Rancho Bernardo coach turns out top vaulters by the boxful

By Steve Brand
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

May 6, 2003

CHARLIE NEUMAN / Union-Tribune Charles Johnson gets planting tips from Rancho Bernardo pole vault coach Tom Martin. His vaulting squad is bigger than some track teams.

Sprinters silently settle into the blocks, all business.

Runners go round and round the track, their faces set in stone.

Shot putters shout and scream, hoping to add an extra inch.

Practicing off to the side, in a world of their own, Rancho Bernardo High pole vaulters are laughing and kidding, helping one another catapult their bodies 10 to 15 feet into the air, seemingly oblivious to the danger.

"When I first went out for the pole vault, my friends said I was crazy," said senior Billy Matthies. "They were right. We are crazy. Maybe that's why we're so close."

An enclave of pole vaulters is common on track teams across the state, but nowhere is this more prevalent than at Rancho Bernardo. That's because the Broncos are winning the numbers game – in every way.

 Anywhere from 35 to 45 boys and girls vault for the Broncos on any given day. That's more than some entire track teams.

 Four of the past five San Diego Section Division I girls titlists and three of the past five boys wore Rancho Bernardo blue.

 This season, the section's top three boys and leading girls vaulter attend Rancho Bernardo. Seven of its boys have cleared 12-6 or better, led by Matthies' 15-8. An equal number of girls have soared 9-6 or higher, paced by Ama Navidi's 12-1.

Those lowest marks, 12-6 and 9-6, would win 90 percent of the dual meets in the county.

"They're doing a great job," said rival coach Dan Schaitel of Poway High. "The difference clearly is Tom Martin, their coach.

"Tom is able to use a pyramid and work with the elite as well as the beginner. He does a great job of getting his kids to the highest level by teaching them the basics right from the beginning."

Clearly, Martin has flourished during an era when the pole vault has come under increased scrutiny nationwide because of recent injuries and deaths.

No serious pole-vaulting injuries have been reported locally, but the nearby San Diego Unified School District joined several other financially strapped districts statewide in dropping the event at its 16 schools this spring when forced with mandatory improvements to the landing area that cost a minimum of $3,000 per pit.

And still the event thrives at Rancho Bernardo in the Poway Unified School District.

Broncos head coach Don Jones' philosophy of recruiting potential track athletes from freshman physical education classes seems to be working – especially with his secret weapon: "The Video."

"Billy, Ama and I were in the same P.E. class as freshmen and we watched this video of the pole vaulters," said Zack Miller, who finished sixth in the state last year and has cleared 15-7 this season.

"When they showed (former RB star) Molly Pascarella, Billy and I both said we had to go out for track just to get to see her. It turned out good."

Navidi, too, was swayed by the video.

"It looked like fun," said Navidi, who won a section title last year. "I was a gymnast and was planning on doing that, and maybe pole vaulting as a senior. Then I started thinking that if I did really well as a senior, I'd look back and wish I'd started as a freshman."

She never returned to gymnastics and says once she started pole vaulting she felt as if she was a member of a unique family, one that becomes so close-knit that all but a handful of her friends on the track team are vaulters.

Another gymnast, sophomore Rebecca Adams, watched that video last year and changed sports on the spot.

"It was awesome," she said. "I said, 'Wow,' and had to try it. You do so many of the same things as the vault in gymnastics. You run hard down the runway, you need good form and you need strength.

"Of course, in gymnastics you don't want to land on your back like you do in the pole vault."

Martin laughs at the stories.

"You know, it's really a pretty exciting video," said Martin, who teaches physical education at the school. "I don't know how anyone can't get excited after watching Tracy O'Hara set a national record of 13-3 or Kathleen Donoghue winning the state."

O'Hara went on to become a two-time NCAA champion at UCLA, and Donoghue is a senior competing for Stanford.

"We have a history here," Martin said. "Making the all-time list at Rancho Bernardo is something special."

When Navidi cleared 12-1, she moved to No. 6 all-time in the San Diego Section. She is only No. 5 on the Rancho Bernardo list, however.

At least Matthies and Miller are atop their school list with the seventh-and eighth-best marks in section history. The two were actually tied, both going 15-7 two weeks ago, until Matthies added another inch to his best at the Jaguar Invitational.

The competition from within pushes the top vaulters to succeed.

It produces athletes who are expected to once again challenge for the state high school championship in June at Cerritos College.

But that numbers game works against some.

A rule says that no more than four individuals from one school can advance to the section prelims. In theory – and occasionally in fact – Rancho Bernardo vaulters can make automatic qualifying marks and clear heights that would win almost any other league yet not advance because four teammates did better.

Martin tries to be sympathetic, but his philosophy of shooting for the sky carries with it the understanding that only the best can survive.

"I have very high expectations," Martin says, watching every vaulter at practice and commenting on every jump, good or bad. "I don't get real excited when they have problems, nor when they go real high.

"Pole vaulters are a different breed and they understand that if you have a bad day, you have to just move on."

Although Schaitel winces when the RB vaulters dominate his team, he sees it as a challenge.

"Their success is not a negative thing," Schaitel said.

Certainly not to the 35-45 vaulters having the times of their lives every day in their own little, but highly successful, world.