As Noah Corwin races down the approach to the pole vault pit, he’s about to leave two things behind.
Corwin, a senior at Centralia High School who has been pole vaulting since his sophomore year, is about to leave the ground behind, catapulting himself over a bar 11 feet in the air. And he’s about to leave the crowd behind, too. Not everyone has the intestinal fortitude to launch into the air.
“It’s super enjoyable,” Corwin said during a recent practice. “It’s kind of like flying I guess. I love it.”
The check list for the ingredients for being a pole vaulter are simple.
First, there’s the physical skills, which include strength, speed and agility. And then there’s the mental toughness side. You’ve got to be a thrill seeker, someone willing to do something a little risky.
“The kids who typically do well in this are kind of on the fear edge,” said Steve Creel, the pole vault coach at Centralia High School. “They don’t mind fear.”
Pole vaulting is track’s version of bungee jumping. It takes a thrill seeker, someone willing to take a risk.
“They kind of have that crazy side to them,” said Tim Penman, Centralia High School’s head track coach. “They all just have a little wild hair to them. You’re going upside down at 14, 15, 16 feet. It’s not a real secure feeling. They’re a little crazy.”
Eventually, there’s a comfort level they finally get. But Penman said that comfort zone is usually challenged once they reach 11, 11 ½ feet.
“They’re just not comfortable going any higher,” Penman said. “I’ve had kids like that. Once you get to 11 and 11 ½ to bump them to the 12 or 13 feet, it’s a different kid that can put that fear behind them and go further.”
Overcoming that fear factor isn’t easy. Corwin admits he’s it faced it. Going over backwards, falling 10 feet onto a mat isn’t easy. Eventually, Corwin said that sense of fear is replaced by a drive to win.
“You don’t want to get hurt, but you want to win,” Corwin said.
That eventually became Corwin’s driving voice. He put the fear factor aside and letting winning become his motto. During the winter, Corwin, along with about 20 other pole vaulters from the area, pole vaulted in the indoor facility in Centralia. With the extra practice, twice a week, he hopes to improve on his personal best of 10’6″.
“I want to go 13 or 14,” Corwin said.
Like Corwin, Kelaiah Iselin, a junior at Centralia, was drawn to pole vaulting because of its risky nature. The fear factor didn’t stop her from pole vaulting.
“It looked like fun,” said Iselin, who began pole vaulting her freshman year. “And I wanted to challenge myself.”
In her first meet and after only one day of practice, Iselin entered the event in a meet for the first time as a freshman. She surprised maybe even herself when she cleared 7 feet. Her best so far is 8 feet.
“For me, the hardest thing is not hugging the pole,” Iselin said. “There’s just so much technique to it – trying to remember everything and not let it go to your head.”
Everything happens so fast, going from the plant to the launch to going over the bar to landing.
“You can focus on one thing and forget the rest and that throws you off,” Iselin said.
She’s never gotten hurt pole vaulting, but she was close once.
“There was a time I was focused on going upside down and I forgot about my momentum and speed and for a few seconds I was upside down and the coaches had to push me over onto the mat,” Iselin said with a chuckle. “It was kind of freaky.”
While some schools have dropped pole vaulting, it’s popular in Lewis County. Don Rinta, who has coached pole vaulting at his alma mater W.F. West for 30 years, has been an ambassador for the event, providing excitement and insight over the years. He has about 10 pole vaulters turning out this year. He said it takes a special breed to try pole vaulting.
“This is an event that’s kind of for thrill seekers,” said Rinta, one of the best pole vaulters to come out of W.F. West. “Some of these kids are a little bit on the edge. It’s not for everybody. There’s risk. You’ve got to want to do it, but we try to teach them all the safety methods and the right techniques.”
Beau Stidham, a senior at W.F. West, is one of those risk takers. He’s cleared 12’6″ and he’s hoping to go over 13 feet this season. But he wasn’t an overnight success.
“I grabbed a pole vault pole and I absolutely stunk at it for my first year,” Stidham said. “It was hard. I visualized it for a while and got better.”
Experience in pole vaulting brings confidence, quieting the fear factor. But it can pop up again.
“I can jump on this one pole all day long and it doesn’t scare me at all,” Stidham said. “But as soon as I change poles or change any of the dynamics of it, it can scare you.”
So it goes with the thrills of pole vaulting.
