It started out as suggestion from a friend on Bogan Stitzel’s swim team at Plant City High School.
“He told me to come out one day and give it a try,” Stitzel said about his first experience trying pole vaulting as a sophomore. “I had seen it on the Olympics before and just thought it was so cool. I just went out there and loved it.”
It was a slow process at first, learning the ins and outs of the equipment, the techniques and getting use to the feeling of launching yourself 8 to 15 feet in the air.
“It was nothing like I expected,” Stitzel admitted. “It looks super physically demanding, and it is, but it’s a lot like golf, where it’s all mental. There’s so many little form techniques and so many little things that you have to do that just become muscle memory after a while.”
It was getting to the muscle-memory stage that was most challenging, but Stitzel had the guidance of 2012 PCHS graduate Alex Delphino, who currently holds the school record of 13 feet, 9 inches.
Now a senior, Stitzel is headed to the Class 4A state meet for the second consecutive year, after finishing tied for second at regionals. He will vault May 4, at the University of North Florida, aiming for a top-three finish and hoping to match or break Delphino’s school record.
A NATURAL
When Stitzel began jumping higher than the friend who invited him out, he began to realize he could have success in the sport.
Starting low on the pole, vaulters typically begin with a straight pole, where the pole doesn’t bend at all, and vaulters rely on muscle to clear relatively low marks. When vaulters become more experienced, they begin to move hand grips up, until they get to the top and get the most out of the flex of the pole.
“The bend is what slingshots you into the air,” Stitzel said. “When I first started getting that is when I realized that this was really fun and something I wanted to do. It’s just an awesome feeling.”
Vaulters also can upgrade the lengths of their poles, which allow for higher vaults. Each pole has weight restrictions for the vaulters. Stitzel currently has two 165-pound poles and one 170-pound pole.
“A lot of people don’t realize that they weigh you in before every meet,” he said. “The 170 number is the maximum weight that you can have to safely jump on that pole, so each pole is meant for different weight and strength types.”
Much like high-school wrestlers, pole vaulters are expected to maintain certain weights. Stitzel ran into this issue at regionals, when he had to cut three pounds in the matter of hours.
“It’s kind of scary, because if you don’t make weight, it’s game over,” he said. “It’s pretty terrifying when you get there and find out that you have to drop three pounds or you’re not jumping.”
Stitzel’s three poles are 13, 14 and 15 feet, but he noted that world-class Olympic vaulters have 18-foot poles, allowing them to vault record heights given their skill level.
Stitzel just got his 170 pole, which used for the first time at the Class 4A Region 2 meet, placing second with a vault of 12-6. He tied for the district championship this year, after winning it outright as a junior. He will be looking to improve on his seventh place finish at state in 2012.
“The school record is a goal and, I think, a realistic goal, especially now that I have the 15-foot pole,” he said.
STUDENT-COACH
One of the more interesting aspects of the sport, is that it is often student run at the high school level.
While PCHS head boys coach Ken Harlan oversees the event and the athletes, with no experience or expertise in pole vaulting, Stitzel acts as the coach of the event, leading practices and helping with techniques of underclassmen vaulters.
“At first, not having a coach was nice, because there wasn’t any pressure,” he said. “Practices were very laid-back and relaxed. As I got older, I maintained that attitude. I had four kids who came out (three boys and a girl). You just have to be positive … and work your way up.”
Among the athletes, pole vaulting is a close-knit sport. Stitzel said although he will be the only member of the PCHS boys team going to state, he’ll recognize many of the faces he’ll see.
“It’s not like other track-and-field events, where you might do several things,” he said. “You work on this, and this is the one event that you do.”
This also creates a unique level of competition, where the athletes encourage and help each other and even will trade out poles to accommodate more weight.
“There’s definitely a competition level to it, but it’s almost more of a competition against yourself,” he said. “At Western Conference, we probably had four or five teams under one tent, hanging out, talking and sharing food. Everyone is very friendly.”
Stitzel swam for Plant City for three years, before deciding not to swim his senior year. Still, he said the strength and awareness both sports require helped with his vaulting.
“In the water, you have all the dimensions — up, down, left and right — and in the air, it’s the same thing,” he said. “So, being able to have that spacial awareness and knowing where your body parts are at all times and how they’re moving is very helpful.”
Stitzel’s vaulting career likely will end Saturday, leading to the next stage: pursuing a degree in interdisciplinary natural sciences at the University of South Florida.
“I love science, and know that I want to go on to get at least my master’s degree, so that will help me narrow down which science I want to specialize in.”
Contact Matt Mauney at mmauney@plantcityobserver.com.
3A-4A STATE MEET
AREA STATE QUALIFIERS
Durant Boys (region finish)
200-meter dash: Tracy Watson (fourth)
300-meter hurdles: Darrien Kelly (fourth)
Plant City Boys (region finish)
Pole vault: Bogan Stitzel (tied for second)
Plant City Girls (region finish)
Discus: Ty’china Bush (third)
Shot put: Ty’china Bush (third)
Strawberry Crest Boys
400-meter dash: Karel Hamilton (third)
Triple jump: Chauncey Thomas (runner-up)
Strawberry Crest Girls (region finish)
4X100 (first at Class 3A-3 region meet): Brittany Barber, Yasmine Gardiner, Sequoya Williams and Ambria Keys
200-meter dash: Yasmine Gardiner (runner-up)
100-meter dash: Brittany Barber (fourth)
Triple jump: Terra Brooks (third)