NCAA DIII Championships

Last week I had the opportunity to compete at the NCAA Division III national championship in Nebraska, representing University Of Dubuque (Spartan). I was very confident heading into the Championships as my vault practice sessions prior to the championship went well. I was hoping to finish on top of the podium.

At 4.90m/16'0.75" there were three vaulters remaining. One cleared the height on his first attempt. I missed my first attempt at 4.90m/16'0.75'' and cleared it on my second. The other competitor made 4.90m on his third  attempt. The bar then moved up to 4.95m/16'2.75''.

Looking back, as I sat in 2nd place, I would finish no worse than third and with a personal best of 5.10m cleared just weeks prior, I should have passed at 4.95m and taken the time to refocus for the following bar at 5.00m. In the meantime, if things remained the same, I would have watched the two other vaulters fall out and at 4.95m while I would be vaulting for either a clean victory or a bronze.

However, after Michael from University of Chicago and Rob from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse missed their first attempts at 4.95m, I decided to attempt the bar as I could have taken the lead at that height with a clearance on my first attempt (I had one miss at 4.90m and Michael had a clean scorecard which gave him the lead). Unfortunately, that didn't happen and all of us fell out at 4.95m. I ended the meet in the silver medal position. The lesson I learned after reflecting on the meet, is to trust my gut feel and pass the height when it's necessary.

Nonetheless I had my best indoor season ever. From a conference championship to runner-up at nationals, I couldn't have asked for a better indoor season as I had two lifetime best marks at 5.03m/16'6'' on February 1st and a 5.10m/16'8.75'' jump at the last chance meet in Platteville.

I am stronger and faster than I've ever been on the runway. My vault technique has improved to the point where I sit and watch my vaults after practice or after a meet and I can't believe I'm the one doing it. I worked hard over the fall and it feels nice to see the results show.  

Two lessons learned throughout indoor season:

1)Trust my gut feeling when I'm on the runway.

2) Focus on myself and not worry about the other competitors because at the end of the day I am trying to raise my bar, not theirs.

Nevertheless it's time to go back to the drawing board to break things down and come back fresh to dominate outdoors. My goal for this outdoor season is to keep improving on my vault technique and consistency on the runway. When I take care of these details, the higher bars will come.

Once again I would like to say thank you to my coaches, teammates, friends, fans and family for all the positive energy going into the meet and throughout the season. If all goes well outdoors and I keep raising the bar like I did throughout indoors I should be right on track to make the 2016 Olympic team for my country (The Olympic B qualifying standard is 5.60m/18'3''). Your continued support to meet this goal is deeply appreciated. Again, thank you.

There's a link on how the Pole Vault Champ felt coming into the meet.

http://www.ncaa.com/news/trackfield-indoor-men/article/2014-03-14/chicago-sophomore-michael-bennett-surprising-winner
  

Cornell Invite, life time best (5.03m)

Before the track season started, my coach and I sat down and wrote some attainable goals for the events I would be doing for the year, he also did that with the everyone on the team. My goal for the pole vault was 5m which was my life time personal best, and 6.95m in the 60m dash. That was a brilliant idea on my coach side, as none of my previous coaches sat down and made a hard copy of my goals. Writing down goals focuses you to be specific about what you want and how you are going to achieve it.

February 1st was the day I had to bring my goals to life. I was very confident heading to the Hilltop invitational at Cornell College Iowa to compete. I had a solid week of vault practice working on the basics, for example, working on a consistent approach and getting to vertical on the pole. I was also hyped after vaulting an indoor best of 4.95m at the previous meet in Nebraska, which is now my favourite place to compete. Nonetheless, an early road trip to Cornell was worth it. On arrival at the indoor facility, the first thing I noticed was the pole vault pit. It wasn't the brand new UCS or Gill pits I've been vaulting on this year, the pole vault pit was smaller and way older than the standards pits we use now, It reminded me of the old pole vault pit we have home in St Lucia. However, that didn't affect my performance. Cornell invite was a very small meet compared to Nebraska, Cornell meet had 10 vaulters verses Nebraska's 28. With only 10 vaulters at Cornell the wait after warm up was a little over an hour which was wasn't too bad.

