex tech, 6.61. 55 hurdles: 1, Sam Maniglia, Penns Grove, 7.92. 2, Deron Jennings, Essex Tech, 7.99. 3, Roland Gamez, Hasbrouck Hts., 8.04. 400: 1, Darrell Bush, Woodbury, 49.13.

LA SALLE'S TOM Coyle outran Cardinal O'Hara's Dan Savage to the finish line in the 3,000 meters and set a meet record of 8:55.55 in the Catholic League Indoor Track championships yesterday at Lehigh University. Coyle also won the mile in 4:21.98, O'Hara's Shacor Hamilton set a meet record of 22.45 in the 200 dash, and Father Judge's John Landis posted a meet-record triple jump of 47-1 1/4. In the girls' meet, St. Hubert distance runner Teresa Ortiz won the mile and 3,000, and Archbishop Ryan's Deirdre O'Leary doubled in the 60 hurdles and pole vault.

John Grib drove for a layup as the buzzer sounded to give Conestoga a 40-38 Central League boys' basketball victory over visiting Haverford High on Saturday night. 7 Cities Roundball Classic. Dinjyl Walker scored 25 points and dished out eight assists to lead Academy of the New Church to a 47-45 win over Woodside (Va.) in the showcase at Portsmouth, Va. Erikk Wright's three-point play in overtime kick-started a 10-3 period for Chester on the way to downing Landstown (Va.), 66-59.

Chris Williams cleared 15 feet, 3 inches in the pole vault and Wellington Zaza won the 60-meter hurdles in 8.04 seconds as the Strath Haven athletes each produced national indoor season-best performances on Thursday at the Robert J. Burdette Classic at Lehigh's Rauch Fieldhouse. Williams, who finished second at the state outdoor meet last spring as a sophomore, broke the meet record of 15-1 and topped the previous best mark in the country this winter of 15-0 by Greg Gallagher of Iona Prep (N.Y.)

Chris Williams cleared 15 feet, 3 inches in the pole vault and Wellington Zaza won the 60-meter hurdles in 8.04 seconds as the Strath Haven athletes each produced national indoor season-best performances on Thursday at the Robert J. Burdette Classic at Lehigh's Rauch Fieldhouse. Williams, who finished second at the state outdoor meet last spring as a sophomore, broke the meet record of 15-1 and topped the previous best mark in the country this winter of 15-0 by Greg Gallagher of Iona Prep (N.Y.)

100: Ronnie Gillespie, Upper Perkiomen, junior 200: Matt Gilmore, Cheltenham, senior 400: Chidi Okezie, New Media, junior 800: Connor Manley, Central Bucks West, senior 1,600: Ned Willig, Great Valley, junior 3,200: Glen Burkhardt, Unionville, senior 110 hurdles: Eric Futch, Penn Wood, junior 300 hurdles: Todd Townsend, West Catholic, sophomore Shot put:...

Arkansas' Tina Sutej: A junior from Slovenia,she broke the carnival record in the pole vault by nearly 9 inches. She cleared 14 feet, 71/4 inches, just 3 inches off the NCAA record, as she won the Penn Relays pole vault for the second consecutive year. She made two attempts at 14-91/4, trying to break her national record, but couldn't get it. "It was better than last year," said Sutej, whose winning height in 2010 was a full foot shorter. "I liked it better. I was too tired at the end. " - Joe Juliano