Vandal Indoor Stars Go Higher, Faster
Always a flashy, fast-moving, eye-catching meet, the 20th Vandal Indoor reached new heights Friday.
At least in the pole vault.
In addition to the record-breaking 18-0 1/2 vault by Washington State’s Christos Pallakis - the NCAA leader in the event this edition of the Vandal Indoor included a sub4-minute mile, two women’s meet records and a stunning double win by a precocious Eastern Washington freshman.
And world decathlon champion Dan O’Brien? Benefiting from acupuncture treatments this week, O’Brien made three solid tries at 17 feet, 6 inches in the vault and settled for a strong 17-0 1/2 clearance.
From a national perspective, it was Pallakis’ consistency over 18 feet this season that is the most intriguing.
The Cougar has trimmed his body-fat level to a startling 2.5 percent, and looks much stronger than last season.
“Fall training with coach (Rick) Sloan,” Pallakis offered as the reason for his impressive strength. “I’ve got less body fat than (former Cougar distance ace) Josephat Kapkory now.”
Pallakis changed poles and shoes before his three misses at 18-6, but couldn’t quite shinny over the bar.
“To be consistent over 18 is what I have been looking for, but my real goal is to be sure to vault good on March 10 (NCAA Indoor Championship),” Pallakis said.
His mark Friday erased a 10-year-old meet standard owned by Tim Bright.
One athlete in considerable action Friday was EWU rookie Seville Broussard, a prize recruiting catch by coach Roz Wallace, who won the high jump with a school-record 5-11 and also captured the 55-meter hurdles.
“I predict she’ll go 6 foot this year,” Wallace said of Broussard, cousin of the former WSU standout running back. “She’s already provisionally qualified (for the NCAAs).”
Broussard was ranked fourth in the nation in the high jump and fifth in the hurdles as a high school senior in Walla Walla. “I’m just really excited she’s going to be around here, so we can watch her develop.”
Broussard’s speedy EWU teammate Joyce Rainwater made another splash, breaking her own record in the 55 with a 7.00 clocking. Mother-student-sprinter, Rainwater said her training has been sidetracked by nursing her daughter through consecutive cases of chicken pox and pink-eye.
Former Irish Olympian Regina Bonney set the other women’s mark, taking the lead at the 800 mark and cruising to a 4:50.73 victory in the mile.
The men’s mile was another runaway, and remarkable in Buck Jones’ 3:59.99 clocking. The 29-year-old Jones, a former University of Oregon runner who is doing graduate work at WSU in pharmacology and toxicology, said he is running better than ever because of physical and mental maturity.
But he credited one person as crucial to his running: wife Bucky.
You’re named Buck and she’s named Bucky? “Yeah, I guess we were fated to be together,” he said.