 

I entered the competition at a low height to give me some warm up vaults before the bar moved up to a decent height. Not forgetting that it's Feb 1st and the goal was to be over 5m. I cleared 4.35m on my second attempt. I had first time clearances at 4.57m, 4.72m, 4.88m and made 5.03m on my second attempt, which was a life time personal best. After clearing 5.03m I attempted 5.19m, but I didn't have any successful attempt at that height. 

 

I also had a successful day on the track I placed third overall in the 60m dash with 7.04sec a tenth of a second better than I ran at Nebraska. I have not achieved my goal in the 60m dash however I know 6.95sec is well in my reach.

Despite not clearing the bar at 5.19, I took away a few key learning points from those three attempts. These included: Swing my trail leg aggressively and driving my hips up into the sky to avoid flagging out into the cross bar.

  

Overall, the first month of the indoor season has been a success. Looking back, I think the biggest things I've learned that have led to this success have been, Making the right adjustments at the right time, Working on consistency and trusting myself on the runway.

Looking ahead, I've sat back down with my coach and we've reset the goals for the indoor season to 5.30m.

Overall, I would like to thank my friends, family and people back home in St. Lucia for the moral support as they have followed this journey.

There's a link to the vaults.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIKWNtRczD8&list=UUmF_IBixrXVzvwGQh-CJPvA&feature=c4-overview

Nebraska Pre Nat's

Competing at University Nebraska this weekend was a dream come true, I always wanted to set foot in that facility but I never made the cut when I was in Junior College. 2 years later my dream finally came true.



My first event of the day was the 60m dash preliminaries, 7.13sec was fast enough to secure me a spot in the finals. The finals was ran back to back with the preliminaries so as soon as I was done with the prelims, I had to line up for the finals. Being the underdog entering the finals I know I had to run anything better than 7.13sec to finish in the top 3. However I ran a better time in the finals and finished 3rd overall with a time of 7.05sec.

The Pole Vault was my highlight of the day. I only took four warm up vaults two from five lefts running from 71' to work on technique and two full approach vaults running from 100' to get a feel for the runway and to see how consistent my run was. Warm ups went well, after four jumps I was ready to for the competition to start. With 30 vaulters registered I knew it was going to be a long wait for before I got a chance to enter the competition. Waiting for two hours I finally got a chance to take my first vault at my opening height 4.50m I cleared on my first attempt, made 4.65m on my second attempt and cleared 4.80m and 4.95m on my first attempt, 4.95m is a new indoor personal best for me and also good enough to win the vault. I had one solid jump at 5.10m but I didn't make it.

Nonetheless there's a lot of room for improvement for the up coming meets, me and my coach will sit down and watch the videos to make some adjustments.

 

There's a youtube link for the Pole Vault

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVwt8F0SdBM

Wartburg Relays Season Opener

After a wonderful off-season getting stronger and faster in the weight room, the time finally came for me and my teammates to put our hard work to good use. Heading to Wartburg Relays, I was very excited for my first indoor meet, I felt like a baby that was grounded from his favorite toys for a year, given the fact that I took a year off from college. However, the icy road trip took approximately three hours to Wartburg Iowa. Thank you to our professional bus driver, when we arrived at the indoor facility we warmed up as a team and everyone went to their individual events.

Wartburg relays was a meet for everyone to get the monkeys of their back and to set a benchmark to see where they were physically, technically and emotionally on the track. Both the men and the women team place second overall at the meet. I had a decent meet, I started my indoor season on a good note I won the pole vault with (4.70m 15'4'') my winning height was also a school record and surprisingly I had the fastest time of 7.03 in 60m dash which is a personal record for me.

My second indoor meet will be at home next weekend I am looking forward to great meet on home soil.

Things I want to improve on throughout the season.

• Consistent run and takeoff
• Swinging a straight trail leg  
• Vault at least an inch higher every meet.

There is a link you below to my winning vault.

Pole 15'-180lbs 7 lefts 101'

http://www.ubersense.com/video/view/OKi0KXBN?e=11796

Vaulting Tough When It Counts

Valcin Wins Regional Championship & Looks Ahead to Nationals

In what his coach described as tough conditions, Rick Valcin emerged from the Region VI / Jayhawk Conference Championships as the last man standing. After placing second in this meet in 2010 and 2nd at the conference indoor championships in February, his competitive nature delivered him to the top of the May 5th meet, which he described as a "dream come true. A reality check." 

"In warm ups I felt good. I warmed up on a pole I have never warmed up on. So that built my confidence some more. The meet started at 9' so I had a long wait at my opening height of 4.69m my first attempt I blew through my warm up pole 16' 170, 19.9 flex. My 2nd attempt I blew the biggest pole I've jumped on this year 16' 180 19.2 flex, I was getting nervous after my 2nd attempt knowing that I had to move up a pole I had never vaulted on, which is a 16' 185 18.3 flex. However, I just stayed focused for my final attempt. When it was my turn I took a deep breath and stepped on the runway knowing that there was no room for error." 

After making his strategic adjustments, he went on to clear his opening height on his 3rd and final attempt. With a sense of relief he thought, "I'm ok now. I made my opening height". He was officially in the meet and could now focus on bigger goals. 

"With 5 guys at the next bar at 4.79, everybody missed their 1st & 2nd attempts, I was the last jumper in the rotation.  After seeing my teammates go out at that height and (realizing) I was the last competitor left, I knew I had to make that height." Valcin went on to clear that bar, securing the victory and a regional championship.

However, his day was not finished. "I passed to 5.06m to set a meet record, school record and personal best. I had a one good attempt at 5.06."  

After hitting that 5.06 bar on the way down and with a number of jumps well above that height in training this season, Valcin now has his sights confidently set on the NJCAA Championships in South Plains, Texas which takes place May 15-17.  Entering the meet ranked in the top 5 in the nation, Valcin feels he is hitting is peak at that right time of the season to make an impact for his team. 

Whats Winning without Losing!

Once again, I failed to secure a spot on the medal podium for my country; I guess it was not my day to be in the spotlight.  I felt like all my hard work just went down the drain after my 3^rd attempt at 4.70m/15’5’’.  Nothing left to do but to sit down in the competition area, with this huge well cloud over my head brain storming, where did I go wrong, what could I have done better? Besides the tough weather conditions we had to cope with.  Meanwhile watching the other pole vaulters hustle they way up, at every bar they came across. Finally the dust settled on the runway, surprisingly the winning height was 5.0m/16’4’’.

Nevertheless, the Championship in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico was another great opportunity to represent my country, and learned a lot from the experience. I have to say congratulations to our two High Jumpers, Levern Spencer and Darvin Edwards, for securing the Gold and Bronze medals at the meet. And for those of us who did not do very well on that day, let’s keep our head up and keep progressing. The best is yet to come!

Better Everyday.

Trip to CAC (Central America & Caribbean) Games.

The time is here, and I am more than ready to leave Arkansas City, KS.  It is brutally hot over here in Ark City.  I have witnessed 100-108 degrees so far this week; I have never come across such temperature from Mother Nature in my life.

Meanwhile, I am getting all my stuff together for an all day tip tomorrow, to Mayaguez,  Puerto Rico. It is here I will represent my country, Saint Lucia, at the CAC (Central America & Caribbean) Games.

For those who will be reading this blog and do not know where Saint Lucia is located, it is in the Windward Island chain of the Eastern Caribbean, north of Venezuela. Hope this helps a bit.

I am mentally and physically prepared to compete at CAC. I am coming in with a personal best of 5.0 meters. 5.0 meters will not be the winning height definitely, because I competed in the games last year, and the winning height was 5.60m/18ft, way over my personal best of 4.65/15ft 3in. As a result of the caliber of the winning height form last year, I am expecting pole vaulters jumping well over 5.40-50m this year. Therefore, my plan for the game is to stay focused, take care of the little things on the runway and the big things will take care of itself at the top over the cross bar and everything should be fine at the end of the day.  

Nevertheless, I am expecting moderate tropical Caribbean weather and hope I am not moving into 100-108 temperatures again. 

All in all, I jump on Friday, July 16. Wish me luck as I strive to serve my people well!

Better Everyday